Chapter 4: Standard Briefing (Pak)

Gottverdammat! You'd think that after 19 years, I'd be pretty good at staying alive. But apparently, that's not how things works in the afterlife. Good thing no one really "dies" in the afterlife, but getting a shuriken stuck in your neck still hurt like hell.

I've met some incredible people in my life, but none came close to Shiina. At least in terms of physical prowess. Not only did she manage to hit me with a shuriken from twenty meters away, she was able to correctly determine my ancestral province in Korea. I still had no idea how she managed to do that without even hearing my voice. Maybe it was my looks? Or just a lucky guess? I didn't know the answer, but I learned that she was an amazing fighter.

I figured that Shiina was probably a ninja during the Imjin War. She would have likely served under daimyo Kato Kyomasa, whose troops captured Seoul and Busan. He single-handedly managed to defeat the entire Korean army at the Battle of the Imjin River and was close to concurring all of the Korean peninsula. I had always wondered how he managed to defeat so many troops in such a short time, but after meeting Shiina, I knew the answer. Matsushita was right; when she's on our side, she makes our forces seem a hundred men stronger.

When I woke up, I found myself laying on a sofa inside the principal's office. Someone had hastily wrapped some bandages over my wound. The gash on my neck was gone but the blood on my shirt was still wet. I could still feel droplets of blood rolling down my arm.

"How about you're-the-one-about-to-die-battlefront?" a voice suggested.

"But that sounds like I'm the one about to die!" another voice protested in disgust.

"Flashback Battlefront?"

"If only this were a flashback."

"This is so stupid."

Hearing Shiina's voice sent shivers down my spine. I leapt from the sofa, trying to defend myself against the inevitable attack. But fortunately, nothing happened. Shiina remained in that corner of the room, seemingly blending into the wall.

"Looks like the new guy's awake," someone remarked, "I think we can begin."

"Yes. It's time," Yuri nodded. She clapped her hands. The SSS members stopped talking and jumped to attention. The way those SSS members behaved reminded me of the resistance fighters in France. They were a ragtag band of misfits, but they were very resourceful and determined. They could always put up a good fight when they wanted.

"Attention. May I introduce you to Ralf Jin Pak. He used to be an aeronautics engineer back in Germany. If we can get him down to the Guild safely, we can take the fight against Angel to the skies!" She jumped on the table, pointing her finger in the air. "If we succeed, we may finally defeat her and invoke the presence of god. We can finally find that man in the sky and bring him down to earth."

A loud cheer echoed through the room. Yuri jumped down from the table and put her hand on my shoulder, "And you, Ralf, shall be the one who leads us to new heights."

"I'm not sure if that's possible," I wanted to say. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. Damn. My vocal chords still hadn't healed. I tried to force air through my throat, but I only ended up choking myself. Yep. Still mute. Still inglorious.

I drew a line across my throat. Yurippe seemed to understand. I just bowed to show my appreciation.

"Let's introduce you to our members. That's Hinata," she pointed at a (relatively) normal-looking guy with blue hair, "He used to play baseball for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. We were the two original founders of the SSS." The guy gave me a firm handshake and a warm greeting.

She went on to point outside the window. "Noda is the one who went flying. He's still dead outside."

"And Fujimaki is the delinquent with the sword over there." The guy frowned a little and tightened his grip around his shirasaya, angry at the blunt label.

"Oyama is the sniper in our Battlefront. His only talent is that he doesn't have any." He looked up at me and stuttered a quick greeting.

"TK is the dancer on our team. A wildcard. No one knows his real name, so we all call him 'TK'". The guy danced very strangely, in a style I've never seen before. He greeted me in English. His accent and clothing suggested that he might have been American, but I wasn't quite sure.

"And you've already seen Shiina. I don't think there's much left to be said about her abilities." She still remained in the dark corner, silently surveying the situation. She eyes seemed to light up like a cat's. I didn't dare move a muscle, lest she should attack me again if I made any sudden movements. I stayed frozen until Yurippe pushed me in the opposite direction.

"Don't worry. She won't attack you again," she whispered in my ear. Somehow, I felt a lot less confident.

"And you already met Matsushita and Takamatsu this morning. Matsushita has a 5th degree black belt in Judo, so we all call him Matsushita the 5th. Takamatsu was the top scorer on the Center Shiken college entrance test in Sapporo, and he now serves as our chief of intelligence operations. He once tried some operations with hot air balloons, but let's just say that things did not exactly go to plan…" Takamatsu frowned a little at the comment.

"There are plenty of other SSS members around this school. There's our diversionary unit, Girls Dead Monster, led by Iwasawa. They're a rock band highly popular with the NPCs. And there's also, of course, the Guild, which produces all our weapons."

