Dust clouds rose. The distance was a flurry of brown. The sky had greyed. So much of the world was covered in the flames of war, the blood lost from the worst of human activity. What technological advances in the last few years meant nothing in the face of human lives lost. This world was filled with war, and no one could see the end of it even if they could almost see the end of the world past the horizon.
Of the major powers involved in the world war, Japan was one of the most unscathed. The battles had yet to drastically affect the civilian settlements, but already, a number of naval disputes off the coast had caused deaths in civilians.
Military weaponry had developed. Within the Japanese military, there were two special task forces called NG and ZEL comprised of a few dozen elites. Although that small number appeared to be useless at first, after the deployment of the first elite force, NG, Japan's military endeavors met with less casualties, bringing about the second force, ZEL.
Kakizaki Memi was attending a press conference about ZEL's latest accomplishments in the everlasting war. The group had taken down the terrorist cell that had run rampant in northern China for the past few years, allowing supplies to be directed to the battlefield and for Japan to win a crucial battle.
The cameras flashed, almost irritatingly. The voices of the reporters appeared to overlap. The wall behind the members of ZEL attending the conference had depictions of zelkova leaves, the symbol of their group. Sugai Yuuka and Moriya Akane, both heiresses to wealthy conglomerates who had set aside their silver spoon and enlisted, were answering the questions that were thrown toward them.
Of the members of ZEL present, only Sugai and Moriya were taking questions. The other two, Shida Manaka and Hirate Yurina, were standing to the side, rejecting questions and answering others with, "Classified." All four were dressed in black military uniforms striped with silver.
Although Memi had seen the ZEL members before, the elites used in advertising to promote enlistment in the military, this was the first time she had seen them in person. Memi was in the back, not a reporter asking questions, yet she could feel the intensity in Hirate's eyes. That short haired girl had a disinterested look yet her eyes were burning.
Soon enough, the question part of the conference was over. A few pictures more were taken and that was it.
Memi watched as the reporters filtered out of the conference area. She jolted in surprise as she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to see a big sister-like friend, Nagahama Neru, a secret member of ZEL who worked on home base operations such as home grown terrorist groups. Her cover was that of a freelancer, in what was not specified.
If Neru and Memi hadn't met the way that they did, perhaps Memi wouldn't have ever known about Neru's connection to ZEL.
At that time, it was dark and muffled. Memi still wore her hair in low twintails, and as she was walking home, everything suddenly turned dark. When she awoke, she couldn't see. A sack was thrown over her head, and her limbs were roughly bound by rope.
Memi now and then was not a super soldier. She couldn't escape by herself, so she could only wait in terror as to what would happen to her. She didn't know who kidnapped her, but she could hear Japanese voices as well as foreign voices shouting. She could hear violent thuds and gunshots.
Before she could even process what was going on around her, she found herself roughly picked up by someone's hands. He barked at her in some language that she couldn't understand. Then, he shouted in the same unknown language at someone else.
Memi, who at that time was a middle school student, found the sack torn off her head. There was a piece of tape over her mouth. She found the barrel of a gun pressed against her head, and it seemed that she was being taken hostage in some sort of warehouse.
Across from the man who had taken her hostage, Memi saw a girl with long black hair. That was Neru. The hood of her outfit had been blown off, and a broken mask was on the ground. Neru held a gun in her hand, analyzing the situation quietly.
Neru pointed her gun at the man's head and replied in the foreign language.
Memi squeezed her eyes shut, scared of dying. A gunshot rang out. Memi felt the warm splatter of blood against her face. However, she wasn't dead. She tumbled to the ground as the man holding her suddenly collapsed with his head blown to pieces.
From nowhere, a figure dressed in the same outfit as Neru, but with the hood and mask still intact, swooped down with a gun in her hand, landing on the dead man's body callously. This seemed to be the person who sniped the man.
The mysterious figure and Neru, who Memi did not know yet at the time, exchanged messages through a secret sign language. The figure helped Memi up, gently dusting Memi. She gestured toward Neru, but Neru shook her head.
