“What are you talking about?” the captain asked while glaring at me.
The fact that her right eye was mechanical made her look all the more frightening, but this was no time to worry about that.
How do I explain something like this?
I doubted she’d believe me if I told her I had memories of my past life. And what I was thinking of was mostly just speculation. But when I thought about the scale of New World, I knew I was right.
I suppose I’ll get my thoughts straight while talking about it with the captain.
“Captain, did you know that the Germans had a huge submarine fleet during the Second World War?”
“Yes, I did. But the war came to a quick conclusion, so they must have been barely used. What does that have to do with anything?”
“The German submarine fleet intended to make their base in Antarctica. However, that information soon leaked out to allied forces. An attack led by the United States on the base was planned. It was known as Operation Highjump.”
The captain took a drink from a bottle of water and then nodded to urge me to continue.
“But it’s like you said. The fleet was never used in actual combat because the war quickly reached a quick conclusion. It’s also rumored that the submarine base was never built. Despite that, the United States still sent their forces there...”
In a world that never had a Cold War, there would have been no need to train in artic warfare on Antarctica, unlike in my previous world. With no need for such training, no one would have needed to do anything as expensive as going to the South Pole.
“They’ve claimed that base as their own?” she asked.
“I can’t be certain,” I said. “They might have claimed it, or they might have completed its construction. In any case, I think there’s a base there. And that base must be New World’s main headquarters.”
“How can you be sure?”
“They have to be somewhere that not even my mom, Noa, my dad, and the United Nations could find them. Wouldn’t it be the perfect place? They could accommodate at least as many personnel as Noa. It would be possible to construct a facility deep underground where reconnaissance satellites wouldn’t see them. And New World could also accommodate an impressively large fleet of submarines there.”
“So the United States is conspiring with New World?”
“I can’t be sure about that, either. But I suspect New World has members quite high up in the United States government. Other nations also have observation stations in the area, so the United States might not be the only traitor. If we want to understand New World’s aims, we should take this into consideration.”
I hadn’t been able to understand New World’s intentions at all so far. If they had just wanted to kill me, they could have had a sniper take me out from far away. The same was true of Alice. Instead, they had halfheartedly abducted her and then let her escape. Even now, they were halfheartedly fighting us and with a halfhearted offensive.
It’s beyond me. This whole situation is too much for someone with my level of intelligence.
I regretted having been too proud to let my mom deal with everything. As if my lack of rest had suddenly caught up to me, I began to feel dizzy and had to sit on a nearby chair.
The captain lit a cigar and asked me, “A moment ago you mentioned ‘the United States of this world.’ What did that mean?”
I said that...? Damn. It’s hard to think straight after going two days without sleep. Not that it matters anymore. We’re surrounded by New World and the United States Army. The situation is completely hopeless. What’s the harm in sharing the more surprising details of my life in my final moments?
“Captain, did you read the research article that Dr. Sandra published?” I asked.
“You mean the crackpot one about reincarnation of souls?”
“That’s the one. Let’s forget about whether it’s a crackpot theory or not. It is accurate. I can’t give you conclusive proof, but I do have evidence to support it.”
The captain eyed me suspiciously. But then her expression turned to surprise, and the cigar she was holding fell to the ground.
Looks like she figured it out.
“Before we fight alongside each other, let me reveal my true nature to you. I, Kouki Arakawa, was reincarnated after having lived my life in another world.”
For a few seconds the captain was completely frozen, but then she suddenly started laughing.
I knew it. She doesn’t believe me.
Everything I was saying was true, but if the captain came at me yelling, “You expect me to believe that crap?” I would probably wet myself.
“Heh heh...” she chuckled. “Ha ha ha! Now I see. Now I see why people call you a monster. You constructed the same theory as Sandra in another world, and then you tested it on yourself. Now you’ve been born to the most eminent researcher in this world: Miki Arakawa. You were already a genius, but then you were able to learn a completely new body of scientific knowledge from a genius of another world. So that’s what makes you a monster.”
“No... Captain...”
“Say no more. I can see from the look on your face that you want this to remain secret. I’m guessing you haven’t even told your parents. Well, I give you my word, your secret is safe with me.”
Now what? The captain has jumped to her own conclusions, and now she’s happily accepted everything. If I tell her, “I’m just an ordinary person, I’ve never been exceptional, and my mom knows everything already,” I feel like she’ll yell at me. But at the same time, I feel like I should tell her the truth.
As I was frantically trying to decide, we heard crashing sound from inside the building.
The captain’s smile vanished. She removed her gun from its holster and stared up at a ventilation shaft.
“Is it... the enemy?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Stay back.”
I nervously hid behind the captain’s back and stared at the ventilation shaft over her shoulder.
“I’m coming down,” said a voice. “Don’t shoot me.”
Whoever it was spoke Russian but with a terrible English accent.
I know that voice.
There was another crashing sound as a duffel bag landed on the ground in front of us. A woman climbed out after it. She was covered in dirt, presumably from crawling through the old ventilation shaft.
When I saw her face, I couldn’t help but cry out: “Clare?!”
“That’s right,” she said. “You thought you could escape me, Kouki? Thanks to you, I’ve been swimming through the sea and spelunking through caves. Let’s go straight home so I can shower.”
After two days without seeing Clare, she was now standing in front of me with her usual smile, wearing a combat uniform instead of her usual suit.