"Can't believe what Soma had to go through that," Claire said to herself as she stared at the disc in her hand, she watched its contents after realizing she had it and forgot to give it back to Sakaki. Once the elevator door opened she made her way over to Dr. Sakaki's lab and Claire pressed a button to open the door. Sakaki looked away from his monitors for a moment, wondering who entered.
"Ah, Claire. What can I do for you?"
"You've dropped this before," Claire said as she placed the disk next to one of the monitors.
"Ah, yes. I can be absentminded indeed. Thank you for picking this up. Needless to ask, you didn't... watch it, did you?"
"Uh..." Before Claire could say anything, Sakaki continued.
"No, of course not. Merely old memories. A youth long past. Ah, that does remind me though. I needed to call you in any way. I'd like you to obtain the core of a certain Aragami. The Director left it to me to assign this task while he's gone."
Claire looked down started to feel a little exhausted from the recent mission. "Is this those 'special missions' the Director was talking about?" Claire thought.
Without noticing Sakaki walking over to her and standing right in front of her. "No one need know of this. Yes? Not the Director... No one." Claire leaned back after Sakaki got uncomfortably close. "To be fair, I've assigned the task to Soma as well. Good kid, Soma. I would be ever grateful if you could figure out a way to solve this together." Finally, Sakaki took a step back before he continued. "Oh, and atop that, congratulations are in order. I hear you have been recently promoted. Well, congratulations."
"Uh, thank you..."
"Now then, tell me... Have you ever heard of the Managarm Project?"
"Y-Yes."
"There was nothing admirable about that research. No, nothing at all. It cost me, dear, dear friend. And poor Soma was left behind, to shoulder the burden of all that darkness on his own. And I... Well, I am ashamed to admit I am responsible in part of his rage." Once again Sakaki got uncomfortably close to her. "I was hoping—in fact, I would be your debt—if you could reach to Soma. Befriend him."
"Okay. I'll do that."
"Oh, I am deeply sorry. I haven't even put any consideration into that injury of yours. Why is it by the way?"
"It's fine. I should be able to go back into duty now."
"Excellent! Well, I'll leave that mission I assigned to you." Claire nodded and walked out of the room to get ready for the mission.
In the lobby, Claire had finished preparing for the mission and was just about to head out when she was called out by someone. She looked back to see Alisa walking over to her. "Off on another mission?"
"Yeah, so, what do you need?"
"I just wanted to remind you to not do anything reckless."
"I know."
"Good. As long as you know. I'll let you go now."
"Alright, see you later," Claire said as she turned to leave.
Just like yesterday, Claire was called down to the Sakaki's lab for another secret mission. The moment she entered the room Sakaki once again moved uncomfortably close. "Greetings! So sorry to keep summoning you in. Haha! I have a certain special favour to ask of you today. As before, I will be sending you on an Aragami Extermination task. I've taken the liberty of arranging your team myself. Alisa, Sakuya, and for a third... Kota! That will be plenty. Don't fret over mustering up more God Eaters. I've contrived to make this seem a routine, every day, totally normal mission. Well, that's all. Thank you. Good luck. Fight well. Dismissed."
Claire nodded and turned to leave. Once the door closed behind her and she signed a little. "Another secret mission. I wonder why he wants it to look like a normal mission." Claire once again sighed before continued down the hallway. "Whatever, It's an order. I just have to follow it."
In the cold, snowy mountains near the old shrine, Claire's 1st unit team chased down a very injured Chi-You. Claire noticed it was running towards the cliffs and guessed it was trying to leave the area, and once the Chi-You stopped near the cliff and was ready to fly out of danger. Claire jumped at the Aragami and ended it with one final swing of her God Arc. "Sakaki wanted this to be a normal mission, but it was just a normal mission. There wasn't anything odd about it. What's going on?" Claire thought.
Everyone gathered around the Aragami with Claire standing next to it ready to extract the core, Alisa switched to her God Arc to its gun form and everyone watched the area to make sure no Aragami tried to sneak upon them. Claire took a stance and the God Arc was ready to devour the Aragami, and she was just about to devour it and take its core when suddenly a voice called out to them. "Please, all of you, hold your Arcs." Claire reverted her weapon into its blade form and turned around to see Soma and Sakaki walking towards them.
"Huh?" Sakuya looked surprised and confused as to why Sakaki was outside the safety of the Far East Branch.
"Doc, why are you here?" Kota asked.
"Worry not, all will be explained in time," Sakaki said. "Leave that Aragami there for a moment. Come with me I've something to show you." Sakaki turned around and started to walk down the stairs. Everyone started to follow him as they were curious about what he was talking about.
Ten minutes had passed by and everyone waited patiently for something to happen for what exactly they didn't know. Sakaki reached inside his robe and pulled out a pocket watch, he opened it and stared at it for a moment before putting it way. Once he looked back he noticed something walking towards the Aragami. "There! Look, it's come! I knew it would!"
Everyone watched as a person climbed on top of the Aragami and started to pick it apart and eating the piece it tore off of it. Everyone charged after the strange person and it stopped eating once it heard noises behind them. The strange person slowly turned around and watched as everyone surrounding the Aragami corpse. "Um... I... I am... H-Hungry." The person said who appeared to be a little girl.
"Whoa!" Kota said.
Everyone carefully watched the girl to sure she doesn't try anything. "Welcome, welcome! Good to see you! It certainly took a while to took you to show yourself, hm?" Sakaki said as he walked over to everyone. "Thank you, Some, for all your help in bringing her here. Oh, there's just so much I must know! So many opportunities!"
"I'd appreciate an explanation more than your thanks, Doctor," Soma said.
"The little lady was quite determined. It wouldn't appear when we needed her to, so I took a chance and eliminated all of her natural prey in the region. Hahaha! Can't ignore hunger forever, whether it's your favourite or not." While Sakaki was explaining, the little girl watches everyone curiously.