Suddenly, the warehouse began to fill with red colored gas. Neru and the figure shared a look and quickly pressed a button on part of their uniform, putting a gas mask over their faces. However, Memi didn't have one.
The mysterious masked figure lifted Memi into her arms and removed her gas mask, putting it onto Memi's face. Neru glanced back at the figure, but didn't say anything. The two military agents needed to exit the warehouse quickly.
"Try not to breathe too much." The mysterious figure said to Memi in a low voice, "The mask won't help that much."
After that, things went black for Memi. Memi only remembered the deep eyes of the mysterious figure.
The mission was apparently a success for Neru and ZEL. Memi was saved from the kidnappers, and the kidnappers turned out to be a branch of a radical leftist group gone rogue who had wanted to let foreign enemies into Japan.
Memi was debriefed after the kidnapping and signed a number of papers because Neru's identity was to be a secret. The Japanese government wouldn't silence their own citizens, but they needed to protect their secret agents as well. It was also at that time that Memi began a deal with the government and started her friendship with Neru.
There was a reason that the radicals had kidnapped the young Kakizaki.
At this time, the last of the reporters were leaving the conference area. Neru removed her hand from Memi's shoulder once she saw that the younger girl noticed her there. Neru was dressed in a white blouse and skirt, civilian clothing that hid completely her identity as a secret agent.
Neru spoke to Memi with a smile, "Shall we go?"
Memi nodded, "Okay." She was a little nervous, but she needed to go ahead.
Neru and Memi exited the conference area. They walked through the hallways of the building, looking through the glass window-walls out at the city around them. Usually, they would chat about something, but the tension in Memi's heart was too high for her to casually chat.
Rather than using the elevators, Neru and Memi started walking down the stairs. Neru had explained that elevators were risky, and if something happened, then it would be near impossible to survive.
The two girls reached the first floor. They went through a hallway, and before long, there was no one around. Neru opened a secret door in the wall, using her eye for identification, and she led Memi through a hallway with a completely different color. This place didn't exist in the blueprints of the building.
Knock, knock. Neru stopped before a completely white wall and knocked on it.
A voice asked, "Humility."
"Kindness." Neru replied.
Then, that wall opened up, revealing a small meeting room and a door to a hidden car parking area. Neru walked into the room with Memi, and the wall closed. To Memi's surprise, the wall was vaguely transparent, allowing the people in the room to see into the hallway but not the hallway into the room.
In the room, the members of ZEL who had been in the press conference were sitting on the sofa. Sugai and Moriya sat upright, seemingly at ease. Shida was cross legged, cleaning her gun. Only Hirate was standing, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. The latter two had loosened their military uniforms, which were just that, uniforms for show and not for actual combat.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Sugai Yuuka. You're the new technician who's joining us?" Sugai greeted Memi warmly.
Memi quickly replied, "Yes. I'm Kakizaki Memi."
In turn, the ZEL members introduced themselves. Moriya said, "I'm Moriya Akane."
Shida gave a curt gesture, "Shida Manaka."
"...Hirate Yurina." Hirate spoke last, finishing the introductions.
"I know that you have already signed a deal with the higher ups. However, you may still back out now. We won't blame you for it, not us here nor the members not present right now." Sugai said to Memi, "This war is dangerous, and being affiliated with ZEL will put you in danger as well."
"It's okay. I'm not backing out now. I already have a target on my back." Memi replied, "I want to work with ZEL to end the war, and maybe... maybe so that life can return to normal."
"Then, welcome to ZEL." Sugai extended a hand to Memi.
They shook hands. Maybe it would have been strange in another world to see girls whose average age was less than two decades shake hands like this to decide matters of military weaponry, but they couldn't ignore the bloody conflict that was seeping into Japan.
After speaking for a little bit, making small talk, Sugai received a notification. She motioned to her teammates, and the ZEL members stood up. Neru tapped Memi on the shoulder and explained, "We're heading out now."
