User blog:Yuka Ichinose/God Eater: Infinity Paradise, Chapter 15



"Oh, Lenka! Good morning!"

"Ah, Yuka-san, ohayou..." For a serious discussion, the air in Paylor's laboratory seemed to be light, far too light for the conversation about overly-adapting Oracle Cells and possible devouring and death. Carefully closing the door behind him, Lenka stepped in. As usual, Yuka Ichinose of the First Unit was overwhelming with an optimistic aura, as if everything in the world they are in are nothing but rainbows and sunshine and butterflies. He sat on the couch at the other side of the room, the furniture sinking ever so slightly under his weight. Dr. Sakaki's fingers continuously tapped on the keys of his keyboard, too busy inputting data for the old man to notice that both people he required to see were already in the room. The blonde cleared her throat -- twice she had, in fact -- but Paylor was too immersed in the world of technology to even bother. Both God Eaters exchanged looks.

As the silence continued to infiltrate the air, with only the tapping of the keys and Yuka's humming during some moments of intense boredom, Lenka's green eyes fell upon the bandage wrapped around his right arm, looping right next to his armlet to hide the discoloration of his skin, an effect of the mutation he had kept a secret from his comrades. He hadn't gone out to the field for quite a while now, and the mutation had remained dormant. Three years. That was the amount of time he has left if he would retire from the job he has now. Refusing the offer meant he only have... a fewer time to live. "I've never heard of that case, you know." It was then that he realized she was also eyeing his mutating arm. "High compatibility usually brings good stuff." When she found him staring at her with confused eyes, Yuka cocked her head to where Sakaki was. "He told me."

Luckily, after eons of waiting, Paylor Sakaki finally took notice of their presence. He briefly glanced over to their direction, before fixing his eyes back to the monitor screen. "Well, yes. That's right. God Eaters highly-compatible with God Arcs are already rare, but death by high compatibility..." The researcher heaved a small sigh. "You see, Yuka also has high compatibility rate, even making a prototype Arc with almost zero compatibility go to work."

"Magic," she grinned, though of course both she and Sakaki knew it was all about the P73 Bias Factor. Plus, who believes in magic now, in the year 2071? That is so 1600s. "But I'm not under the threat of being devoured." Though she fears her case poses much more terrible than dying. The thought sent her lips to silence, and she was left staring at the laboratory floor.

"... As she had said, she's far from the chances of... death. And to think Yuka had been in this job three years earlier than you."

Lenka slowly worked to unroll the bandages, revealing to both the orange and purple color his skin had turned into. To think that he had only used the shield to save the guiding device, and it had already ended up like this. "But why...?"

This time, Yuka took the opportunity to explain, making herself comfortable on her seat. "Before the Bias Factor came into what we use today, it, of course, went through a series of tests, experiments, and all that stuff. The P56 injected into you today was a successor of the P73 we were born with. That's top secret, mind you. Err, not really, but don't let it spread. As I was saying, it was the P73 Bias Factor that provided the high-compatibility, regenerative abilities, and all that scheiße. Unless of course you stand in the same boat as I do, there's really no concrete explanation to your nearing death." She sighed, eventually realizing she was giving Lenka more questions than answers. "You're two years younger than I am, and the P73 experiment was shut down before I was born."

"I can't be a part of the project, is that it?" He asked, to which both nodded. He looked back at his arm. No regrets. No resentment. Nothing. He was happy to have helped the people around him; the people who made his life worth living. "If you're from that experiment, what is your case, Yuka-san?"

Her face became stoic at the question. Lenka thought he had just offended his senior, but when she parted her lips to speak, he knew he was getting the answer he wishes to hear.

"Oi, y'all. Get those lazy meat lumps moving. There's retaliation to do." Unit Leader Lindow Amamiya gives the best and worst orders of all. As the First Unit proceeded to the Arc Storage, Lenka couldn't help but watch in envy. He was the first New Type of the Far East Branch, and yet he's utterly useless. According to Licca, the repair of his broken God Arc would only take a few more days now, which was good because he had been itching to go out in destroy Aragamis.

"Isn't it ironic? An Aragami inside the place where they were supposed to be kept out..." The young New Type sighed, lowering his head. "Even if you say all God Eaters are part Aragami due to Oracle Cells, it's a whole different story." One more glance at his mutating arm, and he was reminded the few more words he had heard from the discussion earlier.

