The place where their house was located used to be the quiet outskirts of the village. It wasn't totally isolated from the main settlement like Kensuke's house was, though, and everything was still connected to the village proper. Kensuke's house had its own septic tank, for example, while theirs was connected to the village through a sewer pipe. But still, the place, the village's border to the surrounding forest, was largely deserted except for their house. For some time they frequently enjoyed a late afternoon stroll under the sunset, nor did they worry about noise at the night, or sometimes during the day.

The landscape Asuka opened the door to was completely different now. 5,000 new settlers from the Tokyo-4 were forcibly migrated to the village, and the slum that popped out after stretched almost to the bottom of the very hill their house was located. Slate make-shift houses looked shabby and dirty even by the standard of the village, and they were scattered without any kind of overarching plan or unity. The place looked like a hurriedly set-up refugee camp. Clotheslines that were connected between the houses were drooping with clothes that were not taken down even at night, and beneath those curtains of dirty clothes were smelly trashes, and dirty water that was sprayed on the soil, congealing. Not too long ago they had a large-scale sewage work done on a similar slum that was formed on the opposite slope of the valley, but this part of the slum was still untouched, due to a lack of materials. People in this part used the water from the reservoir that watered the village paddies, and sewage was just thrown out of the house. It smelled terrible until some rain poured in, then it was bearable for a few days after and slowly returned to its original state. What was worse was the inevitable prospect of disease that would certainly break out in here sooner or later.

The single, bright LED crime prevention light was set up on the high pillar that was erected in one of the alleys. It was very bright, offensively, even, but the slum beneath it was such a maze that a single light source just provided an even darker shadow for many of its alleys. Asuka wondered if that thing was effective at all. It was a quiet night except for some dogs barking in the distance, but that just furthered her anxiety. The manhole she was about to go to was located at the bottom of the hill, originally an empty field when it was dug. The place was inside of the slum boundary now.

Akagi Executive Order 45. The order that forcibly relocated randomly picked 1.5 million residents of Tokyo-4, half of its former population, to various regions in Japan. It has been proved, through the Winter Crisis, that modern Japan cannot sustain such a large metropolis, Wille's official announcement explained. Similar things happened to most of the countries that were still under the direct control of Wille, and Executive Order 45 was the Japanese version of such a measure. Throughout the whole Winter Crisis, Tokyo-4 was a powder keg where everyone expected a riot every day, but ironically enough it was the Order that was announced in spring that really brought out the violent outburst. At first they heard from the radio broadcastings that the autonomous police force would maintain the peace, but about a week later the whole remaining Wille personnel in Japan were mobilized. Sakura Suzuhara, who was on vacation after the North Pacific campaign, went, and even Mari was called too. After that no one heard a thing from them. Not even a letter. All they had were bloody rumors from forced migrants that arrived at the village, and the fact that martial law on Tokyo-4 and its surrounding areas was not lifted to this day yet. No one exactly knew how many lives were lost, though. Asuka stayed by answering the call with a letter of resignation, half out of disgust, half out of unwillingness to leave her new life with Shinji. She was half sure it was Akagi's personal favor that her resignation was accepted, though. She couldn't imagine a grunt-nobody getting out of this the way she did.

Naturally, forced migrants had no means of livelihood, and their relationship with the locals was cold and suspicious at best. Kensuke managed some arbitration, re-allocating farmlands and designating a vacant land to be reclaimed, but many still relied on rationing and the soup kitchen that was set up by Kredit. Shinji worked there as a cook. The air in the village was tense for months now, and, although nothing serious has happened yet, no woman went out alone at night anymore.

"Ughhh, you're driving me crazy."

Looking down at the maze-like alleyways where some parts of it were bright like daytime(Asuka wondered how those who lived in those unfortunate alleys slept at night) and the other parts pitch-dark, she considered just turning back. Put them in the toilet and... it'll probably get clogged. Flush them down two or three pieces at a time? That'll probably take more time than this, especially with the weak water pressure of their house, taking forever to fill the toilet after each flushing. Asuka was angry at this point, angry for being scared of alleys, angry at Shinji for creating this whole situation. She took a decisive step.

Asuka found the sewer manhole in one of the alleys, released the button lock that was put there after a disaster several months ago when the sewage pipe was clogged after migrant families poured their stuff into it. She lifted the lid a bit with a grunt, put it aside about an inch, squatted down and threw the condoms out of the tin can to the smelling hole. She was in a place where she didn't want to spend a minute especially at this time, but nothing major happened, at least until she ran into two men on her way home.

