Chapter 132: Graduation Part 1

"...So this is where I’ll be staying from now on, Professor Zenith. What do you think? Honestly, it’s a little strange... but also kind of exciting. After all, I earned this place, and I won’t have to stay in the dorm anymore," Charlotte asks as she brings me to the place where she’ll be starting her work.

Today, all the female students were called to their respective assignments, but instead of going alone, Charlotte decided to call me because it’s the same place where I stayed at the beginning.

’I just wonder how the hell Charlotte found out that I stayed here too when I first joined the military... She... has some good connections?...’ Charlotte has hidden who she made connections with in every place I’ve taken her, but I know someone important is helping her. I just don’t know who.

"Yes, Charlotte, this is exactly the place... This place gives me a strange sense of nostalgia. I stayed in that room over there, number 4. Nadir was in number 7..." I say with a small smile. Since they’ve already "graduated" and only have to wait out the last few school days, they were obviously informed beforehand where they would be staying.

Which is going to make things easier for everyone, since they won’t have to wait for them to get settled in, saving a few days when they could already be working.

"Great, I knew it was here!!" she says with absolute confidence, which makes me slightly suspicious that she started investigating my life using her connections.

’She’d better be careful if she doesn’t want to make me her enemy...’ For now, I’ll leave things as they are. There’s nothing important to reveal if someone investigates me, it’s just unpleasant.

"I think it’s great for you. Which room did you get? And how long will you be staying here?" I ask with interest, wondering which places each of the others got.

"I’m not sure how long because they didn’t give me a concrete answer. They said two to six months, and my room is number 14." She doesn’t even hesitate to reveal where she’ll be staying.

"Hmmm... Regardless of your position, you’re a rookie, and all rookies have to stay in these temporary facilities. Even if you have one privilege or another, six months, huh... That’s good. I had to stay for two whole years before I was allowed to move."

"After six months, when you leave here, you’ll be able to choose where you want to live. There are several pretty nice bases I can recommend," I tell her as she leads me to room 14.

"Really? How does that work?" She opens the door and leads me inside, asking as her tail sways slightly. My tail grabs the doorknob and closes it to maintain our privacy.

"The military can’t exactly put people who are a burden together with people who are going to last, so they put everyone who’s new in a place where there generally aren’t any veterans. At most, you’ll see two or three veterans."

"That means most of the people you’ll see in this place are going to die early or on their first few missions. I suggest not getting too attached to the people here until you move somewhere else, because I’m serious, the mortality rate in these first dormitories is around 70%." I wish I were exaggerating.

But every year, thousands of people join the military. The fact that there are so few Kairas still in service shows just how difficult it is to survive in the beginning. Maybe the government is being stupid by not taking better care of the rookies, but the island is still standing, so I guess their strategy works almost too well, unfortunately.

"I doubt any of the six of you will die in the first few months, so just stay alert, be patient, and don’t try to overdo things. When you leave these initial dormitories, choose a good base and try to make something of your life."

"Anyway, the military gives you a few options, and it’s up to you to choose where you stay, but you don’t really have that much freedom of choice. Actually, I’d say freedom is always an illusion! There are, like, hundreds to thousands of small bases. Each one houses 10 to 40 people, and they let rookies choose between 5 and 10 of them, and they’re all very similar to one another."

"Since it’s a dangerous job and people are always dying, they don’t really need to build many more bases than the ones they already have," I tell Charlotte, who looks around her room.

"My room is pretty... simple, to put it mildly, and lacking in things..." She seems pretty disappointed, probably because the room doesn’t match the position she earned.

The academy room has all kinds of things: a bed, desk, chairs, wardrobe, dresser, television, a bathroom on the side, books, a shelf for various items, a computer, a standard-issue potted plant, a small refrigerator, a small safe, several outlets for charging phones, some convenience devices, a robot vacuum, a vacuum cleaner, and a very large cabinet filled with various things meant for daily use, making it a truly impressive room that shows the academy’s wealth.

"You’re lucky. My room here in this dormitory was worse. Yours has a desk, a bed, a chair, and a laptop..." When I say that, she looks incredulous at what I’m saying, because I’m telling her that having four things is good.

"And what did yours have?" Her question sounds sarcastic, as if she expects me to say that I had several things.

"...A mattress." That was all my room had. It didn’t even have outlets in the walls. The bathroom was outside the dormitory, and food, clothes, and other things were outside the rooms too. The room was only for sleeping and nothing else.

"...And?"

"Nothing else, Charlotte. Just a mattress. It wasn’t even a bed, just the mattress. Honestly, there’s not much effort put into making people who look like they’re going to die soon comfortable. Nadir didn’t even get a mattress. He only got a sheet and some kind of thick strip of fabric for him to lie on. He had it worse than I did."

"...Eh... That sounds..." She seems uncomfortable when I put into words the difference in quality of life we had at the beginning. She got off to a very good start.

"Terrible? Bullshit? Extremely biased because they expect us to die very soon? If that’s what you think, then you’re right. It’s completely terrible, and that’s why connections are so valuable. You have things most people don’t because you got off to a good start." Most of her classmates are only going to get mattresses and nothing else. Some won’t even have that. They’ll have to sleep on the floor for a few months.

"And that’s a good thing. Just avoid bragging about it. You could make other people jealous, and the last thing you want is people being maliciously jealous of you... or should I tell the people close to you to be careful around you because you use them as stepping stones?" I say in a joking tone that makes her roll her eyes.

"If this is my room and it’s better than the others, then that means the military sees me as someone who’s going to survive, right?" Her question hits the core of what all this means. If her room is this good, it’s precisely because they see a future in her, but it’s also because her connections are pulling a few strings.

"Yes, more or less. It’s not just that, but we can say it’s something like that, Charlotte." I take out my phone, check something, and then show her the rookie records.

"Look, you’re here now." I see the six of them, along with several other rookies who finished the academy this year and will graduate alongside them.

"...You’re insane, Professor. You’re not out of the military, so how can you do all these things that seem illegal?"

"...Illegal... No, I don’t think looking at this is illegal. It’s a simple public database, although I used some special access permissions through a code. It’s used to keep track of who’s alive and who’s dead among everyone who joined the military over the course of one year."

"Sometimes I’m surprised by how cruel we can be, Professor Zenith." Charlotte’s tone seems to be referring to more than just the context of this moment.

"Professor, are you going to our graduation?" She sits down on the bed as she abruptly changes the subject.

"Your graduation... It’s only a few days away, right?... I don’t know. I can’t guarantee I’ll go." When I say that, she looks disappointed.

"Seriously? The others are going to be really disappointed by that. I understand, you’re not as free as you seem because you’re always doing those little secret missions... but maybe... let’s put it this way..."

"If you don’t go, there’s a remote chance Nadir might find out... that you’ve been sneaking out at night." She makes a threat that brings a sarcastic smile to my face.

"Really? And who would tell him? Which contact? And could that person withstand being hunted down by me?"

"Who knows? Maybe they could. So, are you going?"

"I don’t know. I already said that."

"...We can leave now. I’ve already shown you where I’ll be staying, Professor Zenith." She gives me a wave as if she’s kicking me out.

"It’s strange seeing you wanting to help the others," I say as she gives me little pushes toward the door. She slams the door shut and locks it with the key.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Such a bold girl, especially threatening your professor. I doubt you’d actually have the guts. Bluffing is great, but only if you can actually back it up. Trying to fool me takes some serious nerve." I give her a sarcastic smile, and she lets out a sigh.

"I didn’t do anything, Professor."

"Sure, sure." I’ll see if I can make it to their graduation ceremony. I’ll try to clear my schedule for that specific day.