“And that cludes my first year at the South Gate Border Patrol,” closed Eudokia. She gnced around at her audience briefly. The reas varied from the fused, Saki, to the stoic, Haruo, to impossible to read, Yuki. Not taking the temperature of the area, Eudokia pushed on, starting to open her mouth.

  Yuki immediately raised his arm up. “Stht there, Ayumi. I know I asked you for this and you’d said it was a long story, but if we keep going we’ll never get back to the plot.” He saw the relief in Saki’s fabsp; It wasn’t so much that it was necessarily too much for her to handle, just too muformation all at onbsp; There was almost no filter.

  He gnced back at someohe others did not see. ‘Be gd we only gave you the abridged version.’

  Unseen iory, Eudokia had goo enormous amounts of detail c many of the more mundane aspects of life in the South Gate. It almost felt as though she did the act out of spite for being asked to expin herself. What they received went far beyond an ‘info dump’, it would be better described as an ‘info ndfill’.

  Ayumi looked around at the others appearing fused for being stopped. Given the information they were given, it was no longer certain that they could believe the expressions she gave them. Was she truly fused or just wahem to feel that way? It brought up needlessly plex questions for something that should be simple.

  “But you wao know about how things worked in Atntis.”

  Nodding to Ayumi, he deyed his words to select them carefully. “And I give admission to that. But we just need a better uanding, not a prehensive history.” He felt like he still failed to get the words he wanted. It made his face twitch a little. Despite it, he pushed on to the subjebsp; “You summarize for everyohe other two years.”

  Looking a little dejected by the shutdown, Ayumi darted her eyes around at them. “What about everything that happened? Didn’t you want to know?”

  “I’m pretty sure for our current situation, a summary will work.” Yuki found himself sweating a little watg the look on Ayumi’s fabsp; Given her history she did reveal, he felt some of what he saw in her face could be real. She was isoted as a child among adults, forced to lie and trick her way just to be able to fit in and be accepted. It might have been the first time aually was ied in her and listeo her past.

  He felt like he stomped all over it, yet it still was for the best. Perhaps it was the pent up desires to share that made her overzealous. Yuki was certain he would never know the answer. So he promised. “I imagine iure there’ll e a time when what happeo you in those two years will be relevant to your character development and you’ll get to reveal it then. So just wait.”

  Saki leaned over to Yuki. “Careful, we just fixed the wall. We ’t be breaking it again already.”

  “Is there really a point in having it anymore?” he shot back, with a quice.

  Coughing to clear the air, Saki switched back to the matter at hand, for the security of the wall. “Something I’m still w. You haven’t mentioned any of those people back there yet. I thought we were going to hear about your time with them.”

  “That’s because I did not meet them until my third year.”

  Chapter 208 – Leftover Answers

  “Keep things short,” Yuki insisted, with his hand up again. He tilted his head over to Saki. “What are you thinking, you almost got her started again!”

  “…sorry…I was curious,” she replied, sheepishly.

  Ayumi nodded a little roughly, clearly trying tanize her thoughts into something more cise. “A more accurate answer would be that I only know one of them. The rest joihe South Gate after I finished my tour of duty.”

  “So they only knew you by reputation?” Saki looked a little surprised. She khe sort of standing she had from previous versations, but it never really clicked with her. It never came to her that Ayumi might have been famous.

  “Chariton is the only ohat I knew before I left. He arrived shortly before I left. So I barely had mutera with him.” She paused, appearing in thought. “The others, Vangelis and the rest of his team must have joihe South Gate retly.”

  “But they know anyway,” questioned Yuki. “You said before, the reason you kept out of the fighting is because they knew you. The real reason is not because of your time at the South Gate, but the title you held after, Captain of the Royal Guard.”

  “Mostly,” she agreed, “The events I told you about made my name and squad well known among everyone in the South Gate. Those in the South Gate know me because of my aplishments before I received that title, but nearly everyone in the military knows me as Captain of the Royal Guard, the one closest to the King.”

