This chapter was a long time coming. Honestly, it's the one I've been looking forward to writing the most since before I started writing my first chapter since this was the part of the game where I decided that I was going to write this fic. I just loved it that much. Really happy with how this came out, and yes, it's not exactly like the game. You won't be disappointed or bored with this one. I got you guys. Don't worry.

...

"What did I do wrong?" I ruminated relentlessly throughout the night as I tossed and turned in my bed for several hours. Now penetrating the mostly cloudy sky, the light of the rising sun illuminated my room and indicated to me that bed time would have to be postponed until later tonight.

As I trudged along to my bathroom to get ready for the day, the last few words of my not-so-friendly exchange with Suzaku from yesterday played over and over again in my mind.

"You were out of control!"

"How exactly?" I asked myself as I rinsed my face with ice cold water hoping that the newfound sense of alertness gained from the frigid splashes would somehow make the purple bags under my eyes seem less conspicuous. "I was just standing up to some bullies. Earlier in the day, you said that was a good thing."

I got changed and began to head outside.

"You could've killed him!"

My groggy strolling shifted to a stiffening tramp. "I wouldn't do that. I'm not a killer."

I thought back to the increasing rage that bubbled inside me as I had constricted the neck of the blue-haired student. Vividly, I remembered how the corners of my mouth pulled downward in a deepening glower while my intensifying seething breath struggled to pass through my gritted teeth, and my eyebrows continued to lower and press together as the bully's struggling began to weaken up to the point before he lost consciousness.

With the clear image of his purpling face in my mind, I came to a halt and stared at the ground with sunken eyes. "I wasn't going to go through with it. I would've stopped myself... right?" I shook my head vigorously to cut myself off and hurried toward the main entrance.

"Gotta make sure I keep up my punctuality streak." I remarked while holding up my index finger in postulation. "Praise be to the various Shinto gods - or whichever ones I probably worshipped - for my unyielding sense of discipline." I mused with a faint smirk and a vague shrug.

Making my way toward the top of the stairs, I couldn't help but notice how vacant the courtyard was. Realizing the time, I figured that it made sense given that the remainder of the students didn't have an all night head start to get ready for the day. They were still in bed or likely just getting up.

While waiting for the only person whose mere presence could likely assuage even the darkest of my moods, I stared out at the horizon and attempted to quiet my racing mind.

Some time passed, and the formerly empty campus grounds slowly began to teem with the bodies of groggy teenagers, who organized themselves in their familiar social circles.

Despite my best efforts to suppress any further recollections of last night, the words: "You don't understand" echoed in my head.

"Maybe I don't," I scowled bitterly as my narrowing gaze surveyed the increasing number of academics across the landscape. "But maybe I do."

If last night was any indication of what was to come for me should my 95% degree of certainty about my Japanese heritage increase to 100% after today, then all of these people would become my enemies, and the approach of the green-eyed loyal lapdog, who lost his will to fight back wouldn't cross my mind. I would defend myself and likely lose the only place I could realistically call 'home' in the process.

"But it's not like anyone else has to know," I thought hopefully. "I mean, should I find out for sure, it's not like I have to go back to any of it. I have the potential for a good life here."

I shook my head. "What am I saying? How is that all that much different from being an Honorary Britannian? If anything, it's worse. Not only would I be living it up in this comparative paradise in contrast to the post-apocalyptic ghettos, but I'd have the extra benefit of nobody knowing who and what I really am and therefore experience no discrimination at all."

As I reclined on the pavement, I looked upward. "Am I a coward?"

"Okay, maybe a few people could know? I mean, there's already Kallen and Suzaku, and not only that, but the one thing he and I could agree on is that the student council wouldn't mind either way. So, it's not like it would be a secret to *everyone* anyway."

I shook my head with more intensity. "That's no better than living a double life. I'm so confused."

Suddenly, my existentially depressing thoughts and feelings that would derail even the giddiest of hyenas were interrupted by the familiar sound of an approaching vehicle.

In order to get out of my somber sulking, I gave myself simultaneous light pats on my cheeks to prepare myself to greet her.

"Hey Kallen!" I said with a bit more excitement than usual.

