I woke up to the usual sound of Kaoru banging on my door trying to wake me up. With a heavy head, I stumble over to open my door to get him to shut up. It was the same routine everyday, so by now I knew the drill and grabbed my toiletries as I turned the handle.

"It's almost eleven Shiho."

"We don't even have classes so let me sleep..."

"No."

The usual banter and a short back and forth later, I head over to the showers as I got ready for the day. The warm water was so comfortable, I almost fell asleep again. Once I was done, I made my own tea in the kitchen as I dragged myself back to the dining table.

As per usual, Reika sat by the table with her back facing the window so that the light wouldn't glare in her eyes while giving her light to read whatever she was reading. It was pretty much her throne at this point, and like her little pet Kouta was sat right by her.

The only thing different was that Natasha sat alone today. In the absence of her usual chatting partner, Kaoru was exchanging some casual small talk as I sat at my usual spot right beside him.

"Here. Eat your breakfast." He said as he passed me a melon bun. Apparently today was Hotaru's turn to buy breakfast. We had all but forced her to take turns with us after the fifth day of eating nothing but melon buns in the morning. I preferred the chocolate croissants, but since everyone had their own preferences we decided to take turns everyday.

"Where's Hotaru?" I asked. We had no classes and usually she would be sat here with us if she had nothing on, reviewing her class materials.

"She went out earlier. Said something about seeing Dr. Iroha or something." Kaoru said.

"She's always so busy huh~"

Honestly, I felt that it would do her some good to take a break every now and then but she always said she was fine. I guess she was the type that thrives under immense stress and pressure.

The education system here is a little lax, but the materials covered are far denser and more in depth than the norm. My architecture class focussed a lot on structural integrity and weak points in a building. Kouta told me that's because it would make it easier to teach demolition later during our conscription. I didn't know this but it seems obvious now.

Besides that, Kaoru was also struggling with his studies. Unlike us, his education was extremely compact and dense since they wanted to rush through his highschool education and quickly start on his higher studies as soon as possible. He was very grateful to both Reika and Hotaru who could help him with that.

As for me, I'm stupid, so I would just sit by and watch them study while I tried to wrap my head around design principles and whatever my teacher was talking about.

"What did she want to talk to Dr. Iroha about?"

"I dunno, but she left after she bought breakfast. I guess it must be about Sora, what else could it be?" Kouta said.

The events of yesterday was still fresh in our minds. Natasha and Hotaru weren't around, but Sora went into a frenzy for some reason. Now they're holding him in the infirmary to continuously monitor his condition. As for us, we had new instructions.

"Here, take your pills." Kaoru said, passing me a tiny looking aspirin like tablet. I popped it into my mouth and swallowed it down with a gulp of tea. It was very bitter tasting that even the sweet lingering taste of the melon bun failed to cover it up, but I held it in.

I guess it really showed on my face because everyone chuckled.

"Yep, that's Reika's and my win today." Kaoru said.

"Shame~ I thought she would start coughing it out."

"What's - ugh - going on?" I asked.

Apparently in the morning Hotaru said something along the lines of "I bet even Reika would start puking when she eats this pill" to describe how bad it was to Kouta. She was the first to try it out before anyone else had awoken and had to drown out the taste with a can of soda which she usually doesn't like.

Kouta then made a bet with her about whether I would puke as well and somehow everyone else got involved in it.

"That's so mean!"

"Now now Shiho~"

"Incidentally Reika did puke it out, but she swallowed it back down again."

Reika made sure to give Kouta a good hit to the head with her tablet for that last remark.

"But still," Kaoru said, "what is this pill?"

"Well~ from what Dr. Iroha said, it's some sort of stabiliser for the chemicals in our heads."

After she and Hotaru had finished their chat with the doctor, they gathered us round and filled us in on Sora's condition. In the morning they gave the pills to Hotaru when she went out to buy breakfast.

