Bloodstained Rose

Chapter 6

Rei had felt like she was ripping off a piece of herself every time she removed her robe. The pressure around her bust was nothing compared to that unsettling feeling. While wearing it, she had an extra presence watching over her, constantly calculating every move with brutal efficiency. Her training in combat and the ways of the Deep for the past decade had been a hidden blessing.

Hideo wanted me to replace him, she thought to herself.

It was nearing morning, and she did not sleep much the night before. It was clear that she would be going into Aiga with Tetsu and a small number of troops. She gathered with Megumi on the Mobile Carrier before the mission to try and get cleaned up. In the last week, she had never gone on board and was captivated by the metal halls of the interior. The inside of the bathroom contained a few sets of smudged mirrors with rust covered lockers around the walls. Megumi stood before her, partially undressed as she looked over to Rei who was still sitting with her same black shorts still around waist.

“C’mon, lose the shorts too,” Megumi ordered as she led her towards the shower. “You are going to thank me. I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, but you stink. I know they wanted to be nice, but they can smell it. I can smell it.”

“In the old village, I would usually bathe every other day. It never made sense to use all that water.” Rei said back.

“No, no, no,” she returned, prompting Rei to face her. “I know you are really about being in touch with nature and the Deep, or whatever, but we live in the modern world. Do you know what happens if you don’t wash? You get greasy, then you get germs, and they make you sick. Worst of all, you stink.”

“So, how does this thing work?”

Megumi very enthusiastically walked into the shower room and towards a metal pillar in the center. It had two faucets at the top, each with their own water setting.

“Lose the shorts but keep those sandals. You don’t want to touch your bare feet against this floor, trust me,” Megumi said while starting to undress. She took a seat over on the bench. The inside of this area had barely contained enough space for the two, let alone the rest of the crew. “In the modern world, we shower every day. Have you used soap?”

“What is that?”

“Exactly,” Megumi snapped back as she reached for a towel. “You will make friends with it. The old days of splashing water on yourself and pretending you’re clean are over. It’s a miracle you haven’t died yet.”

Rei had stripped down to just her newly issued shower slippers only to squeeze herself tight. The cold outside had been able to move undaunted through the ship all day, lying-in wait to give her a quick shock. Megumi eagerly led her inside.

“How does this work?” Rei asked, still feeling the cold.

“You just take that dial, move it to the left towards the big letter C.” she replied, seemingly struggling to keep a straight face.

Rei gripped onto the handle and confidently gave it a twist. The faucet overhead let out a stream of ice-cold water, giving her a quick shriek as she pulled away from it. Megumi laughed just as Rei backed away from the water, nearly in tears as she shivered.

“C means cold, you dummy,” Megumi said, barely keeping composed as she looked towards her. “Turn it to the H for hot, and you better crank it, this thing sucks!”

“Why would you do that?”

“I dunno, it was fun,” She spoke after catching her breath. “Can’t you read?”

“Yeah,” Rei said back, cautiously turning the dial to the right. “I used to write too.”

“I have a few jokes I could crack, but I’ll go easy on you.”

Rei stepped into the water after finally feeling the lukewarm temperature grace her skin. It had reminded her of the very few times she had gotten a chance to splash warm water from the hot springs on her.

“Do I do this every day?”

“The more the better,” Megumi reached out to her with a small green bar of soap in her hand. “This is your new friend.”

“I like this.”

This has to be the best thing about this new world. Rei had not expected things to be this far ahead of what she had encountered in the town before. Soap had been quite a strange experience, but the overall feeling of being clean had been a relief.

“I told you that you would thank me,” Megumi said after stepping out of the shower. After drying off and throwing Rei a towel, she asked, “Was that the best?”

“That,” Rei smiled, trying not to laugh as she continued, “was everything.”

It was leaps and bounds beyond having to splash herself in the river or warm a bucket over a fire. The convenience of irrigation was something she could make peace with. The old way had never made sense. Megumi had given her access to what clothes she had, letting her choose something for the mission. Rei was not picky—black shorts, just like what she had before. These feel much more comfortable.

“Just a new pair of shorts and the same old sandals.” Megumi said while she watched her get suited up.

“What’s wrong with these ones?”

“I guess the old saying stands?”

“Which is that?”

“If it’s not broke,” Megumi trailed off, waiting for Rei to finish the line. After a few moments of silence, she let out a sigh. “I guess while you teach me, I keep teaching you?”

A familiar bond and set of boundaries between them had reminded Rei of Shugo. Not even after a few hours with her, she had found that anguish starting to become more of an afterthought. With Megumi constantly spinning her up on what to expect in her new life and breaking her away from lingering over what she had lost, Rei started to find herself making peace.

