I awoke suddenly. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 5:18 AM. For a while, I lay on my cot and waited for my sleepiness to wear off.
“Volga, you’re awake?” the man lying on the cot next to mine asked. “I’m surprised. You went almost three days without sleep, and now you’ve slept for only five hours.”
“Because I’m hungry... And because there’s a lot to do today.”
“That’s true,” he said. “We should get some breakfast and then receive our uniforms.”
With that, the man got out of bed and began putting on his boots.
I forget his name. I’m sure he told me before we went to sleep, but I can’t remember. Something like Yohan... No... I remember! He’s Yosef!
He was Yosef from the heavy weapons squad.
“Yosef, have all the nearby residents been evacuated?” I asked.
“Yes. Last night we finished clearing out everyone within a fifty-kilometer radius. But will it really happen?”
“Yes. I was thinking about Clare and about the extraction team, and now I’m sure of it.”
Yosef stroked his beard and looked as though he still didn’t believe me.
We said nothing more to each other until we’d arrived in the cafeteria via a narrow hallway.
I accepted food from the soldier acting as the chef and then sat down in an empty chair to eat it.
“I hear that you’ll be given a major general’s uniform,” Yosef said.
“That’s right. I haven’t actually had the basic training and education, so I’ll probably just get in everyone’s way. Special major general is just the rank that Noa gave me.”
“Ha. It’s not as though we’ve had the proper training, either,” Yosef replied, laughing. “Can you believe that there’s still a unit trained for a nuclear war in this day and age?”
That’s kind of amazing in its own way... Even Macho Man’s unit was only ever trained to deal with tactical nuclear weapons used by terrorist groups. Meanwhile, Joseph and his unit are prepared for an all-out nuclear war involving strategic nuclear weapons. That’s the only reason we’re able to be where we are right now.
“I owe you an apology,” I said to Yosef. “I came out here to Russia acting all tough, but all I’ve done is sneak around like a coward.”
“Forget about that,” he said. “The National Security Unit showed you our new uniforms, right? I’m really happy. I didn’t think we’d ever get to wear proper uniforms.”
I didn’t realize Yosef’s unit has never had uniforms. Being in a top-secret unit sounds cool, but the top brass probably just thinks of them as a unit they can throw into any unconventional warfare situation.
“All right! I’m done eating, so I’m going to get my uniform.” Yosef spoke with exaggerated enthusiasm as if he was trying to shake off the gloomy atmosphere. “You should go see the captain.”
“All right.”
I watched him walk off and then climbed to my feet and headed in the direction of the captain.
On the way there, I encountered Clare, who was already wearing the new uniform.
“Good morning, Clare.”
“Good morning. The operation will commence in fifteen minutes, as scheduled. I’ll send the transmission to the Hakone base.”
“Understood. As our intelligence officer, the success or failure of this operation is all down to you, Clare. We’re counting on you.”
“You can always count on me.”
I was relieved to see Clare smiling confidently.
When I reached my destination, I found the captain giving orders with an unlit cigar in her mouth.
She’s as energetic as always... Does she never get tired?
“Good morning, Captain,” I said.
“Good morning. Our preparations are complete. It took some time, but now we can intercept transmissions to the Hakone base.”
“Even AAA-class transmissions?”
“Even those. Lieutenant Colonel Clare was able to hack into Noa’s main computer to give us full access for a short while. We can intercept everything up until they change their transmission frequencies.”
In that case, we need to start right now, I thought. If we wait too long, Elise might have the same thought and change the frequencies. If that happens, we’ll have wasted our time.
“Understood,” I said. “I know it sudden, but let’s start the operation right now. Please send a transmission to Noa.”
Under my orders, the captain and her subordinates began to move at once.
We would report my safety to the security department. That would set everything in motion.
“Transmission sent,” Clare said. A moment later she told us, “The traffic on Noa’s network is increasing.”
Clare had connected her own terminal to one of the computers and was analyzing the communication data.
One minute after being informed of my safety, Noa contacted Macho Man’s rapid response unit. I expected they’d contact the engineering department where my mom was working next.
“We’ve intercepted an AAA-class transmission,” a com officer said. “The transmission appears to be addressed to Miki Arakawa.”
It took them just two minutes to send word to my mom? That’s pretty fast. Next will be the reply from my mom, and then there should be an emergency directive sent to every department.
“I’ve found it!” Clare called. “This transmission isn’t being sent according to standard protocol. This is... I can’t believe it.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Kouki, Captain Yulia, you were both right. Someone within Noa is leaking information to New World. There’s a spy within the security department sending A-class transmissions.”