It was very worrying that this was happening since X syndrome was very dangerous. All of us were probably filled in during the psych test when we first got on the island, but I don't think any of us really knew how bad it could be.

What's more, it appeared that the condition was accelerated by the augmentation process which then raised the question of whether the program could continue on. If the mission was shut down maybe they might give us a shot at reintegrating with society without having to do the mission. Most likely they won't, but I was slightly hoping that I may not have to run into danger.

It would depend on Sora though. Anyway it was almost lunch time and so we split up to continue the rest of our day. Unit D had just woken up because they had to finish their augment process before the next team comes back. Apparently Dr. Komachi said it was fine to continue but monitored their development closely until late into the night.

"Morning Sayuri." I said when I saw the yawning leader of team D along with the rest of her team walk down the staircase.

"Mor - haaaa - ning Shiho and Kaoru." She yawned, "where are you guys going?"

"We're headed to the Harbour Town for lunch today." Kaoru said.

"The harbour huh, have fun on your date." She said as she waved us off and rushed the others to the Colosseum for breakfast.

"It's not a date!" I shouted, but she just brushed me off as she barked out the schedule for her team.

I was fuming as we walked off to the bus that took us to the playgrounds. The only way to get to the Harbour Town was to take a bus to the Central Town from the playgrounds via the coastal road and then transfer halfway to the harbour. In total it was about an hour's ride.

We had the luxury of coming here today because our classes were all cancelled and also because S-42 had granted us many privileges. Usually people couldn't go to Harbour Town except Class One and Two students on the weekends. S-42 students however, could go as and when they pleased, and since it was a weekday the harbour wouldn't be so packed.

Along the way, I thought about what Sayuri said, about it being a date. It was embarrassing and my face turned red a little, but to be honest it wasn't because I liked him or anything. I didn't feel anything for Kaoru and to me he was just a friend and vice versa. But I'm told that it was because our bodies were still children, and that as we mature our views towards other people would change.

I kind of didn't want it to change, Kaoru was my best friend and I felt that pursuing any sort of attachment, especially given our mission, would be silly. But even so, it's not like I could control things.

My head was filled with all sorts of these thoughts as we silently made our way over. Kaoru and I usually were fine keeping silent together. It was comfortable, and just having him around gave me great comfort even if he wasn't much of a talker.

Sayuri was always teasing me during the weekly team reports and briefings. She was a little blunt but a well meaning person, and was a little bit of a perfectionist. Her team often complains about her tight scheduling, but I can tell they respect her a lot too.

I was also named the leader of my team just like Sayuri, but I never really felt like it. Sometimes Kouta or Hotaru seemed to be more leader material than I was, but they never wanted to change the designations on the team. I couldn't let Kaoru hold such a responsibility because he was the youngest, so in the end I reluctantly had to take the role. If there ever was one constant, it would be that Kaoru was there supporting me.

But unlike me, he was a lot more composed and it sort of made me ashamed that he was much younger than me. I was a former retail worker working dead end jobs with nothing really going on in my life. I didn't even go to university, didn't have any aspirations and not many hobbies. I was just living life one day at a time.

Compared to me, Kaoru was like a brilliant diamond in the rough. My other roommates too, Natasha was someone who was important, though to what extent I don't know, Hotaru and Reika were extremely intelligent and Kouta was very resourceful and was very successful with his former business. Even Sora, who like me worked in retail, was just doing it to pay off the university fees. In truth, I picked up architecture as my degree on a whim, because I used to like to draw buildings as a kid, and not because I actually aimed to be one.

Maybe it was less of not wanting to let Kaoru hold such a responsibility, but more of the small feeling that I couldn't lose to them. I realised the moment I stepped in S-42 that I was surrounded by people more capable than I was, and I thought that if I wanted to continue my life here I had to step up. It was a chance to go back out, and I'm sure that if any of us do not meet the standard then we might be dropped from the program.

It wasn't like I had anything to do outside, but it was a wasted opportunity otherwise and I had somehow lucked my way into this school, so I wanted to make the most of it. I often wonder what Kaoru wanted from this, what were his dreams and aspirations.