As she approached me, she assessed the unusually empty stairwell. Eyes discreetly shifting from side to side, she returned the greeting with a noticeable smile. "Good morning, Rai."

"Don't worry. It's just us today!" I reassured while spreading my arms outward for emphasis.

"I see that," she remarked before doing a double take at my face. Taking a slight step forward and just barely breaching the perimeter of my personal space, she observed with surprise, "Your bruise is gone."

My heart skipped a beat due to our new record for increased proximity, and I placed my hand on my cheek. "Oh. Is it?"

The way she slowly and subtly tilted her head from side to side as she thoroughly examined my countenance excited a new level of bashfulness I never thought possible. Unable to hide my embarrassed expression, I put my hands behind my head and turned around with a large awkward step. "Maybe it's just all the icing I've done. Honestly I don't think it's a big deal. I mean sure, I heard that purple and green were both the 'in' colors this year, but I guess I'll just have to make due with the plain look instead and hope for the best."

As impervious as ever to my charm, Kallen remarked, "I've never heard of bruises healing that fast."

"So how was everything at the doctor's office?" I redirected with the hope that a change in subject would make me less awkward than a giraffe trying to limbo.

"Huh?"

"You know, your doctor's appointment. The one that made you miss school yesterday?"

"Oh, that." She paused for a few moments before continuing, "It went well. Everything's fine."

I took a short-lived hiatus of my own as I hoped in vain that she'd give me a reply that was a little longer than an aphorism out of a fortune cookie. "I'm happy to hear everything's okay."

Her sullen energy lifted slightly, "Are we still heading to our agreed location today after school?"

"Yyyeah. Of course. Why wouldn't we?" I quickly forced out a painful smile that would've instantly gained me the lead role as a monster in a horror flick.

"Good. I'm glad to hear it."

She just started to approach the door while I was busy doing my best impression of an alien doing its best impression of a happy human. The only problem was that no one was buying it, or at least Kallen wasn't. "Everything okay?"

"Never better! Let's head to class!" my voice cracked as I raced past her.

...

Remember how I said that the outskirts of the ghetto looked like a post-apocalyptic hell hole? Yeah, you might want to rethink that because that's what I was doing. Sure there was all that broken glass along with rats and homeless people galore, as well as an incomprehensible stench, but compared to what I was seeing now, you'd think that the outskirts were like an amusement park struggling to make things work on its opening night - nothing a little TLC couldn't fix.

What I was seeing today, however, was on a whole different level. What was most disturbing to me wasn't the numerous collapsing buildings that leaned against one another unevenly in an attempt to remain standing, nor was it the gaping holes with pits presumably so deep that they probably went straight to hell - assuming we weren't already there, that is - that littered some of the streets. It wasn't even the missing chunks of several of the nearby structures that looked as though Godzilla needed a mid-raid snack. No, it was none of those things. Instead, it was the quiet - the all too deafening silence that my brain couldn't process as I pointlessly listened for movement or any other evidence of life.

Turning toward Kallen I asked, "The other day you said people still live here. Are you sure? It looks like a literal ghost town."

"The Japanese keep mostly to themselves. After losing the war, their spirits were broken..." She trailed off in a grim whisper.

"And let me guess, they just live day-to-day in survival mode while anticipating the worst?"

Kallen nodded in disgust.

Unable to contain my rage, the words "How can anyone be so cruel?!" came rushing out of my mouth and echoed across the desolate ruins of the once proud and noble city.

Not anticipating such an emotive response out of me, Kallen blinked in surprise while trying to contain her own animosity. "This is the way of Britannia. The victors trample on the defeated to keep them in line."

I reeled uncomfortably. "You know how the other day I said I thought I might be both Japanese and Britannian? I hope I'm wrong. I don't know how I'd process it if I had any relation to those monsters."

Becoming aware of my current audience, I held my hands out in front of me and quickly rattled off, "Not that I think every Britannian is bad, of course! I mean, everyone from the student council seems great, and you're pretty much my only real friend, and-"

My rambling came to an abrupt halt when I noticed a familiar structure in the corner of my eye.

Catching this, Kallen asked, "What is it? Do you recognize something?"