The group entered the hidden car parking area and entered into a black car. Memi sat down between Neru and Hirate, facing the other three girls who were sitting opposite.
Sugai told Memi, "I'm sorry, but we have to blindfold you for this ride to hide where the base is. We don't want anything to happen." She handed Neru a black cloth.
Neru blindfolded Memi. Memi vaguely understood the reasoning behind Sugai's words, and she wondered to herself how the car they were riding in was going to be camouflaged as it headed toward their destination.
Shida clarified blandly, "What she means is torture."
Memi twitched. Of course that was what Sugai meant. Although the heiress was polite about it, everything came down to security. As Memi wasn't a trained elite soldier, if she was caught and tortured, she would likely spill the secrets of the location of the base if she was allowed to know.
Hirate stated, "Which we will prevent." The short haired girl with mesmerizing eyes didn't sound like she was trying to reassure Memi, but Memi couldn't see anyone's expression at the moment.
They drove quietly to the ZEL base.
Kakizaki Memi was good with weapons—to put it extremely simply. It was because of wartime changes in curriculum in schools where certain classes emphasizing military advancements were encouraged in students. It was just Memi's luck that she would discover something that would put eyes on her that she didn't need.
Within ZEL, Memi found herself getting along more than she expected. Everyone was eccentric, and they were all able to make a good working relationship. They didn't put too much pressure on her, but that actually made her want to work harder to improve ZEL's weaponry.
Before she knew it, ZEL had become something of a second family.
There were two sections within ZEL, the more publicly known one that was making efforts into the war and the secret one led by Neru that dealt with Japanese internal problems.
After joining ZEL as a technician, Memi had spent more time with the secret group than the public group as the public group had been deployed constantly overseas in order to deal with issues. The war just kept getting worse, and casualty rates continued skyrocketing.
ZEL had just returned from a harsh mission in northern Europe. They had managed to blow up an enemy military base and take out the enemy's general, but the general Japanese military and allies failed to make a decisive victory. Morale was low.
Memi walked into the base's cafeteria with Neru, discussing the development of a new war technology. "It can cut through time like butter, but the stability is worrying, so the human body might not be able to take it."
"I see." Neru took in the information that Memi was talking about. She would eventually read a report on the technology, which would be sent to the higher ups, but it was still good to listen.
With the way Memi spoke, sometimes Neru felt that Memi was too proper and mature. It was the same with the other young member of ZEL, Hirate. However, Neru was at ease because she often saw Memi clinging to people in her free time. Neru just hoped that Hirate would relax a little more too.
When Memi and Neru walked into the cafeteria, they saw three public ZEL members chatting. Watanabe Risa and Shida Manaka were joking around, ruffling Hirate's hair.
Memi's gaze naturally went toward Hirate. They were the same age, and for some reason, the technician had always wanted to talk with Hirate but hadn't had the chance.
After a while, Risa and Shida waved and left Hirate. For that moment, Hirate stood alone.
Neru gave Memi a gentle push on the back, "You should go talk with her. Call her Yurina. She won't mind."
Memi was surprised that Neru had seen through her, but at with that motivation, she headed toward the short haired girl. After all, Neru seemed to know Hirate decently well, sometimes even going as backup for the ZEL missions.
"Um, Yurina... -san." Memi greeted Hirate Yurina.
Yurina replied with a nod, "Memi. Yurina is fine."
For some reason, Memi found Yurina's small movement of the head to be endearingly cute like a small otter. She found herself smiling, "Thanks for your hard work."
"You too."
"Are you getting dinner right now?"
"Yea." Yurina responded. "Do you want to get some together?"
"Sure."
The two girls got dinner together in the cafeteria. Sitting down, they engaged in small talk, finding that their interests overlapped. They didn't talk about war or work at all. For a moment, Memi and Yurina felt like normal high school girls.
They talked about their favorite characters from media.