Shortly after, the two assembled outside, by the front of the Mobile Carrier, waiting for Paxton and the others to arrive. The night sky over Nojiri’s outskirts had been blotted with swarms of clouds, obscuring the starry fabric of space above. Rei finally fastened down her battle robe, feeling the onboard AI beginning to send a near endless flow of signals into her brain. She took in a quick gasp before finally releasing her breath and welcoming the presence.

The UAZ from before had started to approach. It had still been riddled with gunfire, barely remaining intact from the battle before. Two more vehicles had followed it closely—both identical, but in much better condition.

She had gone through the motions in her head, repeating the same story, our outfit was ambushed, no supplies or radio for a week.

The entire operation had made her nervous, but having the Kawaguchi name on her ID would either be a blessing or a burden. After the frontmost vehicle had come to a stop, Paxton crawled out the missing side door with a glorious stogie between his teeth. Tetsu emerged from the passenger side with his chin dipped low. As soon as he had made eye contact with Rei, he lifted his hand to her to give her a quick wave, still visibly nervous.

“Good evening, ladies,” Paxton said proudly as he stood tall to them. He gave his cigar another drag while Tetsu stepped around to his side. “I reckon everybody is nice and fresh for the mission?”

“Where did you get these?” Megumi asked, observing the extra UAZs.

“We commandeered them in a previous reconnaissance mission. Shouldn’t need ‘em, but I ain’t sendin’ no amount of men anywhere unless I’m damn sure they’re covered.”

Rei glared over at Tetsu, seeing him actively trying to avoid eye contact with her. She walked over to him to try and give him a boost before the job.

“Do you remember what I told you?” she asked.

“Yeah, keep your balance, find your center, all that,” Tetsu replied nervously. He finally stared back to her, quickly finding himself at a loss for words as he looked at her still damp locks of hair over her face. “Clear your mind, familiar emotions.”

“Like you’re waking up from a dream.”

He continued gazing into her eyes, softly muttering, “like a dream.”

“She’s going to ride along with you and me,” Paxton interrupted him. “The plan is still the same—you’re going to move into the Alferov while the auxiliary forces watch the perimeter. Now, where’s pretty boy at?”

The other two UAZs had been emptied, revealing Kismet and Rowan with a handful of troops. Judai stepped out from in between them, making his presence finally known. His brown and curly bangs had earned him the name. He didn’t quite seem like somebody who would be in the front line or in a combat situation. However, Nomad and the rest fought alongside him in Nojiri and were able to see firsthand that he was just as capable as them.

“Right here, sir.” Judai called out.

“You get in the busted-up vehicle with Nomad and Megumi, you’re playing prisoner, don’t let them touch your face,” Paxton replied, giving a quick smirk to him. He took another drag of his cigar and pointed over towards Kismet, who appeared disgruntled as usual, before continuing, “Kiss-mess, you’re driving the middle car with these guys as the gunner in case shit gets messy.”

He pointed over to Rowan, signaling for her to take the wheel of his vehicle. The whole team began to load up, the sound of their movements was overpowered by the humming engines.

“We take the long way, everybody meets up at the rendezvous at 1400 hours tomorrow!” Paxton shouted finally before slapping his hand rapidly across the roof of the UAZ.

He constantly repeated the banging, urging the rest of them to move faster. They quickly made their way into each of their vehicles, quickly getting assembled. Nomad had taken the passenger seat, allowing Megumi to handle the vehicle. It would take a few hours to get into Aiga, and by that time it would be sunrise. Judai sat behind them, keeping close to the only door with its window still intact. The seats on the inside had been filled with loose tears from decades of service along with a few bullet holes across the headrest, making his stomach turn.

“Sorry about your car,” Judai said. He reached towards one of the bullet holes, pressing his finger inside and imagining his troops unloading on Nomad and Megumi. Another shudder ran through him before he added, “I’m glad you guys didn’t get hurt.”

“Alright, you don’t gotta be that polite,” Nomad replied. “I don’t think there are any hard feelings, guy.”

“It’s Judai,” he said again. “Sorry, we didn’t get a lot of time to get to know each other. You’re Nomad, right?”

“What kind of name is that?” Megumi asked.

“I don’t know, just something my parents named me,” Judai replied. He quickly laughed, cupping his hand over his mouth before continuing, “I have a friend who says it funny, like ‘you die’ because he’s saying my name with a funny voice.”

“Ok,” Megumi laughed. “Nomad, I take it back, you’re not a dork, he’s a dork.”

Nomad joined in, trying to his best to force out a laugh, but fell short. Megumi quickly rolled her eyes and set the vehicle into drive. Without a warning, she pressed the accelerator to the floor and held on as the vehicle pushed forward into the woods.