"That over there." I pointed while hurrying over to the recognizable ruin.

Keeping up pace with my brisk jog, Kallen asked in confusion, "A staircase?"

"Yeah." I remarked thoughtfully while taking in the sight.

We arrived at a lone, broken stairwell leading to nowhere that was held up by and attached to a wall. I wasn't sure why, but something about it seemed nostalgic.

Fleeting images flashed in my mind, and I stretched my brain to its maximum cognitive output as I struggled to grasp onto at least one memory. After several moments of painstaking concentration, a single still frame occupied my head space. It was all blurry, but I think I saw what resembled the lifeless body of a girl with jet black hair lying on top of a staircase. Beneath her was a pool of blood. I continued to do my best to force my brain to recall more, but my efforts came up short.

"Rai, what's wrong?" Kallen asked with concern.

"What do you mean?"

Noticing the direction of her gaze coupled with a watery sensation dripping down the left side of my face, I said "That's weird." I used my sleeve to wipe the tear. "I don't know where that came from."

"You remembered something, didn't you?"

"It's probably nothing." I dismissed.

Kallen stood tall and pressed me further by looking me directly in the eye. She only said my name, but her tonality was different. It wasn't the sweet, nurturing gaze that she often employed, which usually cut through my defenses like a hot knife through butter. This time, she made use of a tone that was more akin to that of a drill sergeant to cut through my bullshit, and goddamn was it working. It's a little scary to be honest - extremely attractive in its own right, but jarring nonetheless.

"Well, it's not much to go by, but I thought I saw a girl - a young girl with black hair." Wincing uncomfortably, I finished, "She was... dead."

Kallen's eyes softened with sympathy, "Was it someone you knew? Somebody close to you?"

"Maybe? I don't know for sure. It all seems hazy for some reason, but that's not everything." I hesitated for a moment before mustering up the strength to finish. "The more I look around here and the more I see," I turned to take everything in once again. "It just all looks familiar somehow. It's like deja vu. I can't say for certain if I've been here specifically, but I know I've been somewhere like this before."

"Deja vu? Are you sure?"

I nodded uncomfortably while dreading her confirmation of my suspicions.

"Then it's possible you've been here, or some other ghetto in the past."

"Meaning?"

Kallen's eyes squinted slightly as the corners of her mouth turned upward. "Given everything we've learned about you so far, I think it's very likely you are Japanese."

My shoulders began to sag as I tapped my chin thoughtfully, "Japanese, huh?"

"What's wrong?" Kallen inquired as her cheery disposition slowly deflated.

"What makes you think something's wrong? I'm as chipper as can be." I said flatly.

"Aren't you happy that you've learned something about yourself?"

There was something about way she tilted her head and raised her eyebrows slightly as she leaned toward me that practically forced me to spill my guts.

"Nothing gets by you, does it?" I sighed while putting my hands in my pockets. "Okay, you got me." I straighted as I prepared to open up.

Then out of nowhere, the sound of artillery fire reverberated nearby. Turning, we both scanned our eyes across the landscape until an explosion went off and made a new pathway between the mounds of rubble and the road we were standing on.

"Kyahh." Kallen screamed.

Squinting my eyes to perceive the vague silhouettes in the dissipating smoke, I witnessed a black knightmare frame standing triumphantly over a prone purple one. For some reason, the name 'Sutherland' came to mind when I looked at the defeated machine. After a few more seconds, I saw that there were several other black knightmares fighting a smaller group of Sutherlands.

The once seemingly lifeless ghetto was now riddled with fleeing denizens, who escaped out from nearby buildings in a scattered, scurrying frenzy.

"What the hell?! Terrorists?!" I gawked.

I looked back at Kallen and thought, "Gotta get her out of here. We *need* to get out of here."

"Let's go!" I yelled at Kallen, who eeped when I took her by the hand and bolted in the opposite direction of the fray.

While we were booking it, an incoming group of Britannian reinforcements approached from above. Some sort of aircraft flew over and deployed more Sutherlands while a group of predominately white Glasgows with riot shields followed them on the ground. Emblazoned on their headpieces was a single word: "Police."