Yurina adamantly proclaimed as she ate, "Moomin did nothing wrong. It's all Futeneko."
They talked about school and daily life, something that had been interrupted for them a long time ago. There were things like math, history, funny teachers, and favorite seats in classrooms.
Yurina admitted, "I'm not very good at school..."
"Let's study together." Memi offered to study together with Yurina.
Before long, their plates had been cleared.
Memi asked, "Yurina has a summer birthday, right? I'm in winter."
"It's autumn right now." The short haired girl nodded, "When's your birthday? I'll write it down and remember."
"Ah, it's December 2nd." Memi answered.
She thought back to her birthday two years ago. That was actually the day after she was kidnapped and met Neru, so she hadn't been able to celebrate it then. Yet, she wondered if meeting Neru was considered lucky or not since she was able to meet ZEL. It had already been such a long time since then.
They finished dinner and left the cafeteria.
Memi waved, "See you later."
"Later." Yurina smiled faintly before leaving.
Memi's heart was racing. She felt the wind beating into her face, her skin cold, face slightly red. It was early December, but the sky was already filled with little white snowflakes falling down to the ground, covering it with white. Aside from the snowfall, the night sky was filled with the light of the stars and an aurora.
This wasn't Japan. In fact, this wasn't even in a city. This was the middle of a forest.
She was in a stealth plane that had just landed near the defensive lines of the enemy. ZEL was heading out to take out certain checkpoints so that the main Japanese allied forces could break through those lines. It seemed absurd that just a little under two dozen girls would be a factor to clinch the victory of battle, but their track record spoke volumes.
The ZEL members were dressed in camouflage outfits that defaulted to black. Although the clothes looked thin, they were state of the art technology that would keep the girls warm even in temperatures way below freezing. They were heavily armed.
Aside from the people manning from the plane, Sugai, Neru, and Memi were the only ones who were staying behind. The former two were acting as the command heads, monitoring the situation. ZEL was alone, and they always worked alone without backup.
Sugai said to Moriya, "Succeed in this mission."
"Of course." Moriya nodded.
There wasn't any matter of luck involved. There was only success or death. The stealth plane's door closed, and the technology hiding it turned on full throttle. Now, Memi could only wait to see how things turned out.
An hour passed. Communication lines were steady.
Another hour passed. Sugai and Neru seemed uneasy.
More time passed. Then, the typically polite Sugai let out a curse in English. She tinkered with her headset to no avail. Neru pushed a few buttons here and there, but she shook her head toward Sugai.
"Communications down." Neru frowned, "Ozeki and Risa injured." That was the last information they had received from the team.
Memi stepped up, "Let me try to fix it."
Sugai shook her head, "This isn't your expertise."
"Even so..." Memi was determined.
More time passed. The technician wondered if all the operations were so tense and dangerous or if this had gone south beyond expectations. Memi tinkered around, but it was true that the communications device wasn't her field of expertise.
Memi's work was rather niche. They centered around a new form of energy that she had discovered and was about time-space manipulation. Sufficiently advanced science was like magic, but no matter the magic she could work, she couldn't fix the communication lines.
Time continued. They were still within the expected time for the operation.
"We've had worse." Sugai mumbled to herself, worrying. "Akane..."
Memi didn't give up. She stayed glued to the communications, trying to find a way through. New information continued streaming to the command head, things like enemy movements, but it had no way of getting to the members out on the field.
Another hour passed. That was when Sugai received information that the operation was a success. However, that information wasn't from her teammates but rather from other Japanese military forces. They still had no way of confirming whether or not ZEL was safe. Even if the checkpoints were taken out, that didn't mean that the operation had been properly completed.
Sugai clenched her teeth and dug her fingers into her palms so hard that she started bleeding.
Boom! An explosion rang out. In the distance, smoke could be seen rising and the red of flames seemed to flicker up.
It was at that moment that Memi made a breakthrough with the communications. The lines were filled with static and panic.
Bzzt. "-Shut up!-" Bzzt.
