Disclaimer: I don't own Muv-Luv Alternative or any of the characters. All rights belong to âge.

October 23, 2001

"I shall fulfill my duty to protect international peace and stability, by rigidly adhering to the code of conduct…By cultivating virtue, training, my mind and body, polishing my skills, by not taking part in political actions, and by giving my undivided attention to completion of the mission. I swear to never shrink from danger, but to risk my life to fulfill my responsibility toward humanity!"

We welcome your enlistment at Yokohama Base!

After the oath recitement at the gymnasium, our squad lines up in formation to start off today's training.

Marimo-chan stands in front of us giving us our workout for the morning. "Today we're starting off with 10km on the track! Get going soldiers!"

As we start running on the track, I decide to run at my usual pace in order to warm up and observe the rest of the girls. I know that the second part of training will be another 10km with gear so I need to figure out some way to push them further.

After thinking for a bit while running I hear Marimo-chan's shout. "Shirogane you're done! You can get some rest while waiting for the others!"

The squad looks at me in wonder and shock. I had finished without breaking a sweat while the fastest of them was still at 6km, which was Meiya. This body does feel like a cheat. I realize that Tama was still at 4km so I decide that it would be best to focus on helping Tama for the next part.

"I'll continue to run around for a little while waiting!" I shout back at Marimo-chan. This way I can formulate a plan as well as keep the rest of the girls spirited to keep running.

After a bit more time has passed, Marimo-chan allows the girls to rest for a few minutes. The moment the break is over, we hear the next part of the exercise. "Okay, next! Grab the gear in the cages and march 10km!"

"Un-understood…" Tama responds tiredly.

I'm sorry Tama, I feel like a devil for doing this, but it's for your own good.

"Instructor! May I suggest a better training plan?"

"What is it Shirogane?"

"I would like to suggest running in full gear!" The squad gives me betrayed looks as if I was a villain.

"Very well! You will be doing 10km in full gear then!"

The squad probably hates me by now, but this is only the first step in pushing their improvement. I grab a dummy machine gun to carry along with the full gear. I also grab a piece of cloth along with me. When the squad sees me with the dummy, the glares lessened. It seems like me carrying extra soothes their anger with me increasing their load. I walk next to Tama and start up my plan.

"Tama...se-san." I almost slip up her name. "I have a way to make the run easier and help you improve since you struggle in these running exercises, can you trust me this one time?"

"Of course! We're squadmates after all Shirogane-san! Plus, you were so fast earlier so I'm sure you have a great idea!" Tama responds excitedly.

"I need you to tie this cloth around your eyes like a blindfold while running. Don't worry, I will be next to you while running so you won't be lost and I will let you know when you're done."

Tama nods slowly albeit looking a bit scared. After all this means she will be running blind and will have to rely on me who she met yesterday. I have faith this will work well however.

"Good work Mitsurugi and Ayamine!" Marimo-chan tells the two of them who just finish.

The two then looked back at Tama who was still running next to me panting hard. Tama asks me while out of breath. "How much further is left?"

I tell her 4km is left. Obviously it was a lie, I'm sure she knows as well with how well her distance perception is. However she doesn't question me. Meiya and Kei had just finished 10km, Class Rep was almost done at 9km, and the both of us were at 8km. Instead of resting, it looked like Meiya and Kei overheard our conversation and joined the two of us in our run. Class Rep then slows down to drop me to the side. It seems like she wants to ask me something.

"Why are you dropping your pace to match us? Are you making fun of us?" Class Rep asks me with a glare. It seems like she thinks I'm making fun of the squad since they know I am capable of much more.

"I want to have our squad improve the most as quickly as possible. The best way to do so is to improve the individual weakness of everyone and promote team unity. As you can see Tama has the most trouble in running. If she wears a blindfold, it will allow her to fully focus her senses into running and she can trust in me and the team to lead and guide her around the course. As you can see, both Mitsurugi and Ayamine want to help out after seeing her improve so much. Why don't you join us as well?" I smile in response.

"You do make a point in Tamase improving quickly. I've never seen her pace be this fast and she's even wearing full gear. I see your point, fine, I'll join in this time. "She looks away hurriedly and joins the other 3 in their run.

I join back into the group and the five of us continue on the run with Tama asking us how much is left every so often. Of course we keep lying to her, shortening the distance a little bit at a time. Off to the side I can see Marimo-chan smiling at us.

"Good work everyone! Especially Tamase! Running 15km, you're showing improvement in leaps and bounds!" Marimo-chan looks at Tama while smiling.

"Shirogane-san… You're such a liar…" Tama groans while lying dead on the ground. "But… thank you for helping me."

This is good, at this pace we definitely have a good chance in clearing the CCSE in a week's time. The more time we can gain in our TSFs, the higher chance I can keep them safe. It looks like everyone is dragging themselves back to their rooms to get some rest. This is a good opportunity to ask Yuuko for access.

*Slides*

The door opens as I walk into her office once again. I see her holding the Game Guy playing what sounds like Valgern-On. That's good, it means she is starting progress on the XM3 soon. Still, I can't get over how bewitching she looks, even if she can become a cold-hearted witch in order to achieve what she needs. This must be one of the remnant feelings I have from some of the detached memories that have shown up before.