"I guess I know what they're called too, huh? Seems like the black knightmares are the odd ones out even though they seem somewhat familiar as well." I mentally observed.

My eyes shot from side to side, and I spotted an entryway into a building that was less questionably sturdy than the surrounding ones for us to hide in.

Now inside, we poked our heads out a window to see what was happening.

On a loudspeaker, a Britannian unit declared, "Men, take no prisoners! Treat all fleeing Elevens as potential terrorists, and wipe out the threat!"

"No! They can't!" I protested in disbelief.

Yet sure enough, they could. Innocent civilians, who had nothing to do with the terrorist attack were gunned down, blown up and trodden over like it was all just for sport.

Kallen's eyes glistened as she yelled, "Those damn Britannians!"

It took me a moment to process what I heard, but then I turned toward her. "Wait. 'Britannians?' Why are you referring to them that way? Aren't you one too?"

Still glaring angrily, she turned toward me. "What do you me-" She began to cough into a pocket handkerchief and composed herself. "I just misspoke, okay? It's a highly stressful situation, and I got my words mixed up."

She began to rattle off some more, but I interjected. "I understand. I shouldn't have wasted time asking you that."

Seeing that the terrorists began an all out assault against the Britannians while also disregarding the lives of their fellow Japanese by fighting and firing away as if they weren't there, I remarked, "We can't stay here. It's not safe."

The back door was blocked by presumably years' old rubble, and the only exit was through a small window-like crevasse. I squeezed through first, and the jagged edges tore small holes in my shirt. "Take my hand, and be careful not to get cut." I said while reaching out to Kallen.

"Right," she nodded seriously.

Given her slimmer frame, she slipped through with much less strain than me, and we ran off again. Where to? No idea, but we took flight and made sure to stay close to the nearby wreckage to avoid being spotted.

Unfortunately for us, the fray had begun to reach our area, and a terrorist from a rooftop fired an RPG at a britannian knightmare that just made its way around the corner.

"Fuck!" I yelled while shielding my eyes from the incoming debris.

Again taking Kallen by the hand, I made us do a 180. "Let's head the other way!"

Now sprinting in the opposite direction, we stopped at a nearby alleyway. As if fate was conspiring against us at every turn, the path was blocked off a short distance in.

Slowly, we slunk out of there and stood for a few moments to assess the situation.

Her voice now starting to tremble, Kallen shook her head, "Th-there's no way out."

"I'll get us out of here! I promise!"

I took a few steps away from her and racked my brain to think of some kind of solution; however, my racing mind was cut off by a quake from another explosion. This time, the target was the building from which the RPG was fired earlier.

I widened my eyes as a warhead was subsequently shot close to our location. There's no way he had time to spot us. It must've been an unintentional discharge from when his building was hit.

"Kallen!" I shouted as I zoomed faster than I ever had in her direction.

Wrapping my arms around her, I picked Kallen up slightly and turned my back toward the impending detonation while squeezing her tightly to my frame. It was only about a fraction of a second, but I could've sworn I detected some degree of development in her upper and mid back musculature. Does she have a chin up bar at home that she makes use of every time she walks by it? Either way, I didn't dislike what I felt.

The nearby blast went off and sent us hurling through the air. Not wanting Kallen to take the brunt of the impact, I quickly forced us into a mid-air rotation so that my back would be the one to absorb the shock from colliding with the ground when we landed.

"Argh!" I cried out as my body bounced against the pavement.

We then tumbled into a steady roll before slowing down to a stop.

After several disorienting moments, we finally came to realize the orientation of our bodies.

My lower half was nestled between her unevenly spread legs while our midsections were perfectly painted against one another, and our faces were almost touching.

In those several moments of mutually flustered staring, it was as if there was a competition among the three of us: Kallen's face, my face, and Kallen's hair - all of which were trying to see which would out-red the other.

It's official. It was the greatest moment of my life. Well, the greatest moment of the past few days of my current life, that is. On second thought, scratch that. *Nothing* that came before could possibly have beaten this.

I lifted myself up slightly to create some undesirable distance between the two of us, and we both asked at the same time, "Are you okay?!"

