Volume 4. Prologue: Missing in Action
86 - Eighty-Six
Rita...
This was what one boy called her—a childhood friend of Henrietta Penrose. Annette couldn’t quite recall when it started. It felt like he’d always called her that, like he’d always been by her side. That’s how close they were.
Perhaps it all stemmed from the fact that he struggled to pronounce her full name, Henrietta, back when they were just learning to speak. Annette herself had trouble with his name—Shinei, foreign to the Republic—and had shortened it to Shin.
He had known her since childhood. A bright boy with a smile always on his face. A crybaby, spoiled by his older brother. Looking back, Annette realized that the boy’s kindness and carefree nature were the result of the love and warmth of his family.
Shin and Annette spent every day together, being next-door neighbors. Though they argued often, they would inevitably make up the next day and play together again. Their bond was so strong even then that it seemed like it would always be that way.
But on that fateful day eleven years ago, that bond was shattered forever.
Or so Annette thought…
As she stepped off the transport plane, she was greeted by an officer from the Federacy's military. She narrowed her silver eyes as she looked at him. His steel-blue uniform stood in stark contrast to the Republic’s Berlin azure. A heavy holster with an automatic pistol hung at his waist, blending seamlessly with his attire. Standing on the sunlit runway, he resembled an unyielding shadow clad in steel blue.
For eleven years, the Federacy had withstood the Legion's relentless advance, and this officer embodied that struggle without a word. His muscular frame gave him the presence of a wild beast, complemented by his icy gaze. But the truth was, he was about the same age as Annette. A young officer who had been educated within the military, unlike those in the Republic who joined after completing their schooling. A so-called special officer .
The Federacy, too, had crossed a line to hold its fronts... though the Republic, which had driven its own citizens to the battlefield after reducing them to livestock, had no room to criticize another nation's decisions.
While Annette studied him, the officer raised his hand in a precise and practiced salute.
“Are you Major Henrietta Penrose?”
“Yes.”
“I’m here to escort you.”
His tone matched his dispassionate gaze. He displayed only the bare minimum of respect required when addressing officials from another nation. His voice was devoid of warmth—an emotion the oppressors from the Republic of San Magnolia hardly deserved.
Unlike the Republic, where the population eleven years ago had consisted predominantly of Albas, the Federacy was a multinational nation. In the officer’s features, Annette recognized the black hair of the Onyx people and the blood-red eyes of the Pyrope.
And suddenly, she thought she saw someone in him. His hair and eyes… reminded her of her childhood friend.
“I see. Thank you.”
A staff sergeant approached them at a brisk pace, carrying the luggage Annette had entrusted to him. She glanced back at the officer.
“Captain, you should introduce yourself,” she said after noticing the insignia on his uniform.
Military transport planes differed greatly from civilian ones. They were unbearably loud, and the seats were hard and uncomfortable. Annette had endured these conditions for hours, and her unintentional sharpness was a result of sheer exhaustion.
“My apologies.”
The officer didn’t seem to take offense. He nodded with the same calm indifference as before. Then, in the characteristically cold manner of someone addressing a foreign officer, he introduced himself.
“Allow me to introduce myself, Major Penrose... Shinei Nouzen, Captain of the Spearhead Squadron and commander of the Eighty-Six strike force.”