It was necessary to be off the roads as to prevent Tsurumi's men from tracking or even running into them. As distinguished of a group as they were, it would be easy for people to confirm that they had seen the group if the soldiers asked about them. Now, an Ainu girl, three ex-soldiers, and a tall, well-muscled man in a suit and tie was rather flashy. That's why the best way to get to the prison would be to go through the forest towards Kabato.

On the way, they spotted some woodcocks. They were small birds, and they looked kiwis alike. The woodcocks were there for the breeding season, looking for food to feed their baby woodcocks, Asirpa explained.

In listening to the group converse from a distance, Yuki thought how smart, charismatic and kind that girl was. It was curious to him how easily she explained about the customs and hunting tactics of her people to the people around her. Hagiwara then felt a strange sensation of being watched and looked a little further to the side, meeting Sugimoto's suspicious gaze. Yuki held his gaze before arching his brows and smiling slightly in response, looking away.

Those woodcocks would have to serve to feed the group, so Ogata armed himself with his rifle and was about to shoot when he was stopped by Asirpa.

"No, Ogata don't!"She stopped him before he could shoot.

"Why not? You want to eat them, don't you?"

"Even if you hit one of them, the others will get scared and fly away," Asirpa explained to him. "Woodcocks fly in a confused and aimless way, so it's hard to hit them with guns."

Ogata pushed his hair back, dissatisfied, letting out a "hmph". Asirpa explained that the best way to hunt woodcock was to use traps and then showed how to prepare one.

The next day, out of so many traps that were set, there were only two woodcocks. It wouldn't be enough for everyone. Yuki was amused by Asirpa's annoyed way of plucking a woodcock because the traps didn't work out as she had hoped.

While they removed the feathers, Yuki decided help by lighting the fire and preparing the vegetables to put them in the pot. At that moment, Ogata arrived with three captured woodcocks and released them on the ground. Yuki turned his head to watch as Ushiyama praised him and Ogata puffed out his chest proudly.

"I bet you did all of this because Asirpa said you wouldn't be able to…" Sugimoto teased, grinning evilly.

The sniper made a bitter expression upon hearing this, turning his back to Sugimoto. 'Those two…' Yuki sighed and got to his feet, opening his mouth to speak, but Asirpa was quicker:

"You must be jealous, right, Sugimoto? Since you have bad aim, don't you?" Said the little Ainu in defense of the sniper, smiling smugly at the scarred man.. That made Yuki half smile.

Sugimoto said nothing after that and went back to removing the feathers, now angrily, and part of his face hidden by the shadow of the military beret.

Some time after that, with the woodcocks properly prepared, they all sat around the fire to enjoy the meal. Asirpa offered the bird's brain to Ushiyama, who expressed awkwardness and hesitation. For the Ainu, the brains of animals were a delicious culinary delicacy and whenever she had the opportunity, the young girl offered it to everyone. In addition, they had the philosophy that everything should be used, otherwise it was disrespectful to the spirit of the animal that was sacrificed.

"Don't you like to eat brains, Professor Penis?" she asked, making an exaggerated beggar face, her eyes shining. "Sugimotooooo, it's hinna, right?"

"Hinna, hinna!" he replied, his face like a child while savoring his favorite food.

Asirpa offered it to Ushiyama again, which he accepted this time. When he looked at Yuki and Ogata, they both refused. A drop ran down Yuki's head when faced with Ushiyama and Sugimoto's judgmental looks. The little Ainu prepared the woodcock's innards on the makeshift board and, with a machete and bayonet knife, began to cut.

"Time to cut everything in citatap!" She said. "Professor Penis, please say citatap while you grind it."

"Citatap, citatap…" He obeyed as he ground the meat.

Yuki, on the other hand, refused to speak at first, but when he finished, he let out a low, barely audible, unique "citatap", much to Asirpa's delight. Ogata ground the meat without saying anything, his face expressionless.

"Asirpa! Ogata is not saying citatap!" Sugimoto raised his hand like a child who betrays his colleague to the person in charge.

"Ogataaaaa~... What's the problem huh?" She asked, with a mischievous expression. "Everyone said citatap, you have to say it too…"

"…"

She sighed.

As they ate, Asirpa told the group a cute Ainu love story about woodcocks. She was being so nice during these moments, Yuki thought , as he watched Asirpa's excitement as she told the story. That hunt for stolen gold had so much tragedy involved, but it too, provided them with these warm, quiet little moments of peace and union. It felt strangely uncommon. Yuki took a deep breath at his own thoughts, then looked at Ogata out of the corner of his eye, and was surprised to see that Ogata was looking at him back. Yuki got the impression that there was some amused curiosity in his gaze. Yuki closed his eyes a little and turned his attention to his own food.

It was in the middle of the night and late enough for the fire to have gone out. Yuki slept on his back and shifted restlessly, grinding his teeth in his sleep. When the tears welled up, he woke up suddenly with a silent gasping cry. Another damn nightmare. It happened sometimes and he always woke up crying. He hated but couldn't control it. He then sat up and looked around to make sure no one heard or woke up to his agitation, sighing in relief to see that everyone was still asleep. He looked at Ogata, who had his eyes closed, sitting with his back against a tree, the rifle in his arms.

Not even in his sleep he lets go of that rifle…

Yuki felt his throat dry and got up to go drink water from the stream that was close to the camp. He unbuttoned the two first buttons of his shirt so it wouldn't get wet as he washed his face with cold water. He sat there on the bank and watched the night sky, looking at the stars.