Noticing my presence, she pauses the game and looks up. "Did you miss me already? It's only been one day." She mockingly asks.

I don't fall for her bait of course. "I came to ask for access to the room next door, you know the one that Kasumi stays in all the time."

"I'm assuming you already know what's in there?"

"Of course, that's why I brought a few more pages of the theory with me. I need you to do me a favor if you want them however."

"What's this favor you want? I need to know if it's worth the effort."

"I want to push the CCSE to next week, the 30th the best date."

"Someone is in a rush~"

"I need to get the girls in a TSF as quickly as possible, the more time they have to familiarize and improve, the better of a chance we have."

"Very well, I'll push the CCSE to next week then, we'll both be getting a lot of complaints from Marimo though. I hope you're prepared to deal with her~ May I suggest you seduce her ?" She laughs loudly.

Ignoring her joke, I respond to her. "I'll find some way to convince her, don't worry."

Passing her the pages of the theory, I remember to warn her ahead of time. "When you design the 00 Unit, there's a problem with the coolant liquid you're planning on using from the core."

"What do you mean by that?"

"In the previous loop, whenever the 00 Unit recharges using that liquid, it syncs her data into the core, which then updates the data towards the Original Hive. Basically, the 00 unit itself becomes a spy for the BETA. Despite there being that drawback, it works both ways. We can also obtain data from the BETA using this way. In the perfect world, maybe we can extract data from the BETA while not leaking any of ours. If that's not possible I would prefer to just find a substitute or block all forms of information transmission."

"Hmm. That's surprisingly troubling. I'll let Motoko know and see if she can do anything about it."

Kouzuki Motoko, a person I've never met in any of my previous experiences. In my subconscious there is information about her. Sister of Kouzuki Yuuko, she is known as a genius neurosurgeon and has a hand in the creation of the 00 Unit behind the scenes. Both of the sisters have bad blood, I wonder what happened between the two. Diving too deep into the business of the Kouzuki is definitely not a smart idea.

"Is that all for now? Unless you're here for something else?" I can recognize that teasing look from a mile away. Time to escape before I end up becoming her prey again.

"'I'll leave you to continue exploring the games and your work. Don't stay up too late!" I tell her while quickly escaping the room.

*Slides*

Since that business is done, time to introduce myself to Kasumi again. I enter the door on the right side this time and I'm back at the long hallway once again. This hallway still gives me the creeps. Tall ceiling, mostly silent with a slight humming sound, every step I take in here produces an echo. I quickly enter the brain room and I spot Kasumi with her hand on the glass of the cylinder. I wonder if she is talking to Sumika right now.

"Hey there, you don't know me yet, but my name is Shirogane Takeru. I hope we can get along Kasumi." I extend my hand to her in hope for a handshake.

She tilts her head, staring at my hand confusedly. I forgot that she doesn't know what a handshake is yet. "You put your hand on top of mine and then we shake. It's a form of greeting."

She complies and timidly puts her small hand on top of mine. We managed to do a small handshake. It's surprising how little things like this still make me happy. As Kasumi is still observing me and not attempting to talk, I walk up to the glass tank.

"Hey there Sumika. I'm back, sorry for making you suffer once again but this time I'll make sure to find some way to keep you alive. I won't let you sacrifice yourself again. I'll come back here again once I complete the Santa rabbit."

I walk away from the tank, getting ready to leave the room. "I'll come back here once I complete Sumika's present, thanks for keeping her company."

"Bye bye." She timidly sends me off.

"That's not the right way. I'm coming back right? When you want to see someone again, you send them off by saying 'See you later.'" I wave a hand at her and smile as I start to leave the room again.

As I turn around I hear her tell me "See you later" with more vigor. Too bad I missed how she looked while saying that as I left the room.

Haruka POV (Simulator Room)

Once again I follow Mitsuki into the simulator room this afternoon as she trains. I guess it has become routine at this point. I understand the reason why she's training this hard but I do wish there is someone who can unlock her heart and stop her. While watching her simulation nearing an end, I see Captain Isumi walking in with a faraway look.

"Good Afternoon Captain, what are you doing here this late? I thought you would be in your office working on documents."

"Oh, I couldn't focus on my work, so I decided to take a walk to clear my head. My feet just happened to bring me here it seems like."

Mitsuki comes out of the pod right after. She spots the captain and instantly has an excited look. I wonder why she is so excited about the captain being here? She should know that the captain wouldn't agree to a spar with her.

"Captain! How was the potential recruit yesterday? If they were personally watched by the XO then they must be good right?" Mitsuki hurriedly asks. She was acting like a wolf who found new prey. I feel bad for the person she's talking about.

"This is the first time I've heard about this. What happened in here yesterday?" I confusedly ask. Seems like I missed something interesting.

The captain then explains, "Yesterday the XO personally called to have the simulator room cleared so she could test someone apparently. I got curious after being told by Mitsuki, so I decided to peek in and ask. I didn't get to see who it was and the XO decided to keep everything confidential."

