The sound of a jet that was landing roared through the corridors of the TAF HQ. Saragui lifted the cockpit hub as he lands. He stealth fully jumps out of the jet. He then precedes to the only door in the room that he could possible go through. He then leans out of the door to see if anyone was there. He then proceeded to his room. Before he entered his room, he was stopped by a mysterious hand on his left shoulder. Saragui's heart skipped a beat. The hand then turned saragui around. He met with the eyes of his capturer. General Takanata. " Where were you?" asked the irate general. Saragui didn't reply. He stood there staring blankly into space. " Well, this doesn't really matter now. The president needs to see you right now. I'm to escort you to the president's quarters right now." Ashe then escorts him to the front door of the president's quarters. She then swipes her ID card. A conformation beep followed soon after. The door unlocked. Takanata then makes a hand jester for saragui to enter the president's quarters. He slowly takes a few steps into the room. The president stands for his chair and then moves to the front of his desk. The president then begins to chuckle and he sits on his desk and crosses his arms. " I have a mission for you. I need a package delivered to our sister base in Kyoto. I'm sending 3 others to join you on your mission. They'll be here shortly." An officer then handed to president a small box of about the size of a baseball. The president then approaches saragui." Here, take this to Kyoto. Don't let anyone open it by all means necessary. That also means you too", said the president as he handed the package to saragui. " The other 3 have the exact location of the sister base. Just follow them and you'll be all right. Remember, keep the package safe at all times", said the president in a confident voice. Saragui just sighed and lowered his head. Then there was a dull knock at the door. The door then made a clicking noise to indicate that the door was now unlocked. A TAF soldier then entered with his gun by his side. 3 others followed close behind him. The first, person of the three to enter was a tall and dark man. He gave saragui a smirk and stood by the president. The next to enter was a stalk short fellow that kind of waddled when he walked. Finally entered a young and cute girl. Her hair swayed as she entered the room. She gave saragui a smile and he couldn't help but blush. " There are the three pilots that you'll be flying with. Now, would you please I introduce yourselves", said the president as he backed away to give the crew room to greet each other. " My name is Saragui, Saragui Kaio, from Yokohama", said saragui. " Pilot first class, Hiroshi", said the tallest one. " Pilot first class, Tasuke", said the other male pilot. " First class elite, kanata", said the female pilot as she saluted. " You'll be leaving soon, go gear up and meet at the take off point", said the president as he saluted. "Good luck to you all", replied the president as the team of pilots were leaving his quarters.
"OK, we're all geared up. It's time to go", said Kanata as she put her helmet on. Saragui nodded as he entered his jet that he was assigned to. Saragui made sure he was secure in his seat and then started his jet. A screen to his right appeared on the cockpit window. " Saragui, this is kanata. You will leave on my orders. We will head to Kyoto and protect that package." Saragui made a sound of approval. Hiroshi, Tasuke, Saragui, and then Kanata left the take off point and began in the direction of Kyoto.