"Hey, Kaoru," I murmured, "what was your life like before?"

"Me? Well the usual high school things. I studied, I played, I slept."

"No not that," I said shaking my head, "I mean like, what did you want to do, like after high school?"

"Well, I thought I'd get a degree, work somewhere, find someone to settle down with. Maybe travel the world someday."

"Travel the world?"

"Yeah, I wanted to sail the seas, climb the mountains. I wanted to visit many places like the pyramids in Egypt." He said. He looked out of the window and sighed.

"Why are you asking?" He said.

"No it's just...sometimes I wonder why I was picked for the program." I whispered hesitantly. "Hotaru and Kouta are the most level headed and outspoken and possess leadership qualities."

Kaoru just looked at me as I continued on spilling out my insecurities like a child.

"Reika and Tasha are smart, Sora is hardworking. Compared to them I'm useless. I am just constantly holding you guys back. I don't even know why I was chosen for the program, let alone the team leader." I finished despondently. Cpt. Ito's words rang in my head, 'It's your responsibility as team leader to maintain command and control, and not be pulled about by the rest of your teammates'.

Kaoru just looked at me and patted me on the head.

"We named you leader not because we found it a waste of our own time you know. Out of all of us, I think you are the one who can see things differently."

"Differently?"

"Yeah, like when Sora was behaving weirdly you were the first to notice, and immediately took appropriate action. You knew what to do in such a critical time, telling Reika to call the doctors over and explain the situation to them."

I didn't think that was even worthy of mention, I thought it was normal at the time.

"I just did what needed to be done…"

"And that is exactly why we named you leader. You're lazy and unkempt and generally you just bum about the dorm, but when push comes to shove you take quick and immediate action."

"You didn't have to mention the lazy and what not…"

"The point is Shiho, we all have our place. And I think the rest will agree with me that although you may not look like it, you are the most capable of being our leader."

"But I think Kouta and Hotaru are better -"

"They are better at finding problems and addressing them, yes. But oftentimes being a leader is not about solving problems but managing people." He said as if chastising me on my self doubt, "You were the one who set up the breakfast schedule, the cleaning schedule, even the laundry schedule with the other teams. If there were any disputes with your management, I think Kouta and Hotaru would have called you out already. I think it means that so far they don't have any problems with your leadership."

Seeing as I still wasn't convinced, he placed a hand on my head and gave it a soft rub. It annoyed me because I was the older one of the two, but I just pouted and didn't say anything.

"Shiho," he said, "the mark of a good leader is that their work and influence often goes unnoticed, but the moment they're gone everything descends into chaos. We need you where you are."

"And besides," he continued, "I think they chose you for the program, not because of any outstanding qualities you possess, and you don't really have that many, but because even though you were alone and lost, you decided to help others who were alone as well."

"When - "

"When I first came to Campus One, you befriended me and helped me. You helped the others as well like Sakura, Yousuke, Jin, and others. Everyone knew and looked up to you, you know?"

The others, they had been as alone as I was when we first came in, although they later found their own cliques while I stayed with Kaoru. I don't think I was ever as close to them as I was with Kaoru, but they were my friends as well, although I don't see them that often anymore.

"They are all grateful for your help back then, you know. So just do as you usually would, I think you're fine as is." He finished. It made me feel better knowing that they thought so much about me, even if I just did things on a whim.

"Although you could afford to be a lot less lazier and a lot more organised."

"You didn't have to say that!"

—+-=-=-=-=-=-]|[-=-=-=-=-=-+—

Sitting in my office, I looked at the woman in front of me. Normally I wouldn't entertain unscheduled and abrupt meetings like this, but there is a general consensus amongst every government official that if she demands an audience 'immediately', it would be wise to do so.

Though she was just an upper house councillor, her influence stretched out to many very influential parties that we could not afford to go against. As Prime Minister, I did not have the power to influence the upper house in any way, and even if I could it would be political suicide.

