A Matter of Perspective

Chapter 3: Unit 413

        As cliché and ironic as it sounds, the four of us were assembled into the same unit along with one other person, another blue-haired boy with red eyes. His name is Mizumaru. Our unit is Unit 413.
        "Why were we assembled?" Ike asks.
        "We were assembled because we all compliment each other's abilities. Hagane has speed and just enough smarts but is lacking in strength. Ike, you are smart, but you don't excel physically. Sora has physical strength and smarts but needs to improve on defense. Mayonaka has defense and strength down but is stupid. I'm in the middle ground in every category, so that's why I'm here," Mizumaru explains.
        "Okay, and how do you know?" Mayonaka asks.
        "I'm good at gathering intel; that's how," Mizumaru says mysteriously.
        "What kind of intel?" I ask curiously.
        "Hagane, no known surname. Age eleven. Y-," he starts.
        I cut him off, "Okay! Okay! It's weird enough that you know my age and my statistics. I doubt you'd want to be on my list of weirdos to avoid."
        "Who's on the list?" he asks.
        "Weirdos who I'm avoiding," I answer bluntly. Isn't it obvious? It's kind of in the name.
        "Anyways, what do we do now?" Sora asks.
        Mizumaru explains, "We sit here and wait for our assigned leader to come. I hear he's a veteran Warrior that's well-respected and very talented."
        "And here I am!" a man's voice says. We turn to him. Why does he look so familiar? So familiar but from where? I internally sigh, not able to determine where I've seen the man.
        "My name is Ajisai. Call me Ajisai-sensei," he says with a grin. Ajisai-sensei, huh?
        He continues, "Well, I want to get to know you guys. So tell me about yourselves."
        "Um, why?" Mayonaka asks.
        "Because for one, all of us don't know each other. And two, Ajisai-sensei said to," Ike says.
        "I guess I'll go first to get it out of the way. I'm Aoai Ajisai. I've been a Warrior for a full eighteen years. I decided I wanted to be a Warrior because I wanted to protect people from Aka no Kuni Warriors."
        Protect people from Aka no Kuni Warriors, huh? Why do I feel like... like he's in the wrong? That it should be the other way around.
        "You with the yellow eyes. How about you go first," Ajisai-sensei suggests.
        Ike says, "I'm Sakanano Ike. I chose to become a Warrior because I want to become the strongest Warrior out there."
        "Then, you've got competition because I want to be the strongest, you hear? I'm Giji Tori Sora. But that's why you're my friend. We're going to become the strongest together."
        "Um, you," Ajisai-sensei says pointing to Mayanaka.
        "I'm Kuroppoi Mayonaka. I'm going to protect my little sister from Aka no Kuni."
        "And-"
        "I'm Mizumaru. I'm a Warrior because I'm going to slaughter every last one of those Aka no Kuni people if it's the last thing I do," he says in a frightening monotone voice.
        "Last one?" Ajisai-sensei asks.
        "I'm Hagane. I just wanted to become a Warrior one day. Can't imagine why though," I say with a half-hearted shrug.
He sighs in relief. Maybe I'll find a better reason one day.
        "Well, now that all that's settled. We have guard duty," Ajisai-sensei says with a grin.

        "So all we do is stand here and do nothing?" Mayonaka asks.
        "And you get to fight any Aka no Kuni Warriors that come by, but other than that, yes, you just stand there."
        "How boring can this get?" Sora asks.
        Mayonaka smiles and says, "At least, we can slack and still be working."
        I sigh at his laziness. He's strong and all, but he doesn't have the motivation. He's still my best friend though. It's my duty to keep him safe.

        We've been stuck with guard duty for the past month. Only Mayonaka really likes it, and even he's getting bored of it. When do we actually do any sort of fighting?
        "Ajisai-sensei, we're growing sick and tired of your torturous game. We absolutely refuse to continue to do guard duty anymore. We've had enough!"
        "Do you all feel this way?" he asks to which my all simultaneously nod in response.
        "Okay, there's a battle soon anyways. Let's get you guys ready."
        How exciting! I can't wait! This is just amazing. We finally get to fight in a battle! We spend a long time finding suitable armor to wear.
        I need light but durable armor. Because I'm small but fast, and my weak point is my physical strength. As weird as it sounds I can easily protect my right side even with an obvious weak point. Even if I can't see in my right eye, my speed and reflexes seem to make up for that.
        Sora got durable but flexible armor because she tends to leave herself wide open when she attacks. Ike and Mizumaru both got armor that was just a little heavy and easy to move in. Ajisai-sensei explains that after this battle, he'll teach us all how to use a sword. 'So we better stay safe, stick together, and come back alive', in his words.
        "Wait! So you're not coming?" I ask him.
        "Sorry. There's a thing where the kids fight kids and adults fight adults. At least until things get out of control," he explains.
        "So tell me how many kids you kill, and I'll get you that much candy!" Ajisai-sensei says with a smile.
        Candy? He's bribing us to kill people with candy? I sigh and shake my head as Mayonaka grins and exclaims, "You're on!"
Wait a moment. Does he mean bags of candy or individual pieces of candy? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
        "Okay, so meet up at the gates together before 5 o'clock. That's when they leave. Also, here's a piece of advice: Don't kill any of the people with instruments because they are neutral grounds."
        I wonder what happens if you do. I'm not sure I want to know actually. I'm going to assume this is advice coming from experience. Avoid the instruments.