The first thing she saw were two figures on the opposite side of the alley, eye-piercing light of the crime prevention light behind them making only black silhouettes visible. She stopped her track, as they did the same. They were such a stereotypical fat and skinny duo, almost right out of cartoons. Asuka would've laughed if they hadn't started walking directly toward her. She pretended to not notice them and tried to walk away, but the two kept coming to her. Seeing them making no effort to cut her retreat or anything, but doing just an honest advance, she withheld her response and tilted her head instead.

"What do you want?"

The Skinny gazed at Asuka for a moment and turned his head to the Fatty. She saw a cheekbone standing out on the gaunt face and a dirty beard, under the shadow. Fatty, without paying any attention to his friend, slowly took something out of his pants pocket.

If it was a knife or something there was no way to avoid it at this distance. If Fatty's hand had been even a little faster she would've turned and run away. But he was slow enough to not provoke such a reaction. He threw the thing, no, the things he fished out to the tin can Asuka was holding. The pungent odor of sweat and alcohol swept over her, making her almost gag.

"Two. Where's your house? Does it have a place to wash?"

That was pretty unintelligible. She looked down and checked the can first. There were two packs of cigarettes in it.

She clenched her fists, heat rising on her face. At the same moment the Skinny put his hand on Fatty's shoulder. "I told you we took the wrong turn. We should've put the light on our left, not the back."

Fatty finally turned his head to the Skinny. "You didn't say that."

"I did."

"You didn't."

"I did!"

"Never thought you'd be this vicious drinker."

"You're the one who's drunk!"

Asuka, concluding it was best to just ignore and go, stepped aside, but Fatty hurriedly put his hand back into his pocket. "Hey, Miss, how about four packs?" then he put his other hand in the other pocket. "No, six?"

Skinny sighed. From this angle she could now see his bloodshot eyes, flashing nervously. "I'm sorry. It's been a while since he drank."

Fatty looked back at his friend with sincere wounds in his slanted eyes that were so common amongst those who accumulated fats in their cheekbones. "What, you blind or something? She's definitely worth six packs, you'd have a hard time finding a girl like this in Tokyo-2 Shin-Kabukicho in its height."

"That's not a problem, she's a local! She ain't selling her bits for shits!"

Fatty's eyes scanned Asuka up and down. Only then did she realize her state of dress. "If she's not selling why is she dressed like that?"

She knew, at this rate, a murder would happen here-and she had no doubt about who'd be the victim- so she just snorted and walked again. It was something unimaginable in the past, but she did develop some patience by living with the most frustrating man in the world. But Fatty blew his last chance by suddenly reaching out to her.

Asuka stepped back lightly, escaping Fatty's hand, pivoted with her heel and swung the tin can in one smooth action. The can hit Fatty's chin with a resounding crack, and he fell down without even a scream. Two packs of ration cigarettes flew to the Skinny, flashing white arcs under the light of the LED light.

As she took one more step back, the cold feeling of the dirt wall came over her thin shirt. She stood with her back on the wall and watched the motionless Skinny. He was staring right back at her with bloodshot eyes, with his arms hung down loose.

"I don't think he meant something serious, Miss. He probably wanted his cigarettes back, that's all."

Even after seeing his friend losing consciousness in a single strike, his voice betrayed no emotions whatsoever, and that bit of fact alarmed Asuka. She glanced down, and saw something flashing coldly on one of his hands. Small knife, the handle part tied with a dirty yellowed piece of clothes. He noticed her gaze, turned his hand slightly so the knife was hidden from her sight, and licked his lips.

"Can I pick up them packs, please? And check him, too. He could've hit his head or something, it could be serious."

Asuka considered for a moment. "Nice and slow. And put that down."

Skinny lifted his right hand that was holding the knife to his eye level, bent his knees slowly and threw it on the ground between them, all the while keeping his eyes on her. Then, eyes still fixed on Asuka, he picked up packs of cigarettes around at his feet, put them in his pocket, and got up and slowly began to move to Fatty. Asuka moved sideways, keeping an eye on the Skinny, and soon the two exchanged positions. The Skinny groaned, turning Fatty's body, then knelt down next to his head and checked his pulse, and sighed. "I don't think I could move him alone."

