Cast:
Zetsumei Raito
Kira Chigiri
Keikan Kyoukan
Okorinbou Kutabare
Azayaka Bijon
Setsu Aragau
Genzou Dangan
Buatsui Houka
Chapter 1
It's 3 P.M now, and I've been riding this bus for hours. My eyes are cast out a dirty window at a row of buildings, watching soldiers do drills in the yards. It's hard to believe that I'm going to become a soldier now. It's hard to believe that I'm going to be responsible for killing another man, and responsible for keeping myself, and my comrades, alive. Soon I'll become nothing more than an instrument used for killing another human being, and I'll be nothing more than-
"Everyone up!" A voice tore through the silence. I was startled and awkwardly rose to my feet. A tall, mean eyed man dressed in combat fatigues glared at the bus full of new recruits.
"I am Staff Sergeant Keikan Kyoukan. You new recruits are to follow me to the assembly area. It's time to get your squad assignments," he barked. We all followed him off the bus and into a large building. It was full of soldiers, and I noticed an officer behind a desk, motioning for me to come over to him. As I approached the desk, the man sitting behind it sized me up and asked,
"Name and rank?"
"Private First Class Zetsumei Raito, sir." I stated.
"Zetsumei Raito?"
"Yessir."
"I'm assigning you to 3rd squad, Raito. You'll be under the command of Staff Sergeant Kyoukan."
"Yessir."
I walked away, unsure which direction to go. Luckily, I managed to find Staff Sergeant Kyoukan, and I followed him to the barracks. As we turned into the room that was designated for our squad, he sharply turned around and glared at me. I stopped immediately, almost running into him.
"Why are you following me, Private?" he demanded.
"I'm Private First Class Zetsumei Raito, sir. I've been assigned to 3rd squad?"
He stared at me for a bit, unsure what to say.
"Welcome to the squad, Raito. Your bunk is over there." He pointed to a bunk in the corner. "You're sharing a bunk with Corporal Kira Chigiri."
My mind went blank for a second. I was bunking with a girl?
"Corporal Kira Chigiri, sir?"
"Might as well put you in with the rest of the girls. Do you have a problem with that, Private?"
This guy intimidates me.
"No, Staff Sergeant."
"Good."
Almost on cue, a woman dressed in combat fatigues walks into the barracks. She tosses her long, flowing black hair from side to side. She was beautiful. My face flushed red as she took her glasses off.
"Say hello to your new bunkmate, Corporal."
She looked at me with disgust. I blinked.
"With this scrub?" She hissed at me. Her eyes glared into mine. "Just don't try anything."
Staff Sergeant Kyoukan stared at her.
"Why don't you show the new kid a little respect? Take it easy on him."
Corporal Chigiri shoved me aside and walked to her bunk.
"Up yours." She seethed.
"What was that, Corporal?"
"Up yours, SIR."
There was silence.
"I don't have time for this." Kyoukan said, and he promptly left the room, leaving Corporal Chigiri and I alone. I could feel her eyes burning holes in the back of my head. I was too afraid to look back at her.
"Hey, Scrub." She called. I didn't budge. "Wetnose!"
"I have a name." I muttered softly. Corporal Chigiri got off her bunk and walked over to me. She stared right at me as I hung my head.
"What did you say, Private?"
"Nothing, ma'am."
"Damn right, you said nothing. The last thing we need in this squad is a smart-mouthed pretty boy who can't hold his own when the bullets start flying, and I'm going to tell you now that when you're lying in the dirt, spitting up blood, I'm not going to be the one collecting your dogtag. You got that?"
I stood in silence for a bit.
"Pretty boy, ma'am? Are you implying I'm attractive, ma'am?"
She seemed to be caught off guard with this comment. Her cheeks turned red slightly and her mouth hung open. Finally, she managed to speak.
"Shut up, Private. Go grab your weapon from the armory."
"Yes ma'am."
I walked past her and headed down the hall. I didn't need to turn around to know that Corporal Chigiri was still staring at me. As I reached the armory, an officer behind the counter barely glanced at me. He handed me a rifle and a pistol as well as a helmet.
"That's your standard issure M16-A4 assault rifle. Fires on full-auto or semi with 5.56mm NATO rounds. The pistol is a M1911-A1, chambered for .45 caliber ACP rounds. The helmet is your standard Kevlar, but the best shield is just not getting shot. Any questions?"
My head hurt.
"No, sir."
"Good. Report back to your squad, son."
"Yessir."
My head swimming full of thoughts, I made my way back to the barracks. When I entered, I noticed Staff Sergeant had rounded up a few more guys. I focused more on finding out where Corporal Chigiri was. As I worked my way through the crowd, I accidentally bumped into someone.
"Watch where you're going, you blind idiot!"
"Sorry…" I said.
Corporal Chigiri was sitting on her bunk, cleaning her rifle. I walked up to her and she glanced up at me. She had most of the rifle disassembled.
"What seems to be the problem with your rifle, sir?"
She glared at me.
"…I mean, ma'am."
"I'm not sure, Private. Maybe you'd like to stick your head in the barrel and find out?"
I shook my head.
"Then get out of here."
I started to leave the bunk, but just at that moment, Sergeant Kyoukan called out and said:
"Everyone in your bunks! We're doing a nighttime training exercise tonight, and you should all be rested up and ready to go!"
