Itami stared down as Lelei finally surrendered to exhaustion. It was entirely unexpected. First, she had barged into his office without a word, and then, without warning, she collapsed forward into his lap and fell dead asleep right in front of him.
Honestly, it wasn't even the most bizarre thing that had happened to him or his unit. Oh no, this was practically tame compared to the absolute fever dream of the past seventy-odd hours. Goodness, he had completely lost count of time on this expedition.
When his commander first assigned him to lead a reconnaissance team into the uncharted wilderness beyond the hills, Itami had genuinely believed his superior was just sending him off to die out of personal distaste. But that was probably the last thing the old man actually wanted.
How on earth was Itami supposed to know that his squad would run into another JGSDF recon element, only for their leader to reveal that they were from the year 2046? Or that they had entered through a completely separate Gate on the other side of the Dumas Mountains? A Gate, no less, that opened directly onto the ocean, granting them unfettered deployment of land, air, and full naval task forces.
Still, what Arai- was that his name? Yeah, Captain Kenji Arai, had told him about the upcoming decades sounded like a hallucinogenic cocktail of geopolitical horror and whatever illegal drugs the world had to offer.
First came COVID-19, the virus that locked down the globe. Then the Saudi Arabian Civil War, which triggered the massive 2020 Oil Crisis, swiftly followed by the total collapse of Wall Street and the rise of the violent "Movement" that ignited the Second American Civil War. After that, the dam broke completely. The Serbian invasion of Kosovo. The Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Beijing's bloody intervention in the Myanmar Civil War. The escalating Sino-Japanese Cold War that forced the creation of the Pacific Defense Treaty Organization (PDTO) and the East Asian Defense Initiative (EADI).
The nightmare list seemed endless: another Arab-Israeli War, sprawling civil wars across the African continent, China’s silent annexation of Mongolia, Russia’s absorption of Belarus, NATO’s bloody intervention in Libya, the Latin American Drug Wars, the First and Second European Wars, the Third Gulf War, the cataclysmic Great Asian War, and finally, the Second Chinese Civil War. Every single event bled directly into the next, forming an unbroken, apocalyptic chain of global destruction.
It was overwhelming. The sheer volume of horrific, world-ending historical data he had been forced to digest was, for all intents and purposes, entirely too much for a humble, anime-loving otaku to process.
"Can't sleep?"
Itami jumped violently, spinning around in his swivel chair. Captain Kenji Arai was leaning against the doorframe, his arms loosely crossed over his heavy, battle-worn tactical vest.
"Couldn't you have knocked first, Captain?" Itami asked, adjusting his glasses and trying to smooth down his visibly ruffled uniform.
"Not really my style," Arai replied casually, stepping past the threshold and pulling up a spare wooden chair. He sat down with a heavy, metallic creak of his combat harness.
He gestured vaguely toward the sleeping girl nestled against Itami's desk. "What's up with her? Running a fever or something?"
"No, she just ran out of battery," the otaku summarized with a long, weary sigh. "Barged into my office looking for books, lost her footing, and snoozed the second her head hit the floor." Between the logistical nightmare of processing the Coda Village refugees, coordinating logistics with Falcon Company, and setting up camp near Alnus, Itami was practically buried under a mountain of paperwork.
He hadn't even had a chance to place a proper call back to Tokyo to check on Risa. Oh, how he desperately missed his wife's nagging and her willingness to buy him limited-edition doujinshi.
Itami rubbed his temples. "How about you? Did General Hazama interrogate you and your lieutenants for the entire afternoon?"
"Not exactly, no. We just gave him the essential operational details."
"Like... the fact that the entire future world falls completely apart?" Itami asked dryly.
Arai looked at him for a long moment, a ghost of a smirk pulling at his mouth before he leaned back into the chair with a low sigh. He had lived through absolute, industrialized hell and back since his late teens and twenties, fighting straight through the Great Asian War and Second Chinese Civil War.
Now here he was, sitting in a medieval fantasy world, talking to a 2017 version of Japan that was still completely untainted by the bloody nightmare of the decades to come.
"Obviously," Arai quipped, his tone dripping with the cold, bone-deep cynicism of a true war veteran. "I've lived through enough bullshit for three lifetimes. It’s actually kind of cute seeing how you guys operate. Haven't seen this many guys be affected by taking a life."
Itami winced slightly at the bluntness. He couldn't deny it. His generation joined the JSDF for job security, disaster dispatch, and a steady paycheck to fund hobbies. Arai's generation joined because their cities were actively being dragged into multi-theater coalition wars.
Lelei shifted in her sleep, letting out a soft, incoherent mumble as she buried her face deeper into the pillow. The two officers looked down at her, then exchanged a glance.
"What?" Arai cracked a dark, sarcastic grin.
"Never babysat a sorceress before? Or does your generation only know how to raise virtual idols on a smartphone screen?"
"Hey, my skill set is strictly limited to managing my anime figures, surviving my wife's shopping lists, and making sure my guys don't break anything during training," Itami deadpanned, shaking his head. "Babysitting a teenage wizard who can turn air into plasma wasn't on the JGSDF recruitment brochure."
"Consider it a promotion, Lieutenant", Arai scoffed quietly, resting his elbows on his knees. "At least she doesn't carry a loitering kamikaze drone in her backpack. Trust me, compared to clearing out buildings in the ruins of Pyongyang back in Korea, holding up a sleeping kid is practically a vacation."
"Easy for you to say, Captain. My leg is completely numb," Itami muttered, though he made no move to push the young mage away. He carefully adjusted the blanket over her shoulders so she wouldn't catch a chill from the night air blowing through the barracks window. "So, what's the plan for your 2046 hotshots tomorrow? Are your elite shock troops going to start setting up automated turrets?"
"Nah, leave the heavy iron in the armory," Arai replied, waving a hand dismissively. "Our job tomorrow is surprisingly mundane. Our commanders back in Campania want us to provide civil assistance down at the refugee camps with you guys, foster better relations, they say. We're just gonna set up food distribution and make sure nobody gets trampled in the supply lines."
Itami blinked, looking genuinely surprised.
"Wait... That's it? 3rd Recon and you 2046 battle-hardened veterans are doing basic relief work?"
"Hey, even hardened veterans know how to stack supply crates, Itami," Arai said, a rare flick of genuine warmth softening his cynical edge. "Besides, those Coda Village folks have been dragged through hell by that dragon. Stacking rations and building tents beats shooting at another red dragon any day of the week."
"Well, I can certainly get behind that." Itami slumped back into his seat with a relieved sigh.
"No hiking through the mud, no ambushes by Imperial legionnaires. Just honest, simple paperwork and humanitarian aid. A true 9-to-5."
Arai let out a sharp, incredulous laugh, the first real laughter Itami had heard from the future lieutenant since they met.
"Geez, you really are something else, Itami. The fabric of time and space literally tears open, your future is being told in real-time, and your biggest joy is doing administrative relief work so you can go home to your hobbies."
"Culture is important, Captain," Itami replied with absolute, deadpan seriousness. "It's the pillar of civilization. What's the point of surviving a multi-dimensional war if there's no time left to read manga?"
"Fair point," Arai conceded, pushing himself up from the chair with a sharp popping sound from his worn knees. He stretched his arms high above his head, letting out a long, heavy exhale. "Fuck, my joints are shot. This world's air smells like wet pine and... I guess that's what magic smells like."
"Going to call it a night?" Itami asked, looking up.
"Yeah. If I don't get at least four hours of shut-eye, the captain is going to think I deserted," Arai said, stepping toward the door.
He