Yurippe took out two colored photographs and dangled them in front of my face. One showed a group of four girls standing on a stage. They were the four members of the Girls Dead Monster band. There was a girl with long lavender hair sitting behind the drum set. Another girl, with short red hair, stood in the middle, with a confident grin on her face. To her right was a girl with brown hair and a ponytail, staring into the camera. And in the background, there was a blonde girl who bore a strange resemblance to the drummer. They might have been twins.

The other photo showed a large group of workers lined up in some underground cavern. There must have been at least a hundred of them in this photo alone. Most had smiles on their faces, but it was heartbreaking to see how death has unmade so many young souls. Some were dressed in simple work clothes, while others wore protective welding gear and goggles. The words "Guild Staff" were scribbled on the top of the photograph.

"Before we start, do you have any questions, Ralf?"

"I do, but you seem to have forgotten the fact that I still can't talk," I wanted to say. I gestured at my throat again. Yurippe bought over a pen and a piece of paper.

I grabbed the pen and quickly scribbled down all the questions that came to mind:

1.What is the ultimate goal of the SSS?

2.Why are we the ones in this afterlife? What brings us together?

3.What do you mean by "obliterated"?

4.Who are the NPCs? Why are they "not human"?

5.Is Tenshi/the Student Body President really an angel?

6.If so, is there a god as well? Have you met him?

7.Why does the Student Body President want to "obliterate" us?

8.Where is our exact geographical location? Is this afterlife school located in Japan?

9.Do the laws of physics still apply in this world? How does Angel break them?

(P.S. I do not think that I'll be able to create a functional airplane from scratch, especially without proper heavy machinery.)

(P.S.S. Hot air balloons might actually work better.)

(P.S.S.S. My vocal cords are still haven't healed.)

(P.S.S.S.S. I think I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome.)

Everyone chuckled a little upon reading that last part.

Yurippe snapped her fingers. "Takamatsu, turn on the projector. Give him the standard briefing."

The lights dimmed. The projector started to display colored images on a cloth screen. There were various images of the school and of the Student Body President.

"Well… here are the basics," Yurippe began, pointing to a photograph of the school, "You still have amnesia, but all of us here have lived unreasonable, terrible lives. We died young and unfulfilled."

"We all died with terrible regrets," Hinata added, "That's also the reason you're here. You're here because you lived an unjust life."

"Only that you have the great privilege of not remembering anything…" Fujimaki mumbled, giving me a dirty look.

(Go on Youtube and listen to Unjust Life. It's my favorite soundtrack of the anime. Listen to it as you read the following lines.)

A slow melodic tone flowed through the speakers. It was a calm, melancholy duet between a violin and a piano. The music seemed to be calling out for someone. Was it calling out for a memory? Or searching for a loved one? Or maybe both.

Had I lived a terrible life? Did I die unfulfilled? I couldn't remember much, but my life was not good at all. I was separated from my friends and family. A lot my designs failed, and my superiors were threatening to court-martial me. I was working eighteen hours a day, designing, testing and sleeping in the same room. In desperation, I even started using a cocktail of drugs to deal with the stress and pain. But no matter how hard I tried, no matter how hard I worked, I just could not succeed. I was deemed a disgrace. A miserable failure. Something altogether degraded below the level of a man.

"We're all here because we choose to fight back against the unfairness of our past lives. We were never given a fair chance at life," Yurippe was practically shouting. But I could detect a hint of sadness in her voice. I saw her quietly wipe away a tear in her eye.

"God exists; that bastard has to exist for us to be in this afterlife. In our previous lives, death went after people randomly and indiscriminately. But here, we can resist and fight him. Our mission is to search for god. No one has seen him, but we'll drag him out somehow. We'll create a situation where he has no choice but to come out. And after that, I'm gonna give that guy who forced this unreasonable life on us one damn good punch. No… I'm going to give him a thousand punches. I'll beat him into a bloody pulp…" Her voice started to tremble midway through the sentence and then dropped to a whisper. Finally, she fell silent. She looked down. Streams of tears slowed down her cheeks.

Everyone in the room pretended to not notice. Hinata was the one who finally broke the silence: "You see, Ralf, there are those in the afterlife who do not share our hopes for justice and reason. They don't care about us… or humanity. They just want to us to move on. They want us to simply give up our memories, abandon our dreams, and become someone else. We might not even reincarnated as a human. For all we know, we could end up as barnacles. I guess Angel is one of them."

"Angel's goal in this world is to obliterate us. And when we're obliterated, we simply cease to exist. We still don't know if Angel is a human, a NPC, an android, or an actual angel", Takamatsu picked up, "Our intelligence reports are inconclusive. There's evidence to support all four possibilities. She might even be a combination of the four. She has superpowers, which are believed to come from some god. She has no outward emotions, which suggests that she might be a NPC, but she behaves pretty differently from the rest of the NPCs. She's resourceful, and she knows that we're all dead. Most Non-Player Characters do not have souls, and they do not deviate from a set range of tasks. You can point a rifle at them, and they won't react. You can still talk to them, and you can even befriend them. But keep in mind that they're robots programmed to behave like normal people; they are not human."