"Thirsty too?" Yuki was suddenly asked.

Yuki heard the sounds of leaves being stepped on and Ogata appeared through the bush, aiming the rifle almost touching the back of Yuki's head. Yuki smiled and remained recklessly still.

"Why have you been doing this?" Ogata's voice was expressionlessly calm.

"This what?" Yuki asked, his voice as cold as his blue eyes at that moment. "Ah, so you found out that day… How careless of me," he chuckled.

Ever since that day at Edogai's house, ever since he discovered Yuki's secret, Ogata couldn't help but see the details now so clear. How had he not noticed all this time? Every time he'd passed through Second Lieutenant Hagiwara in the army's halls, and even days ago, hadn't he noticed? It was annoying and ridiculous.

"What is your point in dressing like a man?" he asked, serious and expressionless. "If you're trying to hide from someone I guess it's been too much time doing it, don't you think?"

Yuki got up carefully and turned around to face Ogata's stare. The sniper was a foot taller than Yuki.

Hagiwara's features were so obvious that the idea that no one ever noticed was ridiculous. The slightly rounded contour of Yuki's face, the long eyelashes and the lips a little fuller than a man's. Even the finesse in the timbre of Yuki's voice was obvious to him now. How the hell did no one in the goddamn army, including himself, be able to notice in all this time?

"You are a woman," Ogata stated matter-of-factly, his voice serious. Yuki thought there was a little sign of anger in his voice. "Why did you enlist and pretend to be a man all this time?

Yuki stared at him, expressionless, and Ogata wondered for a mere second if that was how others saw him. Cold and expressionless. Such an inconvenience for Yuki that they were having that dialogue so soon. She'd been discovered, she'd been careless, and now she had no choice but to explain. It was either kill him or be killed. Yuki didn't want either of those two options. It would be better to tell him her story.

"I do this for myself or is that a problem?" Her voice was as cold as ice. "There was no better way of living."

"It's hard to believe how the army could give anyone a better life to live. Did you just want to play soldier?"

Yuki smirked."Observant and smart, but still such an idiot," She said and saw that he narrowed his eyes, still waiting for an answer. "My mother died giving birth so I was raised by a man who used to be the brothel's keeper where my mother was a prostitute. The problem was that she had fallen in love with someone. The man got mad at her so he imprisoned her so she could never see the costumer she fell in love with again. The costumer came the next few days looking for her until he didn't leave(?)when he was told she left. But months later everyone in the brothel found out my mother was pregnant. The pregnancy ruined her life, you see…

Yuki smirked at that memory. "At least, that was what the other women told me about her, one day, when I was old enough to know the truth. When I turnedseven years old I started to be like a slave to the brothel keeper because, in his words, I had to pay him back for for all the cost I was to him since I was born. . . ."

Yuki looked over Ogata's shoulder to check if the others were still asleep. He paid attention to her. He couldn't believe it, no. Yuki was a prostitute's child, a unwanted one who suffered her whole life because of it. Ogata, at least, had his grandparents around when he was a little boy and whom he was fond of. Yuki had nobody. Literally, nobody who could help her in her miserable childhood.

"Well… I was beaten every day. Every fucking day. I was beaten so much that after a while I didn't even feel anything anymore. I didn't react or defend myself anymore either. Defending myself just made him angrier. Being beaten wouldn't make me become a weak woman like my mother and then he could make me a prostitute for his brothel, saying I should never ever fall in love with the costumer like didn't give a shit about me ever. All he wanted to do was make money.. " She scoffed.

"After all, at least I was born with a pretty face and pretty eyes," she said that last part with a disgusted smile. "I wanted to kill him, but… one day he was found killed. Someone killed him before I could do it myself. I don't know who killed him. I decided that if I didn't run away then, I would be a slave for the rest of my life. And then I found myself alone in this world. For a few months I walked and walked and walked, aimlessly, without a home, only with shabby clothes and my bare feet. When I was hungry, I begged for food. When I was thirsty, I drank water with the horses."

Ogata finally lowered the rifle. The sky began to change from its dark color to an increasingly lighter one. It was close to dawn.

"Wandering through a town, I heard someone say that the army was recruiting. They were accepting all men who could fight. That was good, because, you can imagine, I was thin and malnourished." Something started to become more evident in Yuki's eyes. "In exchange, the Army would give me bed, clothes and food. Turns out that… I'm a woman… so I stole men's clothes, cut my hair and enlisted."

Yuki stared at him intensely. Ogata could see some darkness inside those blue eyes. There wasn't remorse within those fierce eyes.

"So yes, the army can provide a better life. Much better than the one I would have if I had stayed there. Besides, I found army's life more interesting anyway… I'd be wasting what I've already proven I am capable of if I had taken a different path…"

The first rays of sun appeared on the horizon. Ogata held Yuki's gaze. He could see better now. He saw now what had confused him earlier. He felt a strange sensation... His obsidian eyes could now see what was hidden deep in those cold moonstone eyes of hers. A strong desire to survive in this chaotic world and get over everything and everyone in the way. Deeper in her gaze, he could see, there was coldness. He knows her ability to kill without hesitation, without any sign of remorse, as he witnessed back at Edogai's house and back in war.

The corner of Ogata's mouth involuntarily turned up in a smile. His eyes recognized the gaze of a warrior. A broken person...

Just like him.