"How can I help you today, Ms Tanaka?"

"You don't need to be so formal with me Satoshi, just call me Rikka. I just need a small favour today."

"That would be unprofessional Ms Tanaka."

"Ahaha, as usual, stiff and stoic."

"Just get to the point." I said. I had always prided myself for being a very patient person, but she had a tendency to annoy the people around her.

"Fine. I need you to approve this plan," she said as she slid a folder across the table, "it is very important to the plan."

I picked it up and looked through the outline of the plan. The contents, as usual, gave me a headache and I pinched the bridge between my eyes as I sighed in exasperation.

"You want to get Singapore involved?"

"I need them to be involved. This problem concerns them as much as it concerns us, after all they are also worried about the growing influence and sabre rattling of our neighbours."

"But this does not directly concern them does it?"

"Actually it does. Singapore is in charge of the air defence around the South East Asian region. Should there be a fight in Thailand they would be dragged in too."

"And I assume England is in on it too?"

"It was their proposal in the first place."

"You haven't really filled me in with the whole truth. Why is England so desperate for our help? What can we offer them?"

"Satoshi, that is a state secret."

"And I am the Prime Minister." I said, a little frustration leaking out. While I was tolerant of her plan for social reintegration, she had not yet told me the full details which is why I had not been willing to approve of it. If it weren't for Nobu pushing me to accept, I would have thrown her and her plan out the window, regardless of the consequences.

"Fufu, fine if you really must know." she said as she slid an envelope to me. "This is the reason why they want and need us. I must warn you, that once you know, you cannot un-know it."

Hesitantly, I picked it up and opened the envelope. Inside, was a letter addressed to her written by someone of great distinction.

"When did you get this?"

"Almost a year ago. Nobu-Nobu and my sister are the only other people who know of this letter."

"...I'm sure he would object to that nickname."

But this letter, I see now. Nara Nobu was a hard headed man, but he was also very rational which allowed him to rise to the position of my Defence Minister. If this letter is telling the truth, then we were very short on time.

"Is that why he pushed for such a crazy plan?"

"It is unfortunate but that is so. We cannot face this threat alone, and they have been preparing for this for some time now. We can only hope to catch up and prevent them from totally outmatching us."

"And England already has faced the first signs of this, which is why they are desperate. With Europe in disarray and Germany shutting itself off, they have no one to turn to except the commonwealth and us."

"Precisely. We are the closest, next to South Korea, but let's face it they're gone. It's just a matter of time although I hope they can delay the inevitable for as long as possible, we are not yet ready."

"A war to be fought by children for adults. Has the world really regressed to such a sad state of affairs?"

"Unfortunately so."

"And we have no other recourse but to rely on them?"

"From what is written in there, the process can only be undertaken by children. The older ones will die if they try. I need your approval for this."

"Fine."

I had lingering regrets, but I stamped my seal onto the document. A small tremor rocked through the building, almost as if the devil itself had approved of my decision. The table shook violently and several books on the shelves fell out, it was fortunate that the shelves themselves were secured down to the floor.

For the most part, I simply stared calmly into her eyes, as Tanaka Rikka did the same. When the tremor subsided, she laughed and pulled out a small microchip from her pocket.

"Here, as payment for this favour."

"It strikes me as odd that you can have so many chips up your sleeves and still have space for more."

"What can I say, I'm a girl with many fingers in many pies, with a whole poker deck up her sleeve, and stacks of chips in her pocket."

"Who is it this time?"

"A high ranking official in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism."

"How high?"

"About the third from the top?"

"That is a big fish you're letting go, are you sure about this?"

"Satoshi, it doesn't hurt to sweeten the pot every now and then. Besides, there's plenty more fishes in the sea."

With that, she left to make arrangements. As quickly as she came, she had gone. I picked up the phone and called the secretary, and told him I wanted to see the Minister of MLIT. This would be very scandalous, but at least the damage would be mitigated.