It was a very disturbing idea. I had spent an entire day talking and playing soccer with machines, and I didn't even realize it. A small part of me wondered if Takamatsu was telling the truth, but there was no reason for him to lie. The thought that Angel was a fusion of man and machine was even more odious. She was unnatural—an unthinking, unfeeling mechanical contraption with a machine mind and a machine heart. I couldn't help but wonder if she had to give up her humanity to attain those powers. Power corrupts. The relentless pursuit of power eventually corrupts your humanity.

"The details regarding the afterlife world is not very clear to us either," Takamatsu continued, "Most laws of physics still apply, but you cannot 'die' unless you get obliterated. This school is called Heavenly Academy. The NPCs say that we are located on Tsushima Island. More specifically, they say that we're located just south of Hanayama Mountain. We've been able to verify that the ocean is located to our north, but we've never really explored all the mountains to the south. We've yet to find any 'boundary' to this afterlife world. It is entirely possible that there may be millions of dead souls in this world, but we've yet to make contact with anyone else. I hope that answers your questions."

I nodded. The melody playing on the speakers slowly ended, with the sound fading into the background. Thank you so much, I wrote down on the paper. Everything makes sense. I will help you in the fight against god and Angel. Show me how I can help.

"Excellent," Yurippe commented. I could see a smile returning to her face. The tears were gone now. She was a strong girl, no doubt. An excellent leader. "Let's give a warm round of applause to our newest recruit!" The sound of applause filled the room just as Noda silently entered the doorway with a confused look on his face. Everyone clapped except Shiina, who still stood in the corner, motionless.

"And here is a present fresh from the Guild," Hinata handed me a wooden box, "They made it just for you. From dirt. They figured that you'd already be familiar with it" I thanked him with a slight bow. From dirt? Must have been an expression of speech, I thought to myself. I opened the box. Inside was a black Walther P38 pistol, just like the one I had back in Germany. One of my superior officers had given me one as a present, even though I had no use for it other than entertainment. I took the pistol out of the box and carefully examined it. Someone had engraved a SSS emblem into the side of the pistol. My name was etched on the other side. Other than the cosmetic alterations, it looked and felt exactly like the Walther P38 pistol used during the war.

Thank you, I scribbled down, I used to own one of these things back in Germany. I know how to use and clean it.

"Great!" Yurippe answered. "Without further to do, let's begin our next mission. After the skirmish last week, our ammunition supply is very low. Plus, we have to get Pak to the guild. So, tonight, we will conduct Operation: Parachute!" A spinning SSS icon appeared on the screen.

There was a collective groan. The word "parachute" was not exactly comforting to me either. Or flying, for that matter. After all, I had fallen to my death.

"We'll be going underground at 1600 hours. Shiina will stay behind to guard the entrance. I'll lead the rest of you guys underground. Hinata, call the Guild and have them deactivate the traps. You have exactly ten minutes to prepare your gear. Operation, commence!"

Jargon Dictionary:

Kato Kiyomasa (1561 – 1611):

Kato Kiyomasa served as a daimyo of the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo period. Born in moder-day Aichi, Owari Province, Kiyomasa was a relative of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and enlisted to fight on his behalf. He soon gained a reputation for skill and bravery in battle and was promoted to a high position in the Imperial Court. He is most famous for his role during the Imjin War. During the conflict, his troops successfully landed in Busan and conquered the Korean capital of Seoul within two months. He was also skilled at defensive warfare, constructing a series of castles that blunted numerous Sino-Korean attacks.

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

Founded in 1946, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters has always been one of the top professional baseball teams in Japan. The team competes in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball and was won two Japan Series titles, in 1962 and 2006.

Sapporo:

The city of Sapporo, with a population of 1.9 million, is the fourth-largest city in Japan. It is the largest city on the island of Hokkaido, the northernmost island of the Japanese archipelago. The city hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics and is famous for its yearly Sapporo Snow Festival. Today, the city's primary economic activities consists of information technology, retail, manufacturing, and tourism.

Tsushima Island:

Located between the Japanese archipelago and the Korean Peninsula, Tsushima Island is the largest coherent island of Nagasaki Prefecture. The island is home to over 34000 residents, who mostly work in the fishing or tourism industry. The island is currently under Japanese administration, although it is claimed by Changwon City in South Korea.

Walther P38

The Walther P38 is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol produced by Walther arms for the Wehrmacht. Designed as a replacement for the P08 "Luger", the P38 was a cheap and effective weapon. During its long service life, it proved to be a sound semi-automatic design capable of operating under the most adverse conditions. About 1 million units have been manufactured, and the weapon is still being used today.