Chapter 1 : A Sin That Can't Be Atoned For

Shinawara, Japan, 2014

"-People have been expressing their worries and hopes on social media ever since it was revealed that the Princess of the Vers Empire would be coming to Earth to restore the peace we once shared. After the tragedies of the First Earth-Mars War and Heaven's Fall, peace is all we can wish for. Many have said that the Versians cannot be trusted and that war is imminent, while others say that peace will not be achieved without taking these risky first steps-"

The sound of the stove started to drown out the mumbling from the TV. Inaho Kaizuka was lost in thought as he prepared breakfast for his older sister, Yuki. If what he heard was correct, history would be made in the few following days. And yet, something kept tugging ar him. He had nothing against Vers or its people but what about the lives lost and families broken because of the previous war? Will the Versians be forgiven so easily for the hell they created?

"I should get going for school now..." He put the food on the table and looked around the house, reminiscing how lonely it was with just him and Yuki. Somewhere in his mind were memories of parents and distant relatives but they were hidden so deep that he couldn't remember much even if he wanted to. He might have even hidden those memories subconsciously because of trauma, but he would never really know.

He saw himself as a strange person. Every day they were taught military procedures and the basics of piloting mechs because of the conflict with Vers, and even though that brought a sense of purpose to others, to him it felt meaningless. It wasn't as if he didn't want to fight for "humanity", but he always felt like an outsider ; a realist who wouldn't, or more properly, couldnt, agree with the way others thought.

And as much as he hated to admit it, he was a bit of a brick wall. No matter what happened, he dealt with the problem at a almost robotic level of efficiency. This made his grades some of the best in the school, but the price was feeling like he wasn't human.

As if to ruin his soulsearching, Yuki ran into the room with the worst bedhead he had ever seen. "Nao-kun, what time is it...?" Her words would have been unintelligible to anyone else with how lazily she spoke, but he understood. He looked at his watch and said with his usual dryness, "They've probably fired you by now." She groaned, "Why didn't you wake me up..." , with her usual morning grogginess.

"I did, Warrant Officer Kaizuka. You should be able to reach the school before your shift starts...probably. Be sure to wash the dishes. I'll be leaving now." He left the room with those words, pretending to not hear her mumbling and groaning as he left.

Yuki worked in Inaho's school as a instructor, so they often rode the school bus together despite Yuki having a car. As soon as Inaho made his way to the bus stop, his friends immediately complained about her absence. His clique contained 5 people, 3 boys including him, and 2 girls. The guys were Calm Craftman and Okisuke ("Okojo") Mikuni, the girls, Nina Klein and Inko Amifumi. How he managed to get so many friends was beyond him.

Calm and Nina came from abroad, which was easily noticed by their blond hair and blue-green eye color, and of course, their names. Inko and Okisuke had black hair common to most Japanese people. Inko's eyes were a beautiful violet, while Okisuke's were brownish-red, similar to Inaho's own.

Nina and Inko were sitting in front of him and the other guys, watching a documentary on their tablet. He could pick up on some bits here and there, such as : "Apollo 17...Aldnoah...abandoned alien technology...Vers.."

Okisuke was sitting on his right and playing on a type of portable gaming device he'd seen at the discount store when picking up some groceries. "Hey Okojo, if you keep spending all your time messing around, you'll never get good grades ya know?" Calm was teasing Okisuke in his usual endearing way. Okisuke retorted, "You were the one who got a C-Minus on our last drill!"

Even Inko joined in, "You guys better watch out, I'm going to dethrone Inaho as the top student in our class. I've been paying extra attention and taking as many notes as I can." She flashed a look towards Inaho smugly. Okisuke laughed at her by saying that no one could best Inaho. While those two were debating about Inko's chances at surpassing Inaho, Calm pointed out the window towards a block of buildings that were surrounded by construction vehicles.

"Reconstruction is still ongoing even 15 years later huh? Back where me and Nina came from, things are even worse.." Calm's expression darkened as he spoke. Inaho knew little about Calm and Nina's pasts but one look at Calm's face said enough that needed to be said. Inaho, unsure of what to do or say, just gently patted Calm on the shoulder.

"Thanks man." Calm flashed a smile that would have made you think that there was nothing wrong with him a minute ago, but Inaho could tell. Inko, who sensed the atmosphere gave Nina a pat on the head, to which she gave a grateful nod.

Seemed that no matter where you went, people's lives had been ruined by the Versians. Or at least, that's what most people would have thought. Inaho felt that the Versians were definitely at fault but also that a conflict of this intensity was bound to happen soon one way or another. If not the Versians, then someone else; someone else would become the scapegoat. He recalled the answer he gave in class when the teacher asked what they defined war as :

"Warfare is nothing but a means of negotiation between states. War will break out even if there is no hatred. As long as there is an objective to achieve or an ideal to defend, there will be war."

