Obligatory Duty (Undergoing Revisions)

Chapter 1: Night 1

Continuous blaring sirens, spasmodically flickering lights, unstoppable tremors. These are what greeted me. Just my luck, only on the first day and trouble's already brewing. I fell off the top bunk, being roused awake by elegantly kissing the cold, hard floor.

"Freakin' Hell!" In agony, I blurted out. "What is going on? Is sleeping peacefully too much of a thing to ask?"

"Stop fooling around in this emergency. What kind of idiot even falls off his bed?" A sharp voice resounded in the pure, inky darkness that surrounds us.

Even without the light, I could tell who it was. Only one guy in the world could insult you this viciously right after you were rudely awakened. It was one of my fellow recruit applicants, Itsuo Miyamoto. Apparently, he comes from a tiny island in the east called Yamato.

"Emergency? Oh, the alarms huh? So what should we do now?" I asked, as the backup lights flashed on and we were bathed in the warm, red glow.

"Huh? How can someone even be this stupid? Were you even listening to this morning's lecture?" Itsuo grumbled.

"Oh, the lecture right, nope. Didn't listen at all, didn't really see the point." I replied, stifling a yawn.

"Hahh, we need to move out to the underground basement now to receive orders." In a weary tone similar to that when teaching a five years old, he rubbed his forehead as if talking to me gives him a migraine.

The other thirty or so recruits that had been sleeping in the same dorm dressed themselves up instantly and rushed out. Following them, Itsuo and I exited the dorm and bolted across the courtyard. The cloudless, winter night sky revealed a flawless moon, luminous and as round as a sake cup. With our breath forming mist, teeth chattering and feet sloshing through the thin sheet of snow, we hurried to the main building.

Getting a full view as we went down the steps into the basement, it was chock full with the new recruits hustling and bustling to frantically form rows. The incessant blasting alarm finally ended as we got in line.

A man stepped into the makeshift stage made from wooden crates in front of us and shouted.

"Attention!"

All the recruits froze in place, facing towards him, giving him their fullest attention. The atmosphere was electric with tension and expectation.

"Recruits, we have an emergency situation. This is not a practice drill. An army of golems had infiltrated this base. All of you do not have to fight, wait here till the danger has passed." Short and precise, he made his sharp point. 

"Oooh, lucky us, I guess we can just kick back and wait things out," I whispered to Itsuo.

"Shut up! Don't talk to me. I'll catch your idiocy." He huffed.

"Hah? Why are you always so uptight. Loosening up will do you good.  And we are friends aren't we?" I shot back in the most annoying voice I could muster.

"What? Who is your friend? We only met this morning and then you wouldn't stop bugging me, following me around everywhere." He complained, glaring at me like some kind of thorn in his side. 

"Oh come on, I just thought that you could use some company as you were standing all alone by yourself," I answered with a foolish grin plastered on my face.

Just as he was about to retaliate, the entrance to the basement was smashed.

Rubbles of concrete rained down behind us, with the starless midnight blue sky revealed as a backdrop to a humongous titan towering against us.

"What was the crap about us not having to fight huh?" I complained futilely. Just my rotten luck...