Chapter 236: Iron and Blood (Part IV)
That night, while everyone else in the CGS base was asleep, Mikazuki and Akihiro were still pushing themselves through another late-night training session.
As Akihiro pulled himself up on the bar, sweat dripping down his arms, he gritted his teeth and said to Mikazuki, "Hey, listen, Mikazuki — my body weighs way more than yours, you know."
Still calmly doing his own pull-ups, Mikazuki replied flatly, "Got it, got it."
"I'm not losing to you," Akihiro continued, determined, "I'm just losing to my own body weight."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it."
Meanwhile, in the maintenance hangar, Nadi had just finished inspecting one of the mobile workers. Turning to a resting Orga, he said, "That's it for today — I've checked everything. Even the mounted weapons, the machine guns and cannons, all clear."
"Thanks for the hard work, old man," Orga replied lazily.
Nadi sighed at that nickname — no matter how many times he told Orga to stop calling him that, it never changed.
He sat down beside him and started chatting. "So, tomorrow that young lady's coming to CGS, huh?"
"Yeah," Orga said. "Then the day after that, we head for Earth. Counting the round trip, it'll take about five months in total."
"Five months, huh… The place'll be quiet without you guys around. Still, it's not bad — this job was specifically assigned to your team, wasn't it?"
"What's so good about it?" Orga muttered with a scowl. "It's no different from usual. Just another person ordering us around.
To the boss, Maruba, we're just 'whiskers' — people with Alaya-Vijnana plugs in our backs. Nothing but a bunch of space rats, a little faster and more responsive than the rest."
Lighting a cigarette, Nadi took a deep drag and let the smoke curl out slowly. "Those 'whiskers,' huh? The old-era human-machine interface. Alaya-Vijnana… it's a cruel story."
Orga looked at the interface port built into the mobile worker's pilot seat and sighed. "Yeah, but sticking this thing into our spines — that's the price for being allowed to work and live here."
Nadi followed his gaze, his tone softening slightly. "Even so, being able to work at all… I suppose that's lucky in its own way."
Then, turning back toward Orga, he added with a teasing grin, "I still remember when you first came here. No anesthesia during the operation, and you didn't even flinch. It was ridiculous."
Thinking back to that day, Orga couldn't help but chuckle wryly. "Yeah… Guess that's why I wasn't very popular back then. Got beat up all the time.
But honestly, even if I had screamed, they'd have just called me useless and beaten me anyway.
No matter what, our Third Group only has one purpose here — we're their punching bags, or cannon fodder. That's all we are.
Still," he added, looking down with a faint, determined smile, "I have one thing I'll never compromise on — I won't let him see me look pathetic."
"You mean Mikazuki?" Nadi asked with a knowing smirk. "You've got it rough, Captain Orga."
Crushing his cigarette underfoot, Nadi stretched and said, "Anyway, it's late. You've got to greet the young lady tomorrow — get some rest."
…
The next morning, Kudelia arrived at the CGS base office with Fumitan by her side.
Maruba greeted her with exaggerated enthusiasm. "Ah, what an honor! Miss Kudelia Aina Bernstein — your noble ideals inspire me so deeply! You're not just my idol — you're the idol of all of CGS!"
Just then, Orga, Biscuit, Mikazuki, and Eugene entered the room together.
"Third Group — Orga Itsuka and four members, reporting."
Still grinning obsequiously, Maruba introduced them. "These folks here will serve as your bodyguards, Miss Kudelia."
Kudelia rose from her seat with a warm smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I'm Kudelia Aina Bernstein."
Orga and Biscuit froze, unsure how to respond to her friendliness, while Mikazuki simply said flatly, "Oh."
Eugene, however, immediately perked up. "Uh, h-hello there…"
Haeda, standing beside them, frowned. "What's wrong with you people? Don't you even know how to greet someone properly? How pathetic."
Maruba quickly coughed to change the subject. "Ahem — now then, allow me to go over the schedule…"
But Kudelia wasn't listening to him. Watching the awkward reactions of Orga's team, she couldn't help but laugh softly. Then, turning to the quietest one — the small, stoic Mikazuki — she asked, "Hello there. What's your name?"
Caught completely off guard, Mikazuki stiffened. "I… I'm Mikazuki Augus."
"Kudelia" smiled kindly. "Mikazuki, could you show me around the base?"
Maruba's jaw nearly hit the floor. The client herself wanted a personal tour — and by him, of all people? "W–what?"
"Fumitan, I'll leave things here to you," Kudelia said, extending her hand toward Mikazuki. "It's fine — just let me hear your explanation."
Mikazuki looked down at her outstretched hand, then at Orga, who didn't move an inch. He had no idea what to do.
Seeing his hesitation, Kudelia tilted her head and asked gently, "Is there a problem?"
After a moment of awkward silence, Mikazuki turned on his heel and said calmly, "This way, please." Then he walked straight out of the office.
Kudelia blinked in surprise, flustered by his sudden retreat. "Ah — wait a moment!" she said, hurrying after him.
As they walked through the base, Mikazuki began explaining the surrounding equipment and facilities in his usual, expressionless tone, not looking back once.
"Wait, hold on," Kudelia called out, raising her voice. When he still didn't stop, she finally burst out, "Hey, we haven't even shaken hands yet!"
Removing her glove, she extended her bare hand toward him with an eager smile — like an overexcited golden retriever begging for attention.
"Come on, let's shake hands!"
Mikazuki looked at his own hand for a long moment, thought it over, and still didn't reach out.
Kudelia's expression puffed up with frustration. "Why won't you shake hands? I just want to stand on equal footing with you — as friends."