Bzzt. "-Techi!!!-" Bzzt.
Bzzt. "-we have to-" Bzzt. "-injured-" Bzzt. "-retreat, retr-" Bzzt. "-can you move-" Bzzt.
The sounds of gunfire came through the line. Memi could almost imagine the blood spraying from the bullets. She thought she heard the sound of a nano-blade knife cutting through human flesh like butter.
The connection was back. Yurina yelled, "We don't leave anyone behind!"
"Communications back on." Sugai spoke through the communications line, "Where are you?"
In the end, the plane picked up all the members of ZEL. Even though some were bleeding profusely and nearly knocked out, everyone was accounted for. Sending a volley of fire down at the pursuers, the plane retreated.
The girls treated their wounds and their comrades' wounds. The worst things would have to wait, but they had all gotten out with all their limbs intact.
Shida ground out to Memi, "Med kit. Now." She eyed Risa worriedly, having already stopped Risa's bleeding with first aid. However, Shida's partner was currently unconscious and covered in blood, soaking the black outfit blacker.
Memi quickly grabbed a medical kit. She rushed around trying to help out.
When everything that she could do was done, she walked over to Yurina who had bandaged up her own wounds earlier. The short haired girl's eyes were filled with regret.
"...I should have done better..." Yurina mumbled.
"Yurina?"
The operation finished a success, but it was the worst success that ZEL had yet.
Memi looked at a video from a recent incident that the secret half of ZEL solved. A radical militaristic group that wanted to escalate the war had attempted to take the Diet building hostage. The video was jarring. The use of her time based technology stopped a bullet in mid-air for a split second, allowing the agent to cut the bullet in half in the air.
Even though Memi had made the device, the possibilities of its usage made her nervous. At least, it was an one use device with a limited power source.
She went through the video a few more times, jotting down notes on the field use of the technology. Then, she put her laptop away and closed her eyes for a moment. Memi wondered what Yurina was doing as the short haired girl didn't seem to take a break.
After the operation gone wrong in winter, the Japanese allied forces broke through the enemy defensive lines. A harsh battle raged, but ZEL's activities weakened the enemy lines so much that the allied forces were able to take down the enemy.
A temporary ceasefire was signed. Alas, the elite force's efforts weren't enough to completely end the war.
"What's the point of this war...?" Memi sighed aloud. Sometimes, she couldn't even tell who they were fighting anymore.
Neru, who was passing by, replied, "There is none."
"Yea." Memi nodded.
"Techi's in the K room." Neru mentioned, "You should be able to catch her if you go now."
"Thank you, Neru."
"It's nothing."
Memi headed toward the K room. Ever since the ceasefire had been announced, Memi had had more time to talk with Yurina. They had grown closer, and Memi wouldn't let Yurina fall into those moments of self-loathing where the short haired girl blamed herself for not being able to perform better.
The technician caught the ZEL member as she was exiting the K room. Memi greeted Yurina and made some small talk. They compared schedules.
Then, Memi said, "Let's go out."
Yurina faltered in her step due to confusion, "Huh?"
"To the city." Memi explained, taking Yurina's hand, "To have crepes and do whatever it is people our age do."
Yurina nodded. "Sure."
Two girls walked through the streets hand in hand. One of them wore a cute pink cardigan with a skirt, her hair in low twintails that she hadn't worn in a while. The other had short hair and was wearing a hoodie. They looked like normal high school girls on a day off although school hadn't let off yet.
Memi wondered aloud, "It's almost Valentine's, huh?" Seeing the decorations and advertisements on the street, she was informed of the passage of time.
"It's already February? I hadn't noticed." Yurina was a little surprised as well.
Chatting, they continued walking. Although the temperatures were still chilly, the warmth of each other's hands blocked that thought away.
They window shopped, looking at cute toys, accessories, and chocolates. At one point, Memi dragged Yurina into a clothing store and had the soldier try on a cute dress.