"-and so, the discovery of the Hyper Gate on the moon by Apollo 17 led to the colonization of Mars. The Hyper Gate was an relic left behind by an ancient Martian civilization that made transportation between the moon and Mars possible. Soon after Apollo 17's discovery, a scientist and archaeologist by the name of Troyard found yet another relic of this alien civilization hidden underneath the ruins of a temple on Mars ; a strange form of energy named "Aldnoah". Those who migrated to Mars started to create weaponry and inventions using the new-found Aldnoah technology, which in turn led to the creation of the Vers Empire and the beginning of our long-standing conflict with them. The First Earth-Mars War started in 1999, when the Vers Empire declared war on Earth. "Heaven's Fall" is the name given to the first, and most brutal, battle of the war. In a catastrophic turn of events, the Hyper Gate went out of control becuase of the fighting and self-destructed, causing entire chunks of the moon to rain down on Earth's cities, killing millions. The Orbital Knights Of Mars, Vers' army, unable to go back to Mars, but fully equipped with Aldnoah technology, took refuge in the Satelite Belt and continued their assault on Earth. One of the many battles against them took place right here in Japan, on the island of Tanegashima-"

At hearing the name of Tanegashima, Lieutenant Marito started to shake with anger. He was a teacher at Shinawara High School, and as of that moment, he was watching the students do drills with their mechs as a lesson played over the speakers . "Damn those upper brass...they put the guns in the hands of these kids like it's a toy but don't tell them the truth..." Marito lamented, feeling more and more sickened the more he watched.

The mechs the students were piloting were known as KG-6 Slepnirs, a orange-colored training unit. The students were practicing on an open field while the Lieutenant was sitting inside a small one floor building with windows providing a full view of the students outside. For a second he saw his reflection against the window glass and sighed. His face had lost the shine it once had, and his eyes had a emptiness to them that scared him. His brown hair was a bit ruffled but otherwise okay, he brought out a comb and combed it out a little bit, chuckling that it wasn't going to make him look any younger.

"Sorry for being late!-", Yuki Kaizuka opened the door and came in. Marito gave her a nod and straightened his tie as she walked in. Officer Kaizuka was the kind of person who made you want to be at your best when with her. He had heard from her that she was a sloth at home, but apart from her arriving late a few times, he could sense innate talent within her. The same went for her brother Inaho, who was on the field right now as they spoke.

"Hmm...is that alcohol I smell?" Yuki looked at the Lieutenant suspiciously and eventually he cracked. He averted his eyes, not sure what to say. "Didn't I tell you to not drink on work days? The students will get the wrong idea about you." Yuki scolded him in a way that saddened him for some reason.

"Don't worry. I'm used to being looked down upon." He was leaving the room now that Yuki's shift had started. Yuki couldn't bear to hear the Lieutenant's self-depreciating words and told him before he left, "You are a still a great soldier, don't forget that, Lieutenant Marito."

He looked back one more time before leaving. He locked his eyes with Yuki's but seeing that she wasn't willing to back down, he accepted her comment silently and left.

The sounds of the students firing off their 75mm guns, all of them trying to out-do each other as if it was a game, were all he could hear for the rest of the day.

"...I really do hate this job.."

"Oh? Didn't I tell you to cut down on the alcohol, Lieutenant?" Dr. Soma Yagarai was echoing what Officer Kaizuka had said earlier. Lieutenant Marito was sitting in a bar, chugging down a glass of alcohol out of frustration.

"And didn't I tell you that I can't do my job without drinking?" he put the glass down, making sure to not look at Yagarai as he sat down next to him. "You're doing good work for humanity, giving all of us hope for the future. Wasn't that why you wanted to become a soldier back then?" Yagarai knew Marito for many years, he helped Marito overcome his PTSD after he served in the First Earth-Mars War.

"Seeing those kids like that...all the lies we've fed to them..who's going to make up for it? When they're on the front lines surrounded by mountains of corpses, and they look us straight in the eyes, what will we tell them? When they come face to face with one of those Versian Kataphrakts, they'll know..they'll know that when it comes to Versians, it's never a battle. It's a massacre. We'll be the ones sending them to get gunned down, and the Versians will be the ones gunning them down. In that case..aren't we just as cruel as them? They're children, Yagarai. They should be enjoying their adolescence, that's the responsibility of us adults. To steal that from them is a sin we can't atone for. A sin that won't be forgotten even if all those Versians are wiped out." He asked the bartender for another glass as the doctor listened.

"It's hell out there. War is Hell. I've seen it with my own eyes, we've all seen it. I killed him, doctor. He asked me to put him out of his misery. I killed him with my own two hands, my best friend. The way he looked when his body crumpled, he looked so happy...Just imagine if one of those kids were asked to do the same. The scars they get will bring pride to us adults but they'll become a reminder to those children...a reminder that this is the kind of world they were born into. A reminder, that this is the kind of the world they live in."

-End-