User blog:Yuka Ichinose/God Eater: Infinity Paradise, Chapter 12

Whatever you discovered, and whatever you find out, keep it between the two of us.

***

Another morning greeted Anagura with a warm shower of comforting light, and a gentle breeze, enveloping the branch in a light and calm mood. As if playing along with the calmer mood, even the missions for taking that day seemed to be light and easy. "Why the entire unit, though?" Questioned Fujiki Kota, blinking at his superiors, seeing that he was the only rookie present for the mission. Alisa was still undergoing medication after the trauma brought forth by their last quest. Lenka, on the other hand, had his God Arc still half way from being repaired. No one knew exactly why it was taking that long, but no one seemed to have mind. Yuka, who had been stuck in the Sick Bay for days, finally managed to gain permission to return to duty, after an accident while in service of the European Branch. Kota could surely feel himself shrinking as he was surrounded by veterans. "One or two could have handled this, right?"

"Well, numbers bring strength, they say," replied Lindow between gritted teeth that kept his cigarette in his mouth. Soma scoffed, most likely a disagreement to what their Unit Leader had just said. "Also, according to the reports, this area is quite a popular passageway for Aragamis of all sizes. We could run into a horde of Ogretails while on patrol, or if all luck happens to run out, large-type Vajras might become a problem."

"That's right," Hibari's voice spoke through their earpieces. "So please be extra careful while scouting." Though, the operator reported that there aren't any signs of Aragamis close to their current location. "As of late, more and more Aragamis seem to be drawn to Anagura, for reasons unknown. The research unit had been making attempts to determine the root of the problem, but unfortunately, to no avail."

"Well-hidden, huh...?" Mumbled Lindow, quite out of himself, causing everyone to look at him with confused faces. However, the Corporal simply shrugged off the looks he was given, telling all of them to proceed and be alert.

All of the God Eaters fell unusually quiet, almost as if a stage director could scream 'Dead Air' and cut the entire rehearsal for repetition. Apart from them, nothing else littered the barren land. Kota finally grew tired of the unnerving silence and turned to Yuka, who had been trailing behind him. "You know, Yuka-san, last time we went out, we got trapped in the underground, and it was Lenka who guided us out, helping us defeat all the Kongous chasing our team!" The rookie went on with praising his fellow New Recruit, aggravating Soma who wasn't too far behind. Yuka, all the while, kept the conversation going for the sake of loosening up some pressure. After all, the other was still new to the job, and she honestly couldn't blame him for being nervous even at a time like this. "Lenka would surely be a reliable leader," she noted, looking over to Lindow. Much to her surprise, their commander nodded in agreement, blowing away some smoke. "Yeah, that kid has a high potential..."

Still, despite everything, there seemed to be a heavy weight that pressed on everyone's chests. Again, it was an indistinguishable... fear? Worry? Guilt? The air around them was like pressing them down to the ground. This wasn't the First Unit. "Kota, duck!" Yuka's voice echoed throughout the emptiness of the area. Out of fear and shock, the rookie made a quick dodge for the spark laser bullet zooming towards him. Everyone's eyes widened in alarm. Smoke erupted from the ground where they stood, and Sakuya was almost squished flat if Lindow had not come to her aid, deflecting the red ape-like Kongou.

***

"As the name implies, this Detect skill allows you to determine the location of your enemies, specifically, the Aragamis. But, unlike a radar, of course, such skill is not perfect. You could predict it and get a mistake of by bare axis, and the probability of doing so would always be high. It is not always accurate, to cut the long story short."

"The P73 Bias Factor also greatly heightens the abilities in and out of the battlefield."

***

Their luck was halfway from running out. It appears as though Lindow was not joking when he said that the area was a popular highway for Aragamis of all kinds. Although they didn't run into a single Vajra, they had been surrounded by fast spinning Kongous, waddling Gboros and springing Ogretails. The existence of poisonous Zygotes flying over their heads was not much of a help either. "A lot more of them are coming!" Hibari informed them through the radio, worry evident in her voice.

"Where are all of them coming from?!" Shouted Kota as he rapidly fired at an Ogretail about to lunge at him. "We can't possibly hold all of them back!"

"We can." All his superiors said in unison. A red glow traced down the middle of Yuka's buster blade, Knightfall II, before emanating a reddish aura. Sakuya kept her covered, keeping the Aragamis away with her own bullets, before the New-Type released the attack completely, turning a group of Aragamis to nothing but corpses. Soma busted in, annihilating the Kongou that somehow survived the attack. Lindow was not one to be beaten. He kicked his own equipment to work, the Aragamis around him hissing and backing away upon the sound of the chainsaw.

***

''"W-W-Woah..." That was the only thing that breathlessly slipped past her lips, as God Eater Yuka Ichinose was presented another one of Licca's masterpieces. Black is always chic, she thought, still stuck in awe.''