We paused for a few moments before simultaneously trying again, "Are you-"

"You first." I cut in quickly.

"I'm fine." Kallen nodded. "My ears are ringing a little, but it should go away soon. You?"

"I think the biggest casualty here is the back of my shirt." I glanced backward. "It seems to be mostly disintegrated, but other than that, I'm good. We were lucky that we were far enough away from the blast radius to avoid the worst."

Her eyes scrunched as her eyebrows pressed together. "That was really reckless, you know."

"I know." I acknowledged while slowly unfurling my arms to set her upper back gently on the ground.

Taking advantage of my newfound height as my body was still propped against Kallen's, I assessed her thoroughly for any signs of injury.

Seeing that that she was wound-free, I smiled warmly, "I'm so glad you're okay."

True to form, fate intervened to spoil the moment. I shot to my feet quickly as a black knightmare crashed into a nearby structure. Not taking my eyes off of it, I reached down for a nearby piece of debris as I held my other hand out behind me to help Kallen up.

The cockpit opened, and oh my god how I wish it didn't.

Scrambling aimlessly before us was what looked like an animated melted wax figure that was molded in the shape of a middle aged man. Seriously, his head looked like a watermelon-sized raisin.

Melted Wax Face made eye contact with us and pulled out a gun. "You two Brit students!" He yelled with a 'come closer' gesture. "Make yourselves useful, and come here. You're gonna be my ticket out!"

"He can't be serious. They're not going to take any prisoners - hostages or not." Kallen scoffed in a loud whisper.

He fired a warning shot near us. "Last chance, kids."

Thoughtfully squeezing the only weapon I could reasonably arm myself with, I prepared to take aim when another nearby blast went off.

Taking advantage of Raisin Man's distraction, I narrowed my eyes and thought, "now's my chance," as I hurled the piece of concrete at his torso.

"Bullseye," I grinned. That ought to teach him to think twice before making the tactical error of bringing a gun to a stone fight.

With his body now on the ground, I turned my head slightly in Kallen's direction. "Stay here."

Sprinting toward the terrorist, I went behind him and lifted him up on his ass. I then reached my left arm under his armpit and grabbed his left lapel and pulled it. Reaching my right arm around his neck, I took a higher grip on his left lapel just under his chin. I completed the chokehold by reaching my left hand further to grab his right lapel and pulled my left hand down, while pulling my right arm sideways and leaning my torso back slightly.

"How could you carelessly involve all these innocent people in your squabble?!" I yelled. "You're supposed to be fighting for Japan!"

Mustering a raspy laugh through his constricted airways, Wax Head replied, "Your Okuri Eri Jime is excellent. That's pretty surprising for a Brit, like yourself."

I gave him no reply other than a vague grunt, and he continued. "War is seldom as pretty as your friend over there, boy. Casualties are inevitable. Besides, the Brits never give us any warning. They just attack indiscriminately like how the Viceroy all but annihilated the Yamato Alliance at the Saitama Ghetto the other day. Today was our chance to strike first."

Glancing toward my right, I realized that the ensuing skirmish was drawing nearer. "The key to the knightmare frame!" I shouted as I constricted his neck more. "Where is it?!"

He moved his mouth as if trying to respond, but all that came out were guttural gags.

Realizing that totally cutting off his airflow probably wasn't the smartest way to get an intelligible response, I loosened my grip slightly.

"Cockpit." He forcibly chuckled. "Have you taken a good look at that thing? The head's blown clean off. The only way to pilot it is through using the visual controls."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Heh heh heh. You and the girl are already dead. You might as well take my gun over there, and- *accch!"

Angrily, I reinforced the chokehold for several moments before releasing his unconscious body to let it fall to the ground.

I stood up and made eye contact with the innocent girl, who I've been trying desperately to keep alive all this time. Nervously, I stammered, "He's not-"

"I know." Kallen nodded seriously.

"Oh right. Martial arts wiz. I almost forgot."

I turned around and hopped up into the open cockpit, and I couldn't believe what I saw.

...

You ever been disappointed? You know, like not getting the present you really wanted for your birthday? Or maybe getting turned down by that girl you always liked? Yeah, this was something like that.

