Chapter 41 (1/2)

Chapter 41: For Her to Change the World

My keyboard clattered throughout the office cell as I continued to type Perhaps it was because I hadn’t been in the battlefield for so long, but I kept writing, then deleting, then writing again, then deleting again

In the end, I was only able to kill that one <unknown> It was just as I expected, though I was so far behind the front lines that I never even expected to encounter any enemies in the first place

The ,the evaluation period, I would obtain the appropriate aet a lot of points for that kill, however, and certainly nowhere enough for a proet a decent amount froet al

On the other hand, fulfillingbranch was a slow, but steady way to get points, though the amount was obviouslyon the battlefield For people wanting to get ahead, fighting in the military branch was always the best bet Despite that, I preferred working in the ence over th

I continued to daydrea up my report Suddenly, I heard a beep as the security lock on the door was unlocked from the outside

“Who could still be here this late?” I thought as I turned towards the door As I did, the autoao

Asagao blinked a few times as she looked at o home, you know”

“Well,of which, you were the one who told lanced back at her

“Even so, please go home,” she said cal with her pen and then looked straight at ht and doing all the overtime paperwork and stuff”

“Well, I wasn’t even going to stay here overnight…” I said “But if ht?”

“Can’t you just do it at home?”

I looked at her in shock “You can’t be serious…” I said, wondering why she could say that so nonchalantly

However, for soao was shocked as well “There is a cost for keeping the electricity, , you know…” she said, shrugging her shoulders “But you working at home… now that’s free”

“That’s not right…” I said grimly

“Well, I guess it’s not exactly free We do pay you every month for your work, huh”

“And you ork rumbled “Besides, that’s not what I meant, not at all…”

Asagao just playfully laughed atas well

“If you’re tired Asagao,” I said, noticing her yawning “Why don’t you go home?”

“Yeah, I’ back soon,” she replied as she exhaled deeply and arched her back, stretching her entire torso She sluggishly straightened her hair a bit with her fingers and sighed deeply “… Even so,” she continued after a pause “You were great on that battlefield I can still hear the sounds ringing in my ears”

“It takes a while to get used to,” I said “Well to be fair, in the end even I couldn’t get used to it…”

I only really started fighting on the battlefield in the first six h schooler Even in those battles, I was only sent there to deal with the stray ene in on the battlefield because everyone fought selfishly in order to rack up those points I was soon transferred to the otten much experience on the battlefield

But Asagao, who just recently experienced her first battle, was thinking of so completely different She quickly spun a chair around towards me, sat down, and asked, “Kasumi Why did you leave the military?”

“Umm… I was told that I had to be transferred?” I said softly “For now, I technically ah…”

“Why were you transferred though?” Asagao ada, right?”

I sighed “Cohters… they could easily drop ten or twenty without breaking a sweat Now co with the leftovers…”

“That’s also iao as she rested her chin on her hands She scowled in disgust

“Not necessarily It only takes one person to do it, and it’s reallySnipers are valued pretty lohen dealing with the <unknowns>”

“Well, for one, snipers deal with a lot of behind the scenes stuff We not only deal with the target straight up, but we also value understanding its thoughts so we can fully utilize that to our advantage”

Through mainly their tactics, snipers instilled fear into the enemies They constantly made the eneeting the carelessmove meant certain death As a result, their movements were usually very limited In fact, the best sniper teams could put so much pressure that even a small platoon would be frozen in fear

Asagao’s eyes widened “Wow, you sure are knowledgeable about this”

“That’s nothing to be surprised about…” I muttered

The ChibaThey were full of punks, and people who didn’t act like them felt extremely out of place Those people were even humiliated and picked on The punks followed a strict code: Those ere good at acade their heads were cowards!

In any case, they valued strength above all

“But still, snipers are still needed, right?” asked Asagao with a doubtful look

“Back then, yeah,” I replied “That’s only because the ene with these monsters, our tactics becoht processes It’s impossible to read them”

Asagao stroked her chin as she thought long and hard about what I just said “I see,” she finally said “<unknowns>, huh? It’s true we’ll never be able to understand those monsters…”

“Yeah,” I said “That’s why the previous city head chose to just go for all out annihilation It was probably much easier that way”

“The previous? You ht?” she asked meekly “Natsume’s older sister, huh…”

“Yeah, her,” I said, nodding

In a sense, Natsuo, the roups: the Tokyo and Kanagawa awa specialized in naval combat On the other hand, Chiba, who specialized in land co due to the fact that the <unknowns> aled behind the other two cities and ultimately ended up as a mere backup force

In this world, people’s very existence was deter away people’s opportunity to fight was the sa the their inevitable dee Chiba for the better To acco the hts The turret train, for exas implemented by them

Within all this, Natsues of all She aimed for about ten percent of the population to be part of the military branch, and within that ten percent, she picked a few out to be part of the elites She constantly advocated fighting with overwhelrained that belief into our heads Those eak and useless were allocated to the back lines or transferred out On the other hand, anyone as strong was able to participate in the front lines Age, affiliation, or beliefs— none of thatIn fact, it was due to this very change that my sister was sent to the front lines even as a middle schooler

At the same time, the snipers, who really didn’t have much to show in terms of results, were slowly forced into the back lines

“Well, if the city head decided all this, then there’s not really much we can do,” I said “We’re part of this system, so we have to obey their orders”

“That’s true,” contee this syste…” she said, looking up at me “But I think you already know that…”

I looked at her and grinned slad she finally realized hoesome my sister is

“Ughh, don’t look at htly bit her lip “But just fro what she did in that battle… she could be the city head one day Idisplay of poould be in awe It’s a bit frustrating, but theoff its power”

“What’s frustrating about it?” I asked with unease

Asagao nonchalantly tilted her head “Well at this rate, I won’t be able to win against Natsume in the elections”

“What??? You… you want to participate in the elections?”

She can’t be serious… It’s always been customary for the head and the subhead to come from the military elites This way, the new leaders would be accepted by even the stupidest of idiots After all, with so hters on top was the only way to anizational hierarchy

I continued, trying to speak as lightheartedly as possible “I ed for Natsume anyway I bet they just pretend to have an election…”

Asagao was dead serious “Even if it’s iht atit That’s what I have decided”