Memi beamed, "Yurina, you're so pretty."
"..." Although the short haired girl didn't say anything, her attempt to hide her face showed her embarrassment at the praise.
At some point, they stopped for a snack. There was a variety of places where they could have gotten food, but the two girls decided on soft serve ice cream.
"Delicious." Memi said.
Yurina's expression melted into a silly smile as she ate her chocolate ice cream with the small spoon, "It's delicious."
"Let's share." Memi took a scoop of her cookie dough vanilla ice cream and held it out to Yurina, "Say 'aahn.'"
"Aahn."
"How is it?"
"Sweet."
Yurina also gave Memi a bite of her chocolate ice cream.
Before long, the sun set and the city lights turned on for the night. Looking at the time, the two girls knew that they should probably start heading home. The trip had been so fun for Memi that she wanted to cling onto Yurina and have both of them play a little longer.
"Memi." The short haired girl gently stopped Memi.
"What is it, Yurina?" Memi turned to Yurina.
Yurina took out a small case from her pocket. "Happy belated birthday. It's over two months late, but I got you this." She opened up the case, revealing a plain silver ring with the engraving 'Memi.'
Memi gasped, "It's so pretty! Thank you..."
Yurina took Memi's hand and smoothly slid the ring onto Memi's finger. It wasn't Memi's ring finger, but Memi's heart was already exploding with emotion.
"I have the matching pair." Yurina smiled quietly.
Memi cupped her hands over her mouth, "...I'm so happy..."
"I love you." Yurina smiled, a blush adorning her face.
At that, Memi started crying from happiness, trying to hide her face.
"Why are you crying?"
"I...I love you a lot..."
"Yea, I love you."
Spring was coming. The trees that had been withered through the winter were beginning to bloom again. Passing by a park, Memi smiled as she saw the cherry blossom trees flower. She and Neru strolled around Tokyo in casual clothes.
"You and Techi seem happier recently." Neru teasingly commented, "It's cute. Young love."
"You're not old either." Memi retorted.
"Maybe." Neru asked. "Have you two ever talked about what you'll do after the war? Like getting married or something like that."
"We don't really talk about the war."
"I see."
"What are you planning to do?"
"Travel the world. Rebuild Nagasaki. Retire together with Fuu-chan."
"That sounds nice." Memi sighed, thinking that it'd be nice if the war would end soon.
At that moment, the war sirens in the city began to blare, a voice coming onto all the broadcast channels telling the citizens to head to a shelter in a calm and orderly manner.
Memi wondered if she should have expected that the ceasefire would end. Enemy stealth technology had found a weak point within the Japanese lines and nearly managed to pass into Tokyo. No one had expected such a bold move of attempting to massacre the civilians, but luckily, no civilians had been killed. Nonetheless, this signalled that the war was back on, and the enemy had to be eradicated.
ZEL returned to work. They were off very often, gone for weeks before coming back home for a few days.
The technician felt that sometimes she saw them more on television than in person at a certain point. In the past, that had been the same as well, but having been able to experience a pseudo-peacetime with Yurina before, Memi was experiencing a loss.
In late June, ZEL returned from a mission in the Middle East.
Seeing ZEL returning from another press conference, Memi went over to greet Yurina in the hallway, "Yurina, happy birthday."
The short hair girl didn't respond, so Shida poked Techi's arm, "Techi."
"Sorry..." Yurina twitched, nearly attacking on instinct. Memi could see the bags developing under the short haired girl's eyes. Yet, when Yurina saw Memi, she put on a strong face, "Thank you."
Shida shook her head, "She's a bit exhausted since she's been the centerpiece of a lot of our operations. Forgive her, okay?"
Memi mutely nodded. She waved goodbye to them as the group of ZEL members walked on. They still had outfitting to do and other evaluations. The technician hoped that they would have time to rest, but she couldn't help but think that such a thing was only a hope that wouldn't come true.