''The engineer, finding her expression priceless and satisfying, chuckled. "This little treasure of yours took quite some work. It wasn't easy upgrading an archetype God Arc, because it still has differences with that of Lenka's. But hey, pulled it off."''

''Speechless. "But... But I thought... The materials... Dr. Sakaki said they weren't easy to obtain, didn't he?" How come-? She had been in the Sick Bay for the past days and opportunity to farm materials were down to zero. In addition to that, it would be selfish to use materials obtained by another God Eater, right?''

"You can thank a certain Shicksal for that."

"... Eh...?"

According to Dr. Sakaki, he said something about you needing better equipment in the battlefield, she remembered the engineer say. It was said in his usual taciturn way, but that's the message the doctor got.

***

There was no time to stop down and rest. By the time the First Unit had regrouped, they managed to reduce the enemy number down to half, but more kept coming from wherever they were coming from. "Well, about time to get kicking," Lindow told them in his usual laid back tone. "The beer's waiting for me." He took the stick of cigarette -- just about to run out -- in between his index and middle finger, blowing off one final puff of smoke before dropping the stick on the ground and finishing it with the sole of his boot. Sakuya gave him an eyeroll, firing at a Zygote that was just about to shower toxic gas on their heads. "My beer, is what I believe you actually wished to say."

All lunged forward. Hibari kept on guiding them in the chaos, watching their backs as they fought. Truth be told, the mission was of an average difficulty, seeing that most species crowding them at the moment were just those that can be taken in one blow. Them being too much was the one leveling up the difficulty. In addition to that, Kota would misfire due to probably a mix of nervousness and fear, his fingers shaking as he works with the trigger. At least one of them had been required by Lindow to look after the poor boy, before an Aragami could make a strike at him.

"That... was too much, okay? Too much..." The blonde girl complained, lying down on the ground. "I think we just fought an entire Aragami army." Kota was also sprawled on the barren land, somehow catching his breath. Everyone else took the given chance to breathe after such an exercise. "Don't want to be lazy, but... We should call it a day, eat something and then hit the beds. At the same time, I want to know where did all of those monsters came from."

Five pairs of eyes scanned the area, finding any possible answer to the question that confused them all. Hibari's tired sigh was an evidence of her hard work, and despite that, she continued to update the current team with the reports. "There are no more Aragamis in proximity, but it is safer to stay alert while in exploration. That Kongou couldn't have sprouted from the ground like a jack-in-a-box."

''Indeed. There wasn't any other Aragamis close by...''

Lindow gestured at the team to follow him, and they went to explore the hole from where the first batch of their enemies sprang up. It didn't look too deep, so jumping down might become one of the options. And they all did.

"A subway... Why am I not surprised?" Lindow wondered with a scratch of his head. "Oh well..." The place was unusually hot, and dimly-lit, despite the absence of artificial lightings. "This must branch to some other spots." Not too far from them, all could see lava silently eating up what was left of the subway, burning everything in its wake. That explains the heat. Cocoon Maidens had also been silently nesting in a few spots, unable to notice the God Eaters' presence. "A connection to the Infernal Subway, Hibari," Lindow said. "Not sure where exactly though. It's also pretty deep down in comparison to the original one, but we're sure to climb our way back up."

"Copy that."

***

The Special Unit had successfully extracted cores of Ouroboros.

If every announcement were down on newspapers, that'd definitely be the headlines. Bone-tired and beat-down, Yuka dragged herself over to Soma as they ascended from the entrance lounge. "We have a Special Unit?" She'd never heard of such in the European Branch. "What do they do?"

"What we do."

"What makes them special then?"

"Who knows?"

Note to self: 90% of the time, conversations with Soma would amount to nothing. Yuka sighed, choosing to simply drop the subject. That aside, while Lindow was in a meeting with Director Shicksal, Sakuya promised to meet the First Unit in the cafeteria for a little bit of celebration. Though Lenka is still not allowed to engage in any battle, Alisa had just recovered from the trauma brought by the "Dyaus Pita" encounter and will rejoin ranks with them soon.

Yuka stared at the small bag she held in her hand. It was cold, and whatever is inside it had just been pulled out of the fridge. I hope you wouldn't mind, the sniper's voice rolled back in her head, if I ask you to take this to Lindow's room. The errand girl sighed, departing the section elevator as soon as it opened. As expected, the Unit Leader's room was an epitome of cleanliness... not. You wish, she sighed. Although, it was much cleaner than Soma's little den. Yet again, with a second sigh, she began to carefully and neatly stack the cans of beer in the small fridge, a little appliance common to the room of Fenrir's God Eaters. It was cold; so cold she could just stay in front of the open freezer for the rest of her life. Ah, refreshing...

Right here...