Squinting my eyes inside the cockpit, I complained, "This is it?"

Here I was expecting a series of flashy, blinking lights, color-coded levers and switches, and maybe even some sort of a food dispenser for how much money went into mass producing these weapons of war, but to my disappointment, all that I saw were a few screens, a couple of joysticks, foot pedals, and an output gauge for the weapons the frame didn't currently have.

Seriously. It looked like the world's most boring arcade threw up in here, and somebody was so proud of the lack of ingenuity that they decided to mass produce these shamelessly bland designs for a profit. Those greedy, uninspired bastards.

In spite of my unimpressed impressions, I somehow understood it all. The function and name of every mundane and unimaginative feature was immediately apparent to me.

I rotated my torso backward to call Kallen over, but she was already here. Well, she was close to here. Kallen was kneeling beside the unconscious body of the terrorist before she abruptly stood up and held her hands behind her back the moment we made eye contact. "Who knew a rich girl would result to being a pick pocket? I suppose everyone has their vices, though." I mused.

Not having time for witty banter, I took one last glance inside the cockpit before I leaned toward her and held out my hand. "Get in."

"Get in?" Kallen asked hesitantly.

Giving a slight eye roll, I reached downward and took her by the hand.

"Ah!" She vocalized as I helped her into the cockpit. Given that this wasn't a two-seater, I adjusted my body forward so she could have room.

My heart began to race and my breathing became more shallow as she wrapped her arms around my waist and leaned her body against me. I took a second or two to appreciate the pleasant feeling of her body nestling against mine as well as the even more gratifying sensations pressing into my upper back before beginning to start up the knightmare.

"Do you know what you're doing?!" She asked with a hint of panic.

"We're about to find out." I replied while instinctively keying in several inputs followed by firing the slash harkens at a nearby structure.

"Upsy Daisy!" I smirked as the pulley system leveraged the frame onto its feet.

"Halt!" A voice bellowed commandingly from behind.

I turned us around and saw a Sutherland armed with a lance in the distance.

"In the name of the Holy Britannian Empire, surrender and die you Eleven scum!"

"Doesn't he mean 'surrender *or* die?' Whatever. Since he asked so nicely," I held up the knightmare's arms and replied, "I surrender."

Kallen was scandalized. "Rai?! What the hell are you doing?!"

I grinned confidently. "Winning."

Just like the other day at gym class, everything seemed to slow down as the Sutherland held out its lance and began to charge at us. Assessing my surroundings while drawing invisible lines in my head, I figured out a strategy as I fired a slash harken into the structure directly to my right. I then fired my left slash harken at an angle into a medium-sized piece of rubble that was relatively closer to us. It wasn't heavy enough to leverage the knightmare frame, but that's what I was counting on.

Quickly, I began to retract the first slash harken as it pulled us to the right while letting the other cable remain in place. Nearing the apex of the tension between the structure and the debris, I disengaged the right cable and immediately retracted the left one while simultaneously turning my frame in a rapid skidding rotation toward my left.

Timing it correctly, the sideways momentum and the strength of the retraction lifted the debris and swung it like a projectile in a trebuchet. The rubble at the end of my slash harken perfectly impacted the charging Sutherland and sent it flying diagonally.

"Wha-" Kallen gawked with dumbfounded confusion.

"Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo. That looked like it hurt." I condescended smugly while giving my opponent a one finger salute. I knew he couldn't actually see my not-so-friendly gesture, but somehow, it just felt appropriate in the moment.

Deploying my stun tofas, I charged in his direction, but I came to a stop when he ejected.

My gaze followed the pathway of the ejector seat. "Aww. Don't be like that. We were just getting to know each other."

Approaching the now abandoned Sutherland, I picked up the lance and gave it a twirl. "This oughta come in handy."

I sped off in the opposite direction, and another Sutherland twisted around the corner as the pilot roared his best version of a war cry while also charging at us with lance in hand.

"This one wants to dance too. Best not leave him hanging." I commented before obliging his invitation for a joust.

"Rai, don't!" Kallen objected with a gasp.

"Don't worry, Kallen. I'd never do anything to put you in harm's way. I know what I'm doing."