That night, as Memi was about to turn in to sleep, she heard a knock on the door. She went to her door, opening to find Yurina there. Yurina looked tired, and the time was late, yet she had come over to Memi for some reason.
Yurina looked at Memi's pajamas, "Were you about to sleep? Sorry, I'll..."
Memi quickly shook her head, "No, come in." She saw that Yurina was still in her military uniform so late at night.
"Excuse me for intruding." Yurina entered Memi's room.
The two girls made small talk for a bit. Memi offered to make tea, but Yurina shook her head and politely rejected the drink. They walked out to the balcony and looked up at the sky. There weren't many stars in the sky that night, the clouds covering up the light.
"The sky... is it beautiful?" Yurina questioned.
Memi replied, "I think it is."
"Do you think the sky will be the same in the future?"
"It will be more beautiful. Let's go stargazing together once everything is over."
"Maybe." Yurina nodded.
"Yurina, are you okay?" Memi asked.
"I'm okay." The short haired girl replied, stepping back indoors. "You don't need to worry about me too much, Memi."
"Of course I'll worry. There's only one Yurina out there, and I love you."
Yurina looked surprised for a moment before she replied, "I love you too."
The technician had the soldier sit down with her on her bed. They held hands as they talked. Memi noticed that Yurina was wearing the matching ring to the ring that the short haired girl had given Memi in February. The two girls never talked about the future or the war during that short night.
At some point, Yurina had fallen asleep.
The elite ZEL member looked so peaceful asleep. Memi wished that Yurina's eye bags would just disappear, but she knew that Yurina was busy. That was why she tucked the short haired girl in on the bed carefully, and Memi eventually fell asleep as well.
It was warm.
When Memi awoke, Yurina was gone.
ZEL went on a long term mission as quickly as they came back in late June. This mission would span for months, and no one knew how long the group of 20 odd girls would be gone. Neru had disappeared for a secret operation as well, and Memi was left behind.
Summer passed. Autumn came. As soon as autumn seemed to start, the end of that season also began to end.
Memi continued developing technology, collaborating with some other scientists. The weapons that they managed to make were deployed on the field, and the efficiency as well as uniqueness was praised. However, the true result was just death and more death.
ZEL barely sent any messages back. The communication was controlled. There were messages now and then as Memi created new prototypes and inventions were sent over specifically for the special forces to use.
In mid-November, the war seemed to be lightening. The end seemed to be near with a Japanese and allies victorious. Memi received a small note from Yurina promising to come back and celebrate Memi's birthday.
Even with the end near, the end didn't come.
December passed. ZEL didn't come back. The battlefront still continued raging.
January came. The outdoors began piling up with snow. Fights were still continuing, bloodshed amassing. There were talks of world leaders coming together for a true peace conference, destroying the enemy states, and all that, but ZEL wasn't home.
On the last day of January, the media announced that the war was over.
That night, ZEL was returning home. As soon as Memi knew that they were coming, she rushed out to meet the group, eyes searching for Yurina. Everyone had a serious expression on their face that turned even more serious as they saw the young technician.
Neru also came back then. She walked toward Memi.
Memi couldn't see Yurina anywhere. Spotting the injuries littering the group, she felt her heart drop, a terrible premonition overcoming her. The end of the war should have been a happy thing to celebrate. Perhaps Yurina was a little late.
Yet, when Memi asked, her voice came out shaky. "Where's Yurina?"
"...I'm sorry... She didn't make it." Neru spoke, not meeting Memi's eyes.
Something broke in the technician's heart. As she fell to the knees in disbelief, eyes filling with tears, Memi's soul was ripped apart by the loss of the person that she had wanted to spend the future with after the war. In a moment of grief, she even wondered what the meaning of ending the war was if Yurina was gone.
Memi locked herself in her lab, working furiously.
At first, her friends, the secret agent members of ZEL, Neru, and even the public part of ZEL had pounded on her door, asking her to get out. However, she wouldn't budge in the slightest, ignoring them.