  “Because of your notoriety, you’ve wao keep low. However, I ’t let you just disappear whenever. I uand not wanting to tip your hand, but I’m guessing those that are this aren’t so blind. They’ve probably already figured out that you’re involved. It’s probably difficult to fight against your own people, but if we’re going to fix things I need you to be here.”

  Ayumi remained silent for a while. She didn’t reveal much of an expression. The only guess was she thought carefully on her pns and what was at stake. It was clear from the way she moved, she had a strategy, ohat didn’t move in lih Yuki’s meddling. She was the expert on Atntis, but Yuki was the one helping and the one needed. With some reluce, Ayumi’s expression softened a bit. “Alright, we’ll do things your way.”

  “Great! Thanks, Ayumi!” He smiled at her, pleased with a resolution. It gave him hope for a smoother journey.

  However, Saki jumped into the versation with a bit of a ta. “You’re e, right Ayumi? You’re not using some trick or anything you learned from that Dareia person to make yourself appear younger.”

  A bit of a gre came from Ayumi, but she covered it up quickly. “No, why are you asking? I am about the same age.”

  “So you’re saying that you were in the military when you were…”

  “Nine, when I joihe academy and eleven when I was assigo the South Gate.”

  “And fourteen when you became Captain of the Royal Guard.” She looked around at the others and they didn’t seem to find it strange. ‘How I be the only one?! This doesn’t make any sense!’ Saki wao punething for how much they failed to reabsp; When she heard Ayumi start her story, it was the first thing that bothered her. It didn’t make any sense. ‘How they just accept it?! I’m not weird or strange right?’

  “Saki?” questioned Yuki. He leaned over to Saki, still caught up ihoughts. The look in her eyes of too many questions buzzing around made it almost possible to see all of the tiny ants running around filing their arms trying to make sense of things. It sort of amused Yuki.

  However, when she came back she yelled, “NO!” It was straight in Yuki’s face, enough to make his hair blow over and off his head, nearly.

  “I’m sorry!” Yuki reacted out of instinot really certain why he apologized. It just seemed to be the right response.

  The outburst put everyone a little on edge. Saki quickly caught their suspicious looks and pulled back trying to close back up. “I-I mean…” Her face was a little red. It took a lot of backpedaling and struggling to find her words, but she eventually reached what she wanted. “No!” Or maybe not. It was the looks they gave, they set her off.

  “Saki? What’s wrong?”

  ‘Am I crazy? I ’t be? I’m the only sane one here, right? I mean there’s Yuki that’s delusional, Haruo who never says anything and Ayumi that is too much of a puzzle. I’m normal right?!’

  “Um…Saki?” Yuki reached out to pce a hand on her shoulder, hoping it would calm her down a little.

  Naturally, she jumped, not expeg Yuki. “Huh?” The world she caught herself up in blocked out too many things. “What?!”

  “Are you alright?”

  “I should be asking you that!” she blurted out, the ck of text only made them look more strangely at her. It made her feel a little self-scious. “I’m the normal one here!”

  “Eh?” Yuki raised an eyebr to uand where Saki was going. “Is something wrong?”

  “How you just stand there and accept everything she said without even finding it odd?!” She flung a hand over to Ayumi, pointing at her evidenbsp; “She’s e! e! You know what that means! How you just accept that someone her age is in the military and at the top as though it is normal! This is the real world!”

  Pushing a little way from Saki, he motioned with his hands for her to calm down. “First of all, we’re sitting, not standing while accepting it.” The joke immediately made her gre at him. He felt the death rays ing off her eyes. It took a while for the blue in his face to disappear. “Child assassins and military anizations using underage girls is a popur trope, it’s not that surprising.”

  “…Yu…ki…”

  While Saki threatened Yuki, Haruo ied himself into the fround once more. “Other parts of the world outside of Japan, children are forced to learn to fight. So it should not be too unusual.” It normally would have been something pletely ignored in the chaos, but Haruo’s voice was still very fn to everyohat they all stopped.