"But!"

"You have to trust me."

Kallen began to squeeze me harder as she trembled. I did my best to remain focused, but if she applied any more force or decided to take advantage of the situation and cop a feel, then we'd be done for.

I shook my head slightly to steady myself. As we neared each other, I drifted my knightmare out to the side as I held the lance out toward the ground. Having the reaction time of roadkill, the Sutherland charged straight into my lance and tripped forward into a momentum-charged slide against the pavement.

"Whoopsie!" I exclaimed with feigned innocence.

I turned around, but this time the ejector seat had already fired off before I could even face my opponent.

"Adios, asshole." I waved my fingers before moving into a nearby alleyway.

A few moments of silence went by before I spoke. "I'm sorry for worrying you."

Responding in a bewildered tone as if she was coming out of deep thought, Kallen replied, "Huh?"

"I'm sorry." I repeated. "It wasn't my intention to scare you, but I thought that the best way to handle those situations was to fight as defensively as possible."

"All that was supposed to be defense?" Kallen asked skeptically.

"You don't think so? Let me explain. We're up against guys who've presumably been there and done that with all their military training. Chances are, this isn't their first rodeo, but looking at the way they fought - the shouting instead of attempting a sneak attack; telegraphing their moves in obvious attack patterns and all that jazz - it was too obvious to me. They acted like total amateurs. That's why I thought maybe it all could've been a setup. What if they were much better than they were letting on? What if they were just misleading me to lure me into a false sense of security, and when the moment was right, they'd take advantage of my naivety and end us?"

I held up two fingers. "The way I see it, we had two options. One: be as linear as possible and risk getting killed." I curled a finger, leaving only my pointer up. "Or option two, which was-"

"To do something so unpredictable that you'd either get them to show their hand and have a chance to reevaluate the situation, or end up just beating them anyway in the off chance that they didn't know what they were doing."

I blinked rapidly. "Uhh. Yeah, actually. How did you know?"

She stumbled over her words again, and I interrupted. "Probably just women's intuition, right? No wonder you're one of the top students in our class."

Adopting a serious tone, Kallen declared, "Rai, I need to ask you something."

Knowing where this was going, I shook my head. "Let's get out of here first, and then you can pick my brain all you want. Although honestly, I'm just as confused as you are."

She agreed reluctantly, and we once again began to move out toward a seemingly inevitable escape.

...

As we progressed further through the battle zone, I made sure to conserve my knightmare's energy as much as possible. Its black paint job really came in handy when blending in with the shadows of sizable piles of wreckage. Nonetheless, I engaged in combat when I had to. Although, I did try to keep the confrontations as by-the-book as possible so as to take into account the mental health of my sickly passenger. It was easier for me considering my other opponents were all terrorists. They didn't expect my onslaught due to the knightmare I was piloting.

Eyeing a clearing that reminded me of a light at the end of a tunnel, I sighed in relief. "Finally."

Then out of nowhere, gunfire rained down toward a nearby building as fleeing Japanese tried desperately to take shelter.

"No!" I shouted as I charged at full speed in their direction.

"Why couldn't I have found an assault weapon?" I grimaced.

Using the meager breadth of my lance as a poor substitute for a shield, I stood my knightmare between a mother and her child and the incoming artillery.

"Go!" I yelled at them. Clutching the small boy in her arms, she ran off.

"You bastard!" I raised my voice while hurling the lance straight at the Sutherland.

My eyes twitched when I saw how easily the spear tip penetrated the Sutherland's midsection all the way through to the end of the cockpit.

There was no denying it. I had just killed someone. Sure, he was an evil enemy bastard, who didn't discriminate against women and children, but it was a human life nonetheless. My gut wrenched and I slammed my fist. "Dammit!"

"Rai." Kallen said with a serious undertone.

"I know. I know. We have to go. I just, *sigh."

"You can't think about something like that now. Our first priority is survival."

She was right. I had to stuff down my guilt for now and focus on getting us out of here.

As I tried to continue to press on, the lower part of the right leg of the knightmare split off from the damage from the previous encounter, and we grinded forward and headed straight into a building.