She abandoned her own health, not bothering to go out to eat. She kept working and working, trying to figure out a way to turn back time. Her expertise was time-space technology.
As the war was over, the military was gradually cutting down. ZEL was to be disbanded soon enough, and Memi wouldn't have the same type of laboratory that she had during wartime. She needed to work fast.
Knowing that Memi was stuck in her ways, Neru took to leaving food at the door for Memi so that the girl would at least eat. It was only a stopgap method.
Two months passed since the end of the war. Memi's head pounded with pain from the work that she had done, her limbs feeling weak from staying in the laboratory all day. She had finally made a prototype.
Memi pressed the button to test the prototype. The device glowed blue for a moment. She wondered if it would work.
Then, the blue light became to fluctuate, growing bigger and bigger. Memi found the hand that she was using to hold the device freezing up as if stuck in time. Her breath was caught in panic.
Boom! It exploded. It didn't work. That was it.
The cherry blossoms were in bloom again. The pink-white flowers drifting in the wind outside of the hospital. Memi sat in the hospital bed, bandaged up and recovering from the explosion caused by her own device's failure. The side effects were unknown, but it was likely that she would never be able to properly move her right arm again.
Neru as well as Shida had come visiting Memi.
Neru explained, "We haven't given up searching..." The ZEL members were still trying to find their comrade, their youngest member that they tried to dote upon when it had been possible.
"...I see..." Memi nodded, unconvinced.
Neru sighed, "Memi..."
"No, it's okay." Memi shook her head, and she mumbled quietly in a moment of darkness, "I guess ZEL is the type of group that leaves people behind."
As soon as Memi said that Shida roughly grabbed Memi by the shirt and growled, "How dare you say that..." Shida looked as if she wanted to beat the technician up for implying that ZEL didn't care.
Neru gently pried Shida off of Memi and talked to Shida through a sequence of hand signals that Memi couldn't read. They had an angry silent conversation before, it was decided that they would leave.
Shida sent Memi a curt look and headed to the door.
Neru followed her teammate out. "I'm sorry, Memi."
As soon as the ZEL members left, Memi was alone in the room. She looked out at the cherry blossoms again, and somehow, her sight began to blur with water droplets filling up her eyes.
Memi cried quietly, "I'm sorry..." She tried to wipe away her tears with one hand, but she couldn't.
Spring, summer, and autumn passed. Winter came once again. Memi had been discharged, and since then, she had rarely met with any ZEL members. The world seemed to be back on track.
The enemy states had been harshly fined, and their activities were monitored by Japan and its allies. Governments were installed, and military was forcibly cut down. Japan was back to peacefulness, and the military propaganda that had been all around for years of Memi's youth were gradually disappearing, being replaced by kinder and softer things.
Snow lightly dusted the ground. Memi walked around the city, looking at shops half-heartedly. She only used her left arm, having learned to use it only now. Her right arm was still lacking in function despite the treatments applied.
Memi stopped in her tracks, not wanting to go to the place where Yurina had first said the words, "I love you." Memi mouthed those words aloud as she looked at the ring on her hand.
Once again, her birthday had passed without being able to celebrate with the one she loved.
Just as she was about to head home, Memi's phone rang. She dug it out of her pocket awkwardly and picked it up without looking at the number. Then, her breath halted and she found herself tearing up in disbelief at the voice.
"Happy birthday. I'm sorry that I missed it..." It was an awkward yet familiar voice.
Memi asked, "...Yurina?"
"Memi."
"...are you really..."
"I'm in the place... the place where I gave you that ring back then."
Memi immediately started running toward that place. "I love you. You can't leave me alone like this again, okay?" She cried into her phone.
"I know." Yurina replied. "I'm sorry for making you cry."
Memi saw Yurina standing in the place where the soldier had given the technician a ring. Yurina looked different, her hair longer. Yet, her eyes were still so deep, and she wore the matching ring on her finger even though the metal was beat up from all that the girl had gone through.
The two girls' eyes met.
"I love you."