Asuka snorted. "Not my problem."

The Skinny stood up, nodding. "Returnees are not used to street rules. They never lived in a world where you could be stabbed over a can, or just a wrong look."

Asuka shook her head and was about to leave, but stopped. She just had to say something, it was that disgusting. "Don't you guys have families? Why are you like this?"

The Skinny burst into a dry laugh. "Very few people have family here. When they organized migration groups for us, they picked people totally random, saying all the administrative records were lost anyway and they had no way to prove who was who's family. This guy here, for example, has a wife and a son sent to Kyushu."

Asuka could believe this story precisely because it was such a ridiculous and flagrant affront to basic human rights. That was one of the most consistent policies of Wille since the Katsuragi era, anyway. She frowned slightly. "And you? I mean, your family."

The Skinny stooped again and raised the Fatty's upper body. "She went to protest, back in spring. She was pregnant, but Wille thugs didn't really care."

It was a stupid thing to do, trying to have a child in this world, Asuka could not say. So she just turned around and left.

"I'm sorry," Asuka heard him say, but she turned the corner without replying. She wanted to see Shinji now. She wanted to slap him. Kiss him. Get hugged. And snap at him.


A heavy silence settled down in the living room. Hikari hugged Tsubame with a stiff face, and the kid looked up at her mother with a surprised face. Kensuke sighed.

"Seems we'll have to increase the size of the night watch. So far I've picked only the most reliable adult men. Maybe I should accept Kaji and some other kids since they want it so badly."

Asuka recalled the lean, gaunt face and the bloodshot eyes she saw yesterday. She had to laugh. No way a 15-year-old kid could deal with such people. "It's too much for the kids."

"I'm not expecting much, either. Just a presence of patrols, knowledge of it, would do more good than harm, though."

Hikari shook her head at that. "Asuka is right, Kensuke. Remember when we were that age? When you were 14? You were a silly otaku with a camera."

"I was, when we were 14 years old. When I was 15, I... At that time, Toji was..." Hikari turned her head sharply and looked away. Kensuke also closed his mouth abruptly. Asuka looked between the two with curious eyes. Before this village was established and their life was settled somewhat, Toji Suzuhara did some nasty things to keep them alive, that much she heard. What exactly were those things, she didn't have a clue. Not like she was about to ask, though.

Kensuke opened his mouth again with a stiff look. "Shikinami and Ikari were doing more when they were 14 years old."

Asuka lifted her cup, now completely tepid, took a sip and put it down again. "I don't think that's a good standard."

Kensuke stood up from his seat with a wry smile. "Sure, it's not a good standard. But this situation we're trapped in is not good either. Well, I think I've heard everything I need to hear now," Hikari tried to get up to see him off, but Kensuke waved his hand and sat her down. Asuka kept her seat from the start. "It's alright. And, Shikinami, I hope this misunderstanding gets settled. I don't think Toji had any ulterior motive."

Asuka just shrugged. "Dunno."

After Kensuke left, Hikari left Tsubame to Asuka for a while and headed to the kitchen with Kensuke's cup. Asuka put her hands under the child's arms and lifted her up like a doll. The kid giggled with delight. She was chubby, heavier than Asuka initially thought. Asuka snorted and peered into the innocent face. Her eyes, and skin color reminded her of Hikari. Good for the kid, not taking after that monkey, Asuka figured. As she did that, her thoughts wandered to how would her child look like. She started to see her own eyes on Tsubame's face. Asuka shook her head and pushed away the absurd idea. Instead, what came to life in her mind was a burning Tokyo-4 and a pregnant woman, strewn like a rag doll on the ground, with numberless bayonet wounds on her belly.

Having a child in this brave new world. What a bold dream indeed.

"So, Asuka," Hikari's soft call ended her reverie. She took Tsubame from Asuka's hands and returned to her original seat, across from Asuka. "So, did you make up with Ikari after that?"

Asuka noticed at once that Hikari was avoiding the original subject, her husband's conspiracy, or at least Asuka's allegation of it, but she didn't comment on it.

"Well, we fought again after that."

Hikari raised her eyebrows. "Why? Did something else happen?"

Her head started to throb, so she pressed her temple with one hand. "I went home, and that idiot was..."


A/N: Chapter 3 in Korean was finished at the same time I uploaded this chapter 2 to FFN. This thing should be finished with chapter 4 if my original draft isn't drastically altered.