She froze. Silly girl, she chuckled to herself. ''It's 2071. Ghosts don't exist anymore.''

Come here...

"What now? Corporal couldn't have installed recorders here that plays ghostly voices, right?" Nervously, she looked around, checking if there is someone else in the room other than her. Negative. Under the bed? None. Closets? Nope. "Ha... hah... ha... Not funny, seriously."

Come here...

Her eyes darted over to the window, showcasing Aegis in such a magnificent view. The only obstruction there was was the lone computer occupying the desk, flashing an image almost identical to the one in the window. "Aegis...?"

Here...

Aegis... Aegis... Aegis... The Eden of Humanity. The promised paradise against the gods. Named after the mighty impenetrable shield of the Greek goddess Athena. Safe haven. And yet, why...? It was too late to turn back when she had found herself standing before the computer.

Eyes never leaving the screen, Yuka lifted a hand to swipe at the images. As far as her brain could recognize, the next photo was a clump of tubes, probably located somewhere inside of Aegis. It was nothing special, but why does Lindow have such? And why is she messing with his things? Once again, swipe.

Here...

"..."

"..."

"I knew I shouldn't have left that on. I got found by the Director's little pet." Lindow's voice registered in her ears. It seriously did. She could have sworn it did. "Interesting shots, don't you think?" The door slid close, and his footsteps became clearer in her ear.

"Is it... an Aragami...?"

There was a short pause before she finally received an answer. "Well, it certainly looks like one. Do you think?" Whatever was in the picture, it certainly took resemblance in the Aragami portion of their God Arcs, possessing that 'eye' with a golden glow. Her fingers traced the figure in a delicate manner, though there was nothing to feel, but the smooth surface of the screen.

"So, will I ever get out of this room alive? Or should I be kept silent for discovering this?" She asked, lips pursing to a small smirk.

"Cliché," the Leader laughed. "Hey, it's partially my fault. But since you ended up finding out that little beast..."

She finally turned to meet his eyes. As her lips parted for a few words, it was interrupted by the older God Eater, as he took a seat on the black couch present in the room. He laid his head on the back of the seat and heaved another sigh. "..." The air was as heavy as his sigh. Judging from the silence inflating the air at that moment, this issue here is serious. Period.

"Does Onkel know?" She asked, frowning now. "I mean, being the advocate of the Aegis Project and all..." Because if he doesn't... then it is not just a serious thing. It is a bad thing.

"If I say no, are you going to tell him?"

She whistled. "A cup of ice cream sounds wonderful at the moment." And afterwards looked over to him to find him chuckling. "Kidding, though. Cutting the story short, you are trespassing into Aegis and investigating... Interesting." Again, the ultimate question: Why?

His green eyes grew serious. Yuka had seen Lindow take down large Aragamis, including Vajras that most God Eaters could not take down alone, but at this very moment, his eyes meant business. Tödlich. "It's not really something I should share with a Director's pet."

She hissed at him. "I'm not."

"You run petty errands for him, don't you?"

"Don't you do too?"

Silence...

"Why can't I know?"

"One: I don't want to put the life of my team on the line. Two: I don't want any of you to be in danger. Three: You're a pet." The last reason received another hiss in response.

"If I promise to keep my mouth shut..."

"Well, not like I can make you unsee what you already saw. If worse comes down to worst, I'd have myself busted." Two last routes to take: tell everything, or keep the rest a secret.

Which one...?

...

"Sheez, the two of you! We've been waiting!" Sakuya sighed. "What took so long?" Everyone was present in the cafeteria, including Lenka and Alisa, and even the anti-social Soma, for some reason.

Surprisingly, Lindow's serious side had flipped a hundred-eighty degrees, masked by his usual personality known to the others. "Sorry, Yuka here had suddenly got all emotional--" What?! "... saying she's really happy having to work with everyone and all. It took quite some time to sort it out."

Not like there was anything she could do. "Uhm... Yeah... Sorta."

"So, delivering beers get you emotional?" Kota is about to get shot.

***

"Gotta run! Gotta run! Gotta run!" The girl dashed down the entrance lounge, barely greeting Operator Takeda. The door slid open, but she was in too much of a rush to stop on her tracks, bumping on a pair of God Eaters on her way in. "Sorry!" She quickly said, making way to the terminal. Grabbing her God Arc, she ran past by the same pair with another sorry, before running for the Den Gate.

"38-24-36. Not bad, not bad."

"Hey, behave."

"Okay, okay. Sheesh."

I don't know why I wrote the last part. I don't even know why I'm still writing. lol A week in hell had just been over. Two more weeks until heaven, I think. Worst case scenario, I might have to leave this course. Or re-take a few major subjects. Or shift schools.


 * sigh

EDIT: I'm not sure how exactly to describe the new design/"upgrade" for Knightfall and Dawn Riddle, so here's a small sketch.