"Hang on tight!" I exclaimed while doing my best to slow the machine down to mitigate the crash.

After having made a knightmare-sized impression in the nearby ruin, I turned my head. "You all right?!"

"Yeah."

"We're gonna have to go the rest of the way on foot."

I opened the hatch, and we both looked downward.

Given the less-than-erect orientation of the knightmare, the distance between us and the ground was somewhere around 8 feet or so. I did a few double takes between the ground and Kallen and mentally shrugged, "Oh, what the hell?" as I scooped her up into my arms.

"H-hey! What do you think you're-"

Not having time to hear her objections, I jumped down.

"Ah!" She yelped on the descent.

Upon sticking the landing, I began to sprint while still carrying her.

Stammering a protest, Kallen's voice elevated slightly. "Y-you can put me down, Rai! I can make it!"

Still looking forward I replied, "You think I'm gonna let a sickly girl like you go long distance running in the middle of a warzone? Honestly, I'm mad at myself for not thinking of this sooner."

"But I-"

I cut her off. "If we do it your way, and you end up getting hurt, then what'll happen? We'd be right back to this again. I figured that it makes the most sense to skip a few steps to keep you out of harm's way."

Kallen opened her mouth again in abashed objection, but I interjected, "I told you that I'd get us out of here alive, and I intend to keep my word." Pausing for a moment, I looked at her and lifted my eyebrows as I gave her a reassuring smile, "It's okay. You're actually really light, anyway. So, I'm not getting slowed down much at all. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

Kallen's mouth went agape as her face became bright red. Doing her best to hide her embarrassment, she slanted her eyes and pursed her lips in a slight pout as she reached her outside arm to grab onto my shirt for support. I took that as a green light and sped up.

...

I had absolutely no clue where we were going in the former city of Shinjuku. To my left, rubble and ruin. And to my right? You guessed it. More of the same.

Somehow though, Kallen seemed to have a better sense of direction than me. She continually provided numerous suggestions about where we should travel. Even though the areas all looked the same to me, she insisted on her intuition, and I decided to oblige.

We approached an underpass that was collapsed cleanly down the middle when Kallen spoke up. "Rai, could you stop here for a moment? I need to stretch my legs."

I shot her a toothy grin. "Of course, m'lady."

Setting her down gently, I took a step back as she looked around thoughtfully. "It's around here somewhere."

I cocked my head to the side. "What is?"

"There's a place we can hold up for a while."

"You've been here before?"

"What? No." Kallen evaded. "It's just that I thought I saw a larger building from when we were higher up is all."

I honestly didn't pay much attention to what she had to say. The way she usually rambled on and on when I asked her questions about things was adorable. Her characteristic short shuffle in place coupled with her diagonally downward eye shift as she struggled with her words made my soul sing.

"Um, Rai?"

"Yeah?" I asked with a relaxed sigh.

"Is everything okay?"

I straightened quickly. "Of course! Everything's fine! What makes you ask?"

"You were staring like you were in deep thought about something."

I put my hands on the back of my head. "No, no. You've got the wrong idea. Honest! I was just double checking to make sure you weren't hurt is all."

Before she could respond, I turned around in an awkward goose-stepping march before shuffling off in a quick pace, "I'm gonna take a look around to see if this area is scumbag free!"

While I was doing my best to pretend like I was actually investigating the area, I heard a crackling noise.

I turned around and saw that a portion of the bridge we were standing under broke off and was heading straight toward Kallen.

"Kallen!" I cried desperately while speeding off in her direction.

As she began to move away, I had arrived fast enough to give her a forcible push out from under the trajectory of the wreckage.

The debris was just above me, and I quickly jumped backward to evade it while instinctively holding my arms over my head.

Thinking I had avoided the worst, I began to relax my arms when a much smaller piece of rubble struck me on an exposed area at the top of my skull.

"*Gasp. Rai!" Kallen shouted.

A heavy onslaught of dizziness hit me, and I fell to one knee. "Nghhhh!"

Everything around me became increasingly blurry. A vaguely feminine silhouette rapidly approached me and shouted. Despite the increasing proximity, her voice sounded further and further away. I collapsed on the ground, and then-