"You are devious, Doctor, and I don't know whether that's a compliment..." Soma said.
"Uh, hey, so... I'm just gonna ask the question on everyone's mind... who the hell is this kid?" Kota asked.
"Ah, of course, of course. We probably shouldn't be speaking out in the cold like this. All will be explained at the lab. So sorry to keep you all in the dark. Uh, you will join us, yes?" Sakaki said to the little girl.
"I am hungry!" She said like those were the only words she knew.
"Yeah?" Soma said.
"I... I am... hungry?"
Back at the den, Claire found it rather strange that they needed to sneak her in Sakaki's lab without anyone else knowing. They stood around the girl as she sat on the floor. While they listened to Sakaki's explanation, the next thing he said surprised everyone in the room. "Wha-what?!" Everyone screamed as they took a step back in shock.
"Did you just say what I think you just said you said?" Sakuya said.
"I can say it again, but I assure you it will be no different. This is an Aragami."
"No way. Mm-mm. No!" Kota said.
"What? How?!" Alisa said.
"How many people did she eat?!" Claire said.
"Now, now, be at ease. I promise on my scientist's honour that this Aragami has no desire to eat you." After Sakaki said that everyone started to ease up. "Aragami are monsters, yes, and they all share a certain trait. We refer to it as their "Bias". You follow?"
"It's an Aragami's coding. Their predatory nature." Alisa started to explain in case anyone didn't know. "Our God Arcs have the same thing. That's how they innately know to devour."
"Correct as usual, Alisa. These sorts of things are second nature to a God Eater of your calibre."
"Wait... what?" Kota said not understanding what they just said.
"Of course..." Soma said not at all surprised by Kota's reaction.
"This Aragami's Bias is unlike any before. It has predilection only towards beasts of a higher order. As far as she's concerned, we puny humans don't even register as a kind of food. You see, this is the common misconception. Aragami aren't simply born with the characteristics of other life forms! Not at all! They simply advance at a breakneck pace as they devour more and more each day. As a result, all the possibilities of evolution are condensed into such a short period of time! Choices and change come rapidly. And those moments make an Aragami precisely what it is!"
"So you're telling me that this... child..." Sakuya said.
"Exactly! As all humankind did, she found a set of skills and stalled there in her process. It's quite remarkable. She's an Aragami evolving in the same way a human might."
"This child is both? An Aragami and a human?" Soma said.
"Yes. Well, no. Well, based on the examinations I ran earlier... Her cranial nerves and synapses—Oracle cells acting as cranial nerves and synapses—function precisely as a human's might. She has an incredible capacity to learn as evidenced by her use of language—and she holds much potential."
"All right, so Doc," Kota said as he raised his hand in the air.
"Yes, Kota?"
"I think I followed along and got the gist... Okay, it was over my head. But regardless, I'm a little confused. So she talks a lot about food, about "being hungry"... What exactly do you think she means?"
"Food!" The Aragami girl said.
Kota quickly took a panicked stance once the word left her mouth. "Eeep! Cause you know, it's a little ominous."
"The Bias of an Aragami dictates its dinner choices. As a rule, they will not partake of anything like unto themselves. You understand?" Sakaki explained the situation. "That said, in times of dire need—uh, now—they'll gobble up anything they can get mitts, paws, or claws on. Survival comes first, after all."
Everyone in the room besides, Soma, back away in fright wondering if they're next on the menu for the Aragami girl. Said Aragami stared at them with a curious smile. "Of course that's just an exception to the rule, like all good rules must-have." Sakaki chuckled a little as everyone eased up a little. "The word Aragami is merely an epithet for the creatures. It emerged shortly after their arrival. Many of these monsters appeared in the shapes of 'Gods' or God-like beings. And here's the rub. What thought process, what evolutionary trick, caused them to adopt such forms? They emulate creatures humanity has worshipped for ages. And how did we come to worship them? This Aragami child bucked that trend. She managed to instead emulate a human. it's beyond rare; it's unheard of! But I digress, and I ramble, and I think you are all well and thoroughly matched by this study group."
"Is this why you sent out to kill that Aragami? So you can study... uh, her?" Claire asked.
"Yes, that is correct."
"Huh... I never expected this in my God Eater career."
"With that done. I'll leave you with this—and I think it best—let's keep this little secret amongst ourselves, hm? No need to let the news get out and about."
"Doctor, certainly we'll have to report to the adviser... to the Director," Sakuya said.
"Miss Tachibana..." Sakaki walked over to Sakuya before he continued. "You are an exalted God Eater. A stalwart defender of humankind. Noble and brave. Do you mean to tell your superiors that I, in your trust, stole an Aragami, smuggled her to the forward command, and plan to keep her?"
"Well... I... Well, um..." Sakuya was at a loss for words as she realized the situation she was in and all she could do was a sigh. "No... But why?"
"Did I not mention that? I thought I mentioned that. Because she's a valuable sample! Simply perfect to further my own personal research. Nothing more than that. Very simple. Oh, fret not. I've taken great pains to ensure this section has unique communications and offset security protocols. It's very, very safe." Sakaki lowered his voice that only Sakuya could hear it. "And I'm sure you wouldn't want anyone to pry into your... shall we say, private affairs, Miss Tachibana?" Sakaki then started to speak at the usual volume. "Not to mention that you are already on the hook as my accomplices. Best to simply go along with it, yes? Yes."
"I am hungry!" The Aragami girl said once again.
"Most important, I'd believe that the young girl needs some friends. I feel she will find a particular affection for you, Soma."
"You're out of your mind! She may play pretend well, but she is not a human, just an approximation. She's still a monster on the inside." Soma stormed out of the room.