The moment she said this, I looked out of the window to see what the 1,0,1 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion looked like, i was a bit surprised that it looked a bit shabby compared to Matsumoto Base i was in before, much smaller that i almost mistook the base as a big company building .
The plan landed and even though i was not calm in the slightest, i still didn't get up from my seat, then the door of the plane was automatically opened and a man come on board and greeted the two of them, giving them a military salute .
He then asked them the obvious question, i wondered if he was doubtful or was he just messing around, he some sort of a calm smile as he asked pointing at me saying :
Was that him ? .
I liked the fact he used him instead of it, they both nodded their heads at his question, he then pointed to me with his finger and motioned for me to come closer, i did as he said and stood in front of him, i was still a bit taller than him, but the difference in height wasn't that big .
The moment i stopped in front of him, he punched out towards my stomach, i could have stopped him at any second i want to, but deeming it to be not a threat, i allowed him to punch me .
With no surprises on my part, the punch force were absorbed by the mass of flesh and muscles that i had developed those years, my physical strength was nothing to scoff at and it was still continuing to increase, but in a more moderate manner than before, i could enhance my body with much more strength any second i want, but there hasn't been a situation that there was a need to do so, so i refrained from doing so .
But even though this development didn't surprise me in the slightest, the reaction of the other three people on the plane was quite different, from the two officers that led me here expressions, one was quite shocked and the other seemed to be at most surprised, but getting a surprised face out of a stoic guy like Officer Ooguro was already plenty .
The man who punched me with also stunned for a bit, looking at me then shifting his gaze to his fists, he was about to punch me again without saying anything, but a cough from Officer Fujibayashi Kyouko, seemed to snap him out of whatever state he was in, his smile suddenly became more friendly, he got closer and put a hand on my shoulder and introduced himself, saying :
I'm Yanagi Muraji, it would be nice to work with you on the future .
I was a bit surprised at the sudden shift in his attitude, but then i was more surprised to hear the rest of his words, why would we be working together on the future, wait don't tell me, at realizing what may be going on here, i couldn't help but stare at the only guy i can say to have known for sometime, he seemed to have already expected me to react in this way, so he removed his helmet and shook his head at me .
And i understood what the gesture of his meant just by linking it to the previous conversation we had before about the Magicians being treated more preferably and such, but i still couldn't understand what that had to do with me joining this battalion, yea, from the words of that Middle aged man just now and the previous words Fujibayashi Kyouko told me, i can came to the conclusion that i was here to join the military or this battalion in particular .
You know it's quite rude when you don't shake the hand that was outstretched to you .
The robot like voice sounded in my ears, only then did i take notice of the fact that the guy Yanagi Muraji was currently raising his hand at me waiting for me to handshake it, but due to being lost in thought just now, i had completely ignored his kind gesture, his tone of voice held a bit tint of anger in it, so it seemed that my lack of focus angered him a bit .
I hurriedly took his hand and shook it introducing myself as well, just as i was about to deny the possibility of me being a teammate or a comrade, he said :
Well, it's better for us to begin moving, the Chief In Command had waited enough time as it is .
The three nodded at each other and the words that was just in mouth were swallowed back up instantly, the chief in command of this battalion was the special person that wanted to meet me, what for, to convince me to join perhaps, I'm really confused about all of that was happening, hope some of my confusions got cleared up after the meeting .
We four got out of the plane and we were walking towards a building that seemed to be where the office of the chief was, but it seemed that there were other offices in that building as well, as we reached that building another man in a military white suit joined our group and directly introduced himself and looked at me with a curious and a quite the intense gaze, i had only seen that level of an intense gaze coming from the women back at the town, he said :
Major Sanada Shigeru, single, looking forward to be working with you .
I felt a bit uncomfortable about his way of introducing himself especially him mentioning his current social status, it seemed that i wasn't the only one feeling so, i so that Yanagi Muraji suddenly appeared behind that guy and slapped him in the back and said :
Don't make things uncomfortable .
He then looked at me and said :
Don't worry, he didn't mean to cause any confusion, you see Sanada here is quite the genius, so after he knew about your existence, he became quite fanatic about meeting you, he had no intention of making you uncomfortable, right major Sanada ? .
Sanada : right Yanagi-san, no that wasn't right, i'm not fanatic about meeting him, i'm just curious about his unique state .
Now, now, we shouldn't be arguing here,the newcomer might laugh at all of you .
Suddenly they without even turning to look who was walking behind them, bowed in unison and said :
Greeting Captain Kazama .
Don't stand in ceremony here, hurry and lead that guy to the Chief In Command office .
He said that and unlike the guys from before he didn't introduced himself to me, he just stared at me for a few seconds, even though his face seemed to still stay rugged as before, i was able to notice his cheeks shuddered a little as he looked at me, making his easy-going smile falter a little, but he soon was able to mask it, at least he tried to .
At his words, major Sanada got out of the way and major Yanagi did too, leaving only officer Ooguro and Fujibayashi Kyoukoto lead me, soon after we entered the building, she too was called by someone who was asking for her help and she stopped leading me, leaving me walking behind the Officer who seemed to have nothing to tell me .
