Editing BlazBlue:Spiral Shift - Hyokujin no Eiyu (section)

===Part 5===

On this day, the Novus Orbis Librarium suffered a historic defeat.

Kagura Mutsuki, the commander-in-chief, was leading the troops on the front line, but he was injured in the middle of the battle when he engaged the cyborg soldiers of Sector Seven known as the "Red Devils” and was forced to retreat.

Colonel Mutsuki ordered the withdrawal of all troops in an attempt to rebuild his troops after being blindsided. However, some officers from the aristocracy, who interpreted his absence as a convenient opportunity, ignored the order and, at their own discretion, notified the entire army to continue the battle.

They were also the ones who took command of the entire army in place of Kagura Mutsuki. Their textbook command of the operation was completely outmaneuvered by the Ikaruga army, which was accustomed to guerrilla warfare, and they were destroyed from one side to the other.

The battle began at eleven in the morning. It was four o'clock in the afternoon when the scattered troops began to retreat at their own discretion, having been driven into a situation where they could no longer fight. There were hardly any soldiers left on the battlefield, and it was 5:00 p.m. when the official announcement of the withdrawal was made.

At that time, Jin was still in the middle of the battlefield.

The sun was just setting over the distant mountains when Jin led his troop of wounded men back to the nearby encampment.

Here and there in the messy tents, which seemed to have been erected in a hurry, soldiers wearing the uniforms of the Librarium sat, collapsed, or walked around busily.

The dizzying clamor was almost too much for the eyes.

Everyone was injured. Everyone was exhausted.

Jin hurried through the crowd, carrying the most seriously wounded of the party he had just brought back on his shoulders, and leading them into one of the tents.

"Lieutenant Kisaragi! Good, you're back."

The one who immediately spotted Jin and called out to him was Honoka, who was in the tent helping to treat the wounded. When he saw that the soldier Jin was carrying was in bad shape, he immediately turned pale, but helped him lay down on a blanket at the edge.

“Where are the medics?”

"They are in the tent two doors down. They will be coming to us in turn."

"If so, first aid until then"

“Yes, sir. But, you, the lieutenant is also injured..."

This was the second time Honoka had told him this.

The first time was when he rolled into this encampment with the 9th squad. This time, when they heard that there was a squad that was running late, they went to help them retreat and had just returned.

“It's no big deal. Give priority to the seriously injured."

Jin said extremely calmly. Honoka was overly concerned, but it really wasn't anything serious. He had a cut on his shoulder and leg, and bruises on his head and arm. All of them were minor.

He was more uncomfortable with the bloodstains he was exposed to here and there from enemies and allies. It seemed to have flown into his hair as well, and when he annoyingly wiped it off, it made an unpleasant crunching sound with the dried blood.

"Damn it!"

The muffled sound of a regretful voice was accompanied by the sound of a rough beating.

Jin looked up at the noise. It was the sound of Grimwood, sitting in a small folding chair, slamming his fist into his thigh.

"Those idiots... were completely ambushed. They're leaking information!"

A voice that still held the tension of the battlefield made the air in the tent go numb.

Karenjina, who had a first aid kit in her hand, turned around with a downcast look on her face.

"Grimwood, be quiet. There's still a lot of people hurt.”

"Oh...... I'm sorry."

Grimwood apologized sincerely, and leaned back against the poor back of his chair.

Speaking of injured people, so was Grimwood. He took a bullet in the back while defending an ally. His head was also bleeding lightly. First aid had been administered, but the bandage that covered his back was stained red in places.

"U-uh...... Gah......"

A weak groan and cough could be heard at Jin's feet. It was the soldier he had just brought in. Karenjina kneeled down beside him to give him first aid and was at a loss for words when she saw his wounded form.

His condition was terrible. He was covered in scars all over his body, as if he had been caught in an explosion, and his face and body were stained with blood and dirt. He had a particularly bad wound on his chest, and every time he moved his chest up and down weakly, clots of blood overflowed from under his clothes.

"Lieu…tenant…Kisa......ragi..."

He called out in a faint voice, his lips already bloodless and trembling.

Jin furrowed his brows and gasped. He realized who this soldier was.

"I never thought that Kisaragi-senpai would save me.......Thank you...very much......."

Behind his lifted eyelids, his large, still-childish eyes were shaking with tears. Even though he was hurt so much, his voice, which was almost snatched away, seemed somehow happy.