Just as I thought. Our plans are all being communicated to New World. But I never expected the spy would be in the security department. How did they infiltrate that department? It should have been possible to detect spies using the device for reading surface level thoughts that we discovered on the moon. Either way, Macho Man will handle it.
“Clare, contact my dad and have him lock down the security department,” I said. “The military department and the security department are the only departments where it’s permitted to carry weapons within Noa, so this puts Alice and my friends in danger.”
“Understood.”
If there’s a spy sending transmissions, what about the Chelyabinsk base?
I asked one of the operators to bring up a satellite image of the Chelyabinsk base. For a moment, the tanks protecting the base perimeter were bathed in a flash of light.
“Where did it come from?” I asked.
“It was a strike from an air force unit stationed 120 kilometers east.”
“Impressive. Sadly for them, there was no one there.”
“Indeed,” Clare said. “This confirms that there are no spies with us or within the National Security Unit.”
While we were having this carefree conversation, the intensity of the attack on the Chelyabinsk base was increasing.
If we were in that base, we’d already be dead, I realized.
“Kouki,” Clare called out to me. “We’re approaching the Academy City defense line. There’s an unusually strong antisubmarine defense patrol because of New World’s attack. If we don’t surface, they’ll sink us.”
“Understood. Captain, I’ll leave you in command. New World is fond of submarines, so our escape should leave them with a bitter taste. Let’s do this in style.”
The captain nodded, put on her new Russian Navy jacket, and then grabbed the mic to give orders throughout the ship.
“All personnel prepare to surface immediately! This vessel will surface close to Academy City within Japanese territorial waters. After surfacing, we will be in the care of the Maritime Self-Defense Force. We are crew members of the nuclear submarine Maria Feodorovna, belonging to the Russian Navy. Don’t forget that we’re to be given asylum by Noa as the heroes that rescued and delivered Kouki Arakawa.”
I know, I added silently. Once the Japanese government captures us, I’ll make it release you immediately. I’ve got no intention of sending the captain back to Russia or handing her over to the Japanese government. Delivering me home safely in a situation like this is no small feat. I’m sure no one will complain.
It felt good to be back in Japan. It had only been four days, but it felt as though I’d been gone a long time.
I’m sure my mom will be busy handling an inquiry into all of this once I get back. But maybe she can make me something to eat first, and then I can take a bath...
✦ ✦ ✦
“Here’s some more for you to look at,” Mom said.
There was now a mountain of paperwork in front of me.
With my personal terminal broken, I couldn’t receive any data, but Mom had gone to the trouble of printing out all of the paperwork that was piled up in front of me.
Clare was sitting at another desk with a similar mountain of paperwork, looking over at me and grinning.
Is that pretty secretary of mine actually enjoying this?
“And here are the complaints from the Academy City Defense Force. Oh, I almost forgot! We have a request from the Russian Security Council for us to give back the submarine you came home in.”
“Mom...” I complained.
“The VR technology department was held up while you were gone, Kou. There are a ton of reports from that department for you to deal with. And then there’s...”
Oh, man. Mom is really angry. I don’t know how to deal with her when she’s this angry.
Mom was smiling at me, but she wasn’t smiling with her eyes. I turned and looked at Alice in the corner of the room for help, but she avoided my gaze. Even Kon was hiding behind her own tail as she lay in Alice’s arms. The captain and Anton remained behind me standing to attention as if they’d been turned to stone. I had nowhere to turn for help.
“I’m sorry...”
As soon as I apologized, Mom stopped piling on the paperwork. She slowly turned her head to look at me.
“I couldn’t quite hear that. What did you say?”
“I’m sorry for trying to do everything by myself! I’m sorry! So please help me with all of this!”
“You need my help?! But you didn’t need my help to run off to Russia. And when you found yourself in danger there, you stopped me from helping at all and said you’d handle everything yourself. Then you went ahead and blew yourself up in an old city of a foreign country before miraculously returning home in a secretly stored submarine.”
“I know...” I murmured.
“Well, all right. But promise me you’ll learn from all of this and stop trying to do everything by yourself in the future.”
“Okay.”
“Your dad is waiting for you on Noa Island. Go say hello. He was worried, so make sure you apologize.”
Even Macho Man was angry? Well, this was a big deal, so I can’t blame him.
I said, “Okay,” and then got ready to head to Noa Island for the first time in a long while.