We went in the elevator and went to the 8 th floor, the top floor of this building, the elevator kept stopping from time to time, due to people coming inside or getting out of it, we reached the 8th floor, i saw that when the door opened, neither one of the two people who were inside seemed to have the intention of getting out .
I turned to look at him and saw that he seemed to be detached from the reality, i didn't know whether to wake him or just let him be, but as i was hesitant about what to do, the door of the elevator actually began to close, making a slight beeping sound, that sound brought him back to reality, he looked at me and then with the stoic expression on his face, he began to march forward .
We passed by a few rows of offices lined next to one another, before finally arriving at our destination, the office of the Chief In Command of one zero one Magic Independent Battalion, he stood in front of the door with me right behind him, i thought he was about to ask a permission to enter or knocking on the door, or even both, but he did nothing of sort, he suddenly turned towards me and said in a bit frustrated tone, that i was surprised to hear it coming out of his mouth, he also seemed quite bitter at the words he was saying, he said :
The thing with super strength, is that it always comes with a certain kind of burden, for some it could come on the price of their freedom even .
He said that and knocked one last time on the door before leaving the place, leaving me contemplating on his words, standing there alone in front of the door .
After a few more seconds passing, i kept trying to make sense of the words he just told me, but no matter how hard i tried to do so, i wasn't able to come to a clear conclusion about what he was trying to tell me, i also ran out of time to keep dwelling on such thing, from inside the door came a feminine voice telling me to come in .
I opened the door and entered the room, but i hadn't taken more than two steps in the room before i was met with the cold stare of the woman sitting at her office desk, the woman in front of me had streaks of silver running through her grey hair, she had purple eyes, she was also wearing eyeglass and her eyes behind the eyeglasses looked to be analysing me with his eyes right this moment, her cold stare from before wasn't her showing enmity, but it seemed she had a quite cautious character, so it was an action out of her nature .
I looked at her and she looked at me, i turned my head to the mirror beside me on the wall to see if my eyes were back to normal, then turned to continue staring back at her, i was thinking that some misunderstanding had happened like before, but luckily that wasn't the case .
After she kept staring for some more time, she finally coughed and motioned for me to sit down, still hadn't uttered a word, i just did what i was motioned to do and sat on the left chair in front of her office desk .
After i sat down, she still kept looking at me without uttering a word, i was already getting a bit bored of all that was happening, so i suddenly changed my face to look like someone else, thinking that if that was indeed the problem then that would be something easy to fix, my sudden action took her by surprise, but i guess it was effective as she had finally seemed to have regain her clarity and composure .
I saw that her ears were tainted a bit red, but her face was ice cold, i really couldn't help but wonder what was the woman in front of me was thinking, this conversation began with her asking me something weird first, she said :
Do you want something to eat or drink ? .
" Thank you very much for your concern, but I'm good .
She nodded her head and put the phone back down, then she directly said :
Do you know where you got called here, Yotsuba Ryuu ? .
" I had a basic idea on why i was called here, but i wanted to hear about it from you miss, madam ? .
I already know what i was exactly here for, i was at least 80 percent sure of my guess, i also didn't want to act clueless to what was going on completely, so i didn't feigned complete ignorance too, the reason was that i didn't believe that my acting would be able to fool the sharp woman in front of me, she already know who i was after all and what identity I'm representing here .
Weird enough i found that i still hadn't even known her name, there was no nameplate on the office desk, nor she had one on her military white uniform, but luckily she seeing my confusion at what to call her, she introduced herself still seated in her chair, saying :
I'm Saeki Hiromi Major General and the head of the National Defense Force 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion .
In a stiff manner she introduced herself and began to write something on the report in front of her, i was perplexed at her taking notes all of a sudden, but i still forced myself to nod my head and didn't say another word .
I will be straightforward with you then, you are being recommended to join the battalion and I'm very welcoming of this recommendation, but i still want to know your thoughts on this .
" Can i decline ? .
May i ask you to give me a reason to why you want to decline.
" How to put this, i believe that Major General Saeki already seemed aware of my situation, do you still need to ask why it isn't possible for me to join .
If your so-called situation was your only reason, then i assure you that no one would bring that up here, in fact that situation of your what could make us here want you to join us even more, back to your original question, i can't really give you a definitive answer .
" So, i can't decline .
No this invitation of ours to you, you can very much decline if you want, i was trying to tie you to us here on one, zero, one just before anyone else try doing something funny .
I didn't know how to respond to that, didn't she said that she liked for me to join, was she only talking about this battalion or the military, but weren't both connected to one another or there was something wrong with my understanding of the situation .
I can see what you are thinking about, but if understanding the situation was the requirement you need before making your decision, then i will try to explain your new situation for you and i hope after you have a clear understanding that you will choose the wise decision .
I said with a smirk :
" Joining your battalion, right ? .
For some reason, my smirk and the lack of any kind of discipline in my tone of voice, seemed to have angered or provoked her, she frowned and said with a grave tone :
I believe that to be the most wise decision and move that you can take currently, but in the end after understanding your situation, you are free to choose whatever that you wanted to choose, no one can tell you what was the best for you to do other than yourself, right ? .
THAT WAS INDEED RIGHT .