I slowly turned around and stared at Corporal Chigiri. She reassembled her rifle and stared right back at me. I could feel a shiver climb up my spine. I felt a hand rest on my shoulder.
"You're sleeping with her tonight?" a soldier asked. "You're one lucky bastard."
"You're going to be one unlucky bastard if you don't get to your bunk, soldier."
The soldier scurried away, and I stood frozen, staring at Corporal Chigiri. I didn't know what to say, and I simply stood there and swallowed.
"What's the matter, Private? Afraid to talk to girls?"
"No, ma'am."
Then, for the first time, I saw Corporal Chigiri smile at me. It seemed warm and welcoming, which caught me by surprise.
"Well, rest up and hop up on the top bunk, Scrub."
She lay down on the bottom bunk.
"We've got a long night ahead of us."
It was then that I realized I had been staring at her the whole time. I felt calmed by her presence, even if she was slightly intimidating. With her smile, she was absolutely stunning. I couldn't help but think, that possibly that Corporal Chigiri and I are going to-
"You going to gawk at me all night or are you going to rest up, Private?"
I snapped out of it.
"Sorry, Corporal."
She smiled her beautiful smile again and looked at me warmly.
"Please. Call me Kira."
"Alright, Kira."
The following night, we all woke up at 9 PM. We dressed up in our combat gear and headed out the door to an open field. I was still adjusting my helmet strap as I exited the building. During the training exercises, Kira was beside me the entire time. She would glance over ever so often to see if I was doing okay. She seemed much friendlier than she first appeared.
We took a breather to cool down at around midnight. As Kira and I sat off to the side to catch our breaths, the rest of the squad milled about the yard. I started to reflect on the exercises. Kira was in surprisingly good shape. She wasn't even winded by the training and I was huffing and trying to catch my breath. She talked the entire time we were conditioning. Unfortunately, I couldn't pay attention to a word she said. While she was telling me about her childhood, I was struggling with cranking out that last push-up.
We didn't say much to each other, and we simply watched the other soldiers walk about the yard. She looked up at the stars and over at me. I didn't so much as glance at her, my entire body wanted to shut down and go back to sleep. I remained still and silent. Kira and I didn't talk much that night.
The following morning, our squad was scheduled for firearms practice. We grabbed our rifles and pistols and headed down to the range, where targets were placed so far, I could barely see them. We all had our rifles at the ready and we opened fire down the range. As I let loose shot after shot, Staff Sergeant Kyoukan became increasingly impressed with my marksmanship skills.
I was unable to see the bullets hitting the target, but as Staff Sergeant Kyoukan looked down the range, he smiled and seemed impressed with where my bullets were landing. I had a talent for hitting targets, it seems. But down the range, someone was landing perfect bull's-eyes as if he was a marksman expert. I felt beaten.
Later that night, 3rd squad was rounded up and I looked around at the amount of guys in our squad. I counted 7 faces, including mine brought the count up to 8. Five of us being riflemen, two of us being recon, one of us toting a giant machine gun. We decided to introduce ourselves.
"My name is Corporal Okorinbou Kutabare." A mean faced ruffian said. He looked no younger than his mid 30s. His beard was rough and stubby. He looked like one of those bad-asses from the TV shows.
"I don't like any of you, so stay out of my way."
He wasn't friendly, needless to say. Next to speak was a thin, rather frail boy no older than 20. He looked very agile.
"I'm Private Azayaka Bijon, and I was the runner for my high school track team." He turned towards the next person.
"Well, I'm Private Setsu Aragau. Fresh from high-school." Said a young man. Fresh was correct, there was no way he was any older than 18. "And I can't wait to get my first kill."
"Pith and vinegar…" someone mumbled.
"My name is Corporal Kira Chigiri."
No mistaking who that was. Oddly, she didn't say anything after that. Next was a tall, thick-limbed man who towered over the rest of us. He looked very friendly for someone with such an intimidating build.
"I am Private Buatsui Houka. I am being heavy weapons gunner."
He spoke with a thick accent and he seemed under-educated.
"Private First Class Genzou Dangan, sir." A voice crept out from behind the crowd. It was another rather shady looking character. He spoke with a very low tone.
They all turned to me.
"I'm Private First Class Zetsumei Raito." I glanced around nervously.
Kutabare glared at me. My feet wanted to turn and run from him, but I remained frozen in place.
"I don't like that name." He finally said. "I'll call you Waffuru."
Was he naming me after a breakfast food?
"Waffuru it is!" Kira agreed laughingly.
It was from then on that I would be known as Private First Class Zetsumei "Waffuru" Raito. Staff Sergeant Kyoukan cut the laughter and told us to rest up.
"We have a big day tomorrow. We're starting our trip to the frontlines."
We all stared at him in silence. Nobody quite said anything, and an awkward emptiness filled the room. Even Kutabare seemed stunned.
"After two days of training, sir?" Houka managed to say.
Staff Sergeant Kyoukan didn't say a word, but simply nodded and walked off towards his bunk. The group dispersed, leaving Kira and I alone. We stared at each other, unsure if we had heard correctly. I took a deep breath.
"This is it, Kira." I managed to say.
"Whuh?" she mumbled slightly.
"We're going to war."