Minutes passed and nothing was said. Finally, Hiroshi broke the silence. " Hey saragui, I heard that you're the newest pilot. Don't let the newcomer jitters bother you."" I didn't decide to become a pilot you know. I was at school when TAF attacked it. I was taken from my school and I had no consent on whether or not to leave." Saragui became furious. He punched the control panel in front of him. " Hey, boy'o. Don't go and kill yourself now", replied tasuke. Saragui didn't reply. He really didn't care if he died or not at this moment. Hiroshi decided to blurt something out. " Hey saragui, if it's any consolation, I'm not here on my own free will either. Well, I wasn't captured or anything but, my family came from a society that is extremely poor. We live in the middle of Tokyo. We barely have enough to survive. The payment for our home was due and we didn't have the money for the third straight week. The told my family that they had 2 choices. Either I go and become a pilot in the war to make money or we had to leave. There was no other ultimatum. So, I'm here now ". Hiroshi sighed. There was a long silence. A missile missing saragui's left wing by a few feet then interrupted the silence. " Holy shit! What the fuck was that! It almost killed me!" yelled saragui. "We have three boogies at 10 o'clock! By their speed, my guess is that they are elite class jets! Watch your fire and separate. Take all of them out. We must protect our package by all means necessary", commanded Kanata. The four jets broke from formation and separated. Saragui veered right to circle around the incoming Federation jets. Saragui then spots a Federation jet ahead of him. He then gets in range and fires. He misses his target. The federation ship ahead of him then pulls a dodge maneuver and veers away from saragui. Saragui looked at his radar and could not find where he was. Then there was a loud explosion and a picture appeared on the screen beside saragui. "Booya! That's one bastard done, and 2 to go", said Hiroshi. Saragui then circled around the mountain ahead of him to see if he can find a boogie. Before he can find another jet, and another explosion rang through the air. Another picture came on the screen beside him. This time it was Kanata. " Another one down, one more to go guys. Keep a look out." Saragui nodded. He was then startled by enemy fire from behind him. Every move that saragui made the Federation jet matched it and gained ground on saragui. Then all of a sudden, saragui found his opening. He headed straight for the mountain. " Saragui! What the hell are you doing?" said tasuke. Saragui didn't reply. He knew what he had to do. Saragui then sped up. The Federation jet did the same. Just before saragui would crash, he yanked on his flight stick. This causes him to go straight up and an explosion then followed. Saragui looked at the screen to his right. It showed an explosion on the side of the mountain. Saragui couldn't help but laugh. " How could anyone fall for that", he said out loud. "Saragui, you are one crazy bastard', said Hiroshi. Saragui chuckled. " We need to land in order to assess the damage. Follow my instructions and we will meet at the randaview point. Saragui couldn't help but ponder. What's in this package that the Federation wants and how does the federation know and if they know that they are carrying a package of some sort? Or maybe the federation noticed TAF aircrafts and they decided to pursue them. All of these thoughts raced through saragui's mind. He hated not having answers. He hopes that his mental questions would soon be answered.
Sasaku hangs her coat on the coat rack by the front door. She then takes off her shoes and places them by the coat rack beside her. Her hair was dripping with a combination of water from the rain and sweat. Her mother then walks in through the kitchen. " I saw your note. Where did you go this late?" Sasaku didn't know how to answer her mother. "I…ah…needed to go for a walk and think about a few things, that's all". Sasaku's mother smiled and went back into the kitchen. Sasaku took a sigh of relief and went to her room up the stairs. She slowly opened her bedroom door as if suspecting someone to be in there. She sat in front of her computer and inserted her newly acquired disc. The computer made a few grinding noises as it booted up. She began to rummage through the file that she recently downloaded. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Sasaku was then startled by a knock at her door. " Sasaku, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a bike ride with me", said the mother as she entered the room. "Sure, I'll be right down", replied sasaku as she shut down her computer and ejected the disc. She then placed the disc in her pocket. Sasaku then went downstairs to join her mother.
" Hey mom, where are we going to go?" said sasaku. "I thought we could go to the park. It seems the rain just let up. I really like riding in the night. It's so relaxing. They began to ride in the night to their destination. On the way to the park, which was only a 5-minute bike ride, sasaku couldn't help but think what was on that disc and where was saragui. She could really never tell saragui how she really felt for him. She was his friend since early childhood. She didn't want to be like a sister to him. She wanted to be more, much more. While she was drifting off in her mental space, she didn't realize that they reached the park. The both parked their bikes and sat on the nearby bench that was slightly wet. This didn't bother either of them. A moment passed as the two of them sat there and a little girl walked by. Sasaku had to take a ' double take ' in order make sure she wasn't seeing things. It was that same girl that somehow stopped the truck from hitting sasaku just a few hours ago. She then gets a chill that causes her to shutter. Sasaku rubbed her eye, then she turned t her mother beside her. " Did you just see that little girl that walked by holding that teddy bear?" " No, there was nobody, it's just us and the light drizzle of the rain. No one else is here. Are you Ok dear? I think we need to go home. You need your rest. I think you're tired from all the things that happened today". Said the worrying mother. " Yeah, you're right. Lets go home". Both of them got on their bikes and rode into the darkness.