Jin took his hand and held it tightly. He spoke to him as softly as he could, as he had tried to do when he was a student.

“You're from the academy?”

"Yes... This year.......Ugh..."

He was about to say it, when he coughed up some clotted blood along with a cough from his throat.

Karenjina whispered Jin's name. Jin nodded shallowly without turning around.

He didn't have any specialized knowledge or skills, but he knew what she hinted at. Even if he were to apply a healing Ars Magus right now, he would not be able to survive.

The soldier's trembling eyes looked up at Jin, as if he was staring at something dazzling. His face was still that of a boy. That was to be expected. He was still a student at the military academy.

"I've always admired...... Kisaragi-senpai and when I heard that you were active on the battlefield......."

“Is that why you volunteered?"

"......Yes. I wanted to fight with you. I...I wanted to be close to...someone like you......”

His voice trembled as he spoke. Tears fell from the corners of his dirty eyes.

Jin heard that for this operation, the Librarium had recruited volunteers from the commoner cadets and sent them in as recruits. That's what he had heard.

It was ridiculous and reckless. There was no way they would put them into actual combat. That's what Jin thought.

Until this very moment.

The recruit, who was supposed to be a student, coughed and spat out blood instead of words as he moved his mouth to say something. The chest of his blue uniform was completely stained with blood. Jin wondered if he could see it. He squirmed on the blanket, shaking his motionless body.

“Am I... going to die?"

"...It's okay. You don't need to worry."

"I don't want to die. I don't...want to die..."

Jin held the boys fleeting hand and put a slight pressure on his fingertips as if he were clinging to it.

The boy from the Kisaragi household clenched his hand.

Until this morning, he was probably still proud and hopeful. He would have been thrilled to be on the same battlefield as the person he admired.

The reality of the scene was chilling.

"Help me...please... Kisaragi Senpa..."

The words he could squeeze out didn't last. The boy died with his lips pursed and his eyes wet with tears, clinging desperately to Jin and finally the hand that had been grasping him lost its strength and slipped from Jin's hand.

A different figure overlapped the image of the boy soldier lying in front of him in the form of familiar red-haired girl in a blue uniform, Tsubaki. She looks up at Jin, her chest turning red with overflowing blood. With a relieved smile, she extends her hand to touch Jin, but her fingers couldn't reach and fell to the cold floor.

The lips that have lost their color call out without a voice. She said “—Jin Niisama.”

"Jin? Hey, Are you okay?"

He was shaken lightly by a voice that came from right beside him, making Jin came back to himself.

Karenjina looked at Jin with a pained, caring expression on her face.

Jin clasped his hands, which were still in the air and nodded. That was all he could do and to him, it felt awfully sluggish.

“...It's okay.”

Yes, it’s fine. Jin was barely injured and was indeed 'okay'. He was not the same as the dead man. He was different. The dead man was not Jin. That boy didn't have the skills to fight, he didn't have the knowledge.

Jin was sure there were many other soldiers like him, volunteering.

Honoka worriedly filled a plastic cup with water and offered it to Jin. Jin took it and drank it all at once. As he watched, Honoka sighly rested his shoulders.

"The details of the operation... Where the hell did this leak come from?"

If it continues to leak, the Librarium will have little chance of winning.

Turning his gaze to the boy soldier with a blanket put over him, Honoka sighed even more. The dead boy looked to be about the same age as Honoka.

“I can't believe they're even inviting students to volunteer. It's unthinkable. It's like recruiting shooting targets. At this rate, even if you're not a volunteer, you can still go to..."

Honoka was about to say something but stopped, looking at Jin's face as if he had noticed something. Jin somehow guessed what he was going to say. At this rate, there might be a replenishment of the military force from the cadets, even if they are not volunteers.

Naturally, a familiar face flickered in Jin's mind.

What Honoka said could definitely happen in the near future.

It might be the girl he saw in his hallucination. Here, with a soiled blanket, the next time she breathes her last, covered in blood. 

Looking down at the twitching, dead face of the unnamed junior who had stopped moving, Jin couldn't take it anymore and gently lowered his eyelids and stood up.

"Grimwood."

He stood in front of a large, strong man with a uniform jacket pulled over his naked, bandaged upper body.

“We need to talk.”

Leaning forward on his knees, Grimwood lifted his head only to look back at Jin and made a large nod in agreement.