I look at the printout of the psychometric analyser. It is a whole slew of nouns and adjectives, par for the course. We see the same repeated words when I whisper the same prompt into the unconscious man's ear, so I guess we are getting somewhere. The terms "European Command" and "Crate" seem to pop up a lot, much like the previous 3 subjects. I suppose we can say for sure that what did blow up the warehouse that day was brought in as a shipment from the European Theater. I motion to the rest of the medical and investigation team that I am done, and that he and the others who volunteered to aid in the investigation are to be given some special priveleges for the next few weeks.

I wanted to enter the dream state with them myself to see what they saw on that day, moments before the blast, but Haruna seemed opposed to it, saying that it would literally be me sleeping around, and she wasn't comfortable with that for obvious reasons.

I guess it was better I did not tell her my original plan to hook all of us up to the machine together so I could get some kind of panoramic view of the warehouse, because that would probably get me stabbed, and not in a good way.

In any case we now know the rough chain of events. The package had some instructions that required me to inspect it on arrival, and whoever set the explosives was able to predict the down to the second when I would arrive at the warehouse to carry out said instructions. Unfortunately for them, they weren't expecting me to be a forgetful shit that had to double back to my office to get my access key. In any case, it looks like some deep schism has opened up in the European Theater as well.

Back in my office, Haruna and I pour through the rest of the printouts to search for other leads, finding nothing much else to go on. No codewords, known or suspected, no indications of suspicious entities, nothing. Ooyodo was given as a prompt and none of those guys we investigated provided any leads. As a joke we tried mentioning Hillary Clinton a few times and got no conclusive response either.

We take a break to bounce theories off each other, summarizing what we know so far and what else we can explore. We know that Ooyodo is still missing after almost 4 months, and that the poisoned food and candies are definitely her doing, although we can pin no real motive. High command probably has tried the hardest so far for the smallest returns, and the Euro branch did that one thing and has done jack ever since.

Although given how long it takes to move something from Europe to this shitty East Indies base, I can probably expect a new pipe bomb arriving some time soon.

In any case, I set the stack of printouts down. It's getting late, and it's almost time for dinner. Haruna understands my intentions and puts down the folder she was leafing through. We pack up everything and put the documents into locked drawers. Just as we are leaving my office, Haruna pulls me aside. She backs up against the wall, her hands gripping onto my forearms as she pulls me in closer. I instinctually wrap one of my hands around her slender waist, while the other caresses her cheek. We stand there, looking longingly into each other's eyes. I see in hers a whirlwind of emotions, from concern over the amount of stress this whole shitshow is putting us through, to the glimmer of vague hope for our shared future.

It must have been 15, no, 20 seconds before I tilt her head ever so gently and draw in closer for a kiss. Unexpectedly, she pushes me away gently.

"Hansi, maybe...maybe not today, or maybe, just not now..." she whispers, slightly embarrassed.

"I understand, darling." I guess she has her reasons.

We finally leave my office to go to the cafeteria. On the way we walk past a whole row of trees from around the world, mostly from Europe that were planted when I was recovering in the bunker. This is a showcase of unity as part of a morale boosting programme set in motion before the coup, and was followed through for some reason. This is my first time taking this path, mostly because I kept forgetting to take a detour to go check it out, or having to make other detours for Haruna's sake. Haruna doesn't seem too keen, but I convince her that it will be interesting.

We hold hands as we walk leisurely, enjoying each other's company. We turn a corner and see the trees, planted neatly in a row along each side of the path. We walk on, hand in hand. Just 15 meters from the first tree, however, Haruna grabs me and pushes me to the ground. The next thing I know, I feel a blast wave followed by a ringing in my ears. I am vaguely aware of the dull impact of smaller debris raining down on top of Haruna as she shields my body with hers.

~0~

I am in my quarters after being discharged by the base's doctor, lying on my bed while Haruna is cooking dinner. It seems that someone placed explosives inside the European trees which were timed to go off just as I stepped between them. Man, I was musing about a pipe bomb earlier but I would have never expected tree bombs. And that timing; preliminary investigations found the bombs were triggered only by timer, so that meant that whoever was behind this was able to predict to the second my movements, all months in advance and many thousands of kilometers away. I cringe, seeing the pure brilliance and displays of near-clairvoyance wasted on this attempt, only to be foiled by me loving my battlecruiser fiance-wife too much.

No.

I did not do anything to outsmart that savant-weenie. It was all Haruna's work; delaying me long enough to not be in the danger zone; trying to convince me to give the trees a miss; and in the end protecting me with her body.

As soon as I come to that realization, Haruna comes back into my room, holding a bowl.

"Haruna, I..." I cut myself off as Haruna raises a finger to her lips with a wink and a smile. She sits down on the bed, setting the bowl down on my bedside table.

"Hansi, the porridge is a bit hot right now, it will need time to cool" she coos as she gets onto all fours on top of me. She moves her face closer to mine as I reach up to her, instinctually wrapping one of my hands around her slender waist, while the other caresses her cheek. Again, we look longingly into each other's eyes, and I see that certain special sparkle in her eyes. We admire the intricacies of each other's emotions for 15, no, 20 seconds, before Haruna moves even closer, her body now lying right on top of mine.

"Can Teitouku continue from where we left off?" she whispers seductively into my ear, further arousing my desire with a small nibble on my ear lobe.

I think we both forgot about the porridge after that.