"You know, you could actually go down in two paths: the Oracle Cells would consume you completely and die; or you could mutate -- transform to a new Aragami and die in the hands of your... comrades. The first one sounds better, doesn't it? Either way, you still die." Her eyes were wistful, almost saying that she'd give anything to be in his shoes right now.

He already decided.

He'll continue fighting. Regardless of the path he ends up with, he will continue to protect those that made his life worthwhile. Until his last breath...

"Looks like... I'm going to learn a lot from you."

***

Tap. Tap. Tap. Sakaki's eyes continued to remain glued on the screen, datas continuously going in. Despite the Captain's orders for all First Unit's hands to be on deck, Yuka remained seated on Paylor's laboratory, casually going through the thick paper pile on her hands, like it was some sort of magazine to earnestly read. "You have quite the heart for science," the doctor spoke. "Do you have plans on moving into the Research Unit?"

"If Soma wouldn't be there, I'd politely decline the offer," she answered, moving to the next page.

"An attachment?"

"A commitment."

"Fick dich."

"Watch your mouth, honey." Those were her last chill words. Papers flew from her hands as she was dragged out of the room with a metal grip, shoved inside the section elevator, and her right hand forced into the terminal in the God Arc storage room. Machines immediately went to work, elevating the case that held a silver-and-black New-Type weapon. Pouting ever so slightly, Yuka pulled her hand out and grabbed the weapon.

"Don't slack off..." She was told. "The others are waiting in the pod."

"Kick my lazy butt." Both gave each other a challenging stare, with Yuka flashing him the damn proud smirk that she knew very well would tick him off. Soma sighed in utter defeat and lifted a leg, turning his female partner to a frantic octopus waving her limbs in front of him. "H-Hey! Hey, stop! Was just joking! You really can go brute on me? Learn to take a joke, aibou!" The other only snorted, unpleased. They both walked out of the room, Yuka's unstoppable talkative side taking dominance once again, until they reached the copter pod. "We're going far this time, huh?" Next to the chopper, Lindow gave a what seemed to be we've-been-waiting kind of expression. Soma gestured at her to hurry. "Stop and smell the flowers some time, liebe. You'll die early if you always rush."

"More people would die if all of us would laze around like you do," he told her, lifting a hand to flick his companion's forehead. She went into silence, probably realizing how darn right he was. "Everyone's working twice as hard and you aren't the perfect example."

"News Flash: The King of Taciturnity and Breaking Rules had given this poor plebeian a lecture about being a good example," both Lindow and Sakuya were told with a roll of vibrant blue eyes. Another snort from Soma as he loaded his Arc into the vehicle and then hers, made to sit beside their Captain's. They hopped in after their God Arcs, the helicopter coming to life as soon as they did so. In the midst of the calm mood, Yuka screamed, a deafening and irritating high-pitched scream at that, for dear life as her dearest white-haired bae partner grabbed her by the waist without a single word, and carelessly threw her in, little package that she was, before Lindow and Sakuya could give any violent reaction. Poor girl stumbled in. "That's extremely rude!" But this kind of treatment had been part of their relationship, like God Eaters were to Fenrir. "You don't toss your partner like that!"

Lindow chuckled, and Yuka was confused whether to smack him in the head or push him out of the helicopter. "That's right, Soma. It's hard to get a partner that gets stuck this long, so take good care of her." The other scoffed, declaring that he didn't need a partner to begin with. Yuka parted her lips to complain and nag, but was crudely cut off with her hair flying all over as their helicopter slowly ascended from the ground. She struggled to both speak and move away all flyaway hairs, still pouting at her partner and his rudimentary actions. "His primitive actions aside," she instead turned to Sakuya. "Kota and Alisa aren't with us today?" And another surprise, Lindow's cigarette is also absent.

"We are hunting for something large today," she replied. "After what happened with Lenka and Alisa, Tsubaki thought it might be better to leave the rookies out of the way."

"Yeah... This time, we're serving some nice and creamy Ouro soup so it's more or less our kind of job." - Lindow

The younger female rubbed her left arm. The pain that was formerly there had already subsided, leaving nothing but a reddish mark that was yet to fade. "Err, I don't think I'd want to dig in an Ouro soup even if I was a starving Aragami... But, aren't you Corporal the one who single-handedly took down that mountainous beast?"

"One is enough. Two is too much. Three is a poison that kills a person."