"So how was the recruit, they must've been disappointing if we didn't get any heads up on someone joining our squad." Mitsuki starts looking disappointed.

"It was the opposite. It was like watching a god of war dancing in between the BETA. The part that frustrates me the most is that even though I formally requested, I was shut down and couldn't get them to join the squad. There's no way for me to personally try to convince them either since I don't know their identity."

"Wait… if there's BETA, that means it's at least a level B operation. You're telling me that the recruit did a level B operation solo and they did it well?" I ask with a shocked face.

"No, the recruit was doing operation A-5 solo and completed the operation faster than we did. The completion time was 49 minutes and 47 seconds. The only thing I managed to get my hands on is the control logs as proof." The captain brings out a sheet that contains the recruit's inputs.

Mitsuki quickly snatches the logs and starts reading over them while shaking. Meanwhile I still couldn't get over my shock as I lean over to look. There were so many inputs I was having a hard time reading it. What kind of monster controls a TSF like this? I look over to check on Mitsuki. All I see is Mitsuki breathing heavily and reading the logs thoroughly while shaking like a leaf. Oh no, I can sense a hunt brewing soon. I can only hope the recruit doesn't get discovered soon since Mitsuki would never let them go.

Meiya POV

It is the time of the night where I do my solo training session. As I do my laps around the track, I start thinking how aneue is doing. I worriedly think about her every night as even though I was born to become her kagemusha, her protector, I am unable to do anything for her right now. Her duty is being weighed down by the entire country. She is working her best at being the Shogun of Japan while I am still a cadet. Even worse, I had failed once already.

I start thinking back on the most recent addition to our squad. The man called Shirogane Takeru. Knowing the political status of this squad, I wonder what kind of problems he has to warrant joining our group. Knowing of our squad's very first rule, I obviously will not pry into his circumstances. Everyone who is in our squad has very sensitive backgrounds after all. Even though it has only been one day, he has shown superb abilities. Has he been previously trained before I wonder. He also seems to be capable of leadership as he was working to improve Tamase's weakness in our run today. While I was pondering this, I hear someone and stop my nightly jog to walk over.

Walking closer, I find out it was Shirogane, it was as if he had heard my thoughts.

"Hm, Shirogane?"

"Oh, Meiya."

I look at him weirdly, why would he already use my surname, is he not a bit overfamiliar?

"Oh, sorry. It's a bad habit of mine."

"You are aware of it, and yet you do not fix the habit… I suppose that would be why they call it a habit."

"I'll work on it… Anyway, what are you doing this late?"

"As you can see, I have been doing laps."

"You being punished for something?"

"Of course not. I am training on my own. This is part of my daily routine."

His eyes widen as he reacts. "Whoa…" I can see a slight smile on his face. I wonder why that is.

"I wish to become an Eishi as soon as possible." I explain the reasoning to my extra training.

"Why?"

"My reason is quite ordinary… I want to protect something."

"I don't find that ordinary, only those who have something to protect can truly become strong."

"Hmm, that's a good quote. I will save that for the future."

"Mind if I ask what you are protecting?"

"This planet… the people of this country… and Japan as a nation."

"I see…"

"Shirogane, since you gave me that quote, do you have something to protect as well?" I am curious to know what it is that gave him the inspiration for such a great line.

"Hm? Yeah I do."

"May I ask what it is?"

He starts having a faraway look as his eyes become emotional. "Everyone who is precious to me. I want to protect them all."

*Flash* In that instant, a very vivid image pops into my head. I see Shirogane hugging me close to his body while I sit on his lap. It looks like we were in the cockpit of a TSF and we were stuck inside. Why am I seeing this image now? What is the context? Is this just a part of my imagination?

I look back at Shirogane, "You... might actually be 'special.'"

"Once again, I'm really not that." He scratches his head and looks away in response. He must be embarrassed.

"Still, to see your performance today. It further reinforces the truth that one must have a strong will and desire to achieve something."

"Yeah… people can do amazing things with the right goal in mind."

"Oh? Here you are speaking another great line… people can do amazing things with the right goal in mind… I will remember it."

"I learned it from you, Meiya." He smiles at me warmly.

*Flash*

Have we had this conversation before? This suddenly feels strongly familiar. It should not be possible since I have never met this man before yesterday. I must clear my mind before I become confused. I shall unravel this problem later on in my lonesome.

While looking at him confusedly, he continues on. "Oh, sorry. I used your first name again."

"It is fine. I may as well get used to it at this point. By the way, why did you come here?"

"I thought I might run around a bit to try and clear my head."

"I see. I was just about to finish… perhaps we should do this together next time."

"Yeah, let's do that… see you later then."

"Yes… see you…"

I quickly left the area. I need some time to think about this familiarity with him. As well as the image that just popped up. Was that a part of my imagination? I can't think of what else it would be. However, imaginations should not be so vivid. I can already sense it will be a long night.

AN: Another chapter complete~ Sorry if a lot of parts end up feeling like canon. I kind of have to use it as a base or else everything will derail. So far we see slight changes to everything. Once we get to TSF training everything will be more fun and hectic~ Feel free to look forward to it!