  “But Atntis doesn’t seem like it is in the sort of situation that it is needed.”

  “Maybe so, but this is the reality of her world.” Haruo moved his head just enough to put Ayumi in his view, so she looked at him. “I hypothesize based on the facts you’ve presehat there are some external factors involved.”

  Ayumi remained quiet on Haruo’s direquiry. His move made Saki pull away from Yuki, though her hand still casually tightly g to Yuki’s tunibsp; “There’s something else.”

  “I think you should answer him, Ayumi,” added Yuki. His eyes were clear with the sign of wanting answers. He no longer wished to be in the dark on matters. He wao uand Atntis.

  The relut look in her eyes foretold her dey. All eyes were ohough, they expected her to give an answer. “This goes a little deeper than I po expin. It goes to the core of the problems currently fag Atntis. It is the source of all of the things that remain hidden behind masks of te and status quo.”

  Yuki swallowed a little. He could feel the tension. The tension from Saki’s hand squeezing even tighter on his tunic making it difficult to breathe normally. He lowered a hand to her wrist trying to alert her to her as.

  Surprised, Saki gnced down at Yuki. She saw his fad hand and misread it as a f look rather than one pleading to be freed. She smiled a little at him, not uanding.

  His eyes widened, fused by her rea. He tightened his hand around her wrist, though knowing it would mean very little for someohat could snap his neck by actly having a muscle spasm from sneezing. “…Saki…”

  “Yuki…” She still didn’t get the message.

  “Saki, you’re choking me.”

  “What?!” He destroyed the mood. However, it was exactly what he wanted. She finally realized what she did and released him. “Sorry!”

  “It’s fine…” He gnced over at Ayumi, catg sight of her looking a him. Their little misuanding ruihe heavy atmosphere she created. “Sorry, tih your stru of an ominous prologue to y reveal.”

  Her eyes narrowed, bothered by his sarcasm. The situation forced her to tinue regardless. “It’s the w,” she stated, clearly finally getting it out there.

  “A w to have children in the military?” Saki incredulously asked.

  “It’s nothing so selective as you’re thinking.” It was easy to see where things could go in a moral debate. “It is Atntis w that all people able to use the power we have to be in the military.”

  “Everyone?”

  “No matter the age. Ohey’re discovered, scription is mandatory.”

  “Makes sense,” ented Haruo. Saki stared at him in disbelief for accepting it. “In a society where people with this power subsciously rewrite reality, any gover would see it as dangerous keeping them in the publibsp; They would raining to trol their power or it’d hurt the public.”

  “But still...it’s nht!” Saki’s obje to Haruo’s logic came from a surprising pbsp; She wasn’t actually bothered by it from the mrounds that most would immediately be. Her eyes focused on Ayumi with pity. It was the life Ayumi had to deal with because of such ws. Prejudice came out of the ws and she suffered because of it. ‘Those ws ruined her childhood!’

  “Things now are not how they used to be. The w has been around for turies even millennia, but only i hundred years have things ged.” Her words caught their attention. “Before, the way it funed was that ah the power was required to attend the Academy for training, afterward they were free to do anything. But new ames were created to the ws pg stricter regutions on us. And the formation of the Omega Division.

  “These were all retly done. Twenty years ago, u among MPs reached a point of open rebellion. Led by a powerful MP, they threatened all of Atntis. The Omega Division was formed to bat the threat and put down the rebellion ruthlessly. Using the rebellion as an excuse, the ws were tightened even further to how they are now.”

  Ayumi took a pause to see how they took it all. Not even Saki barked a pint. They just wao hear what more she had to say. “The ones behind it are the same men trying to steal the throne for themselves and that want Yuki dead. They’re afraid of us and want to keep us down. They want to keep the power of Atntis in their hands. The old men of the Atntean cil. They want someohat they trol as King, a puppet ruler. And at the head of the spiracy, the former head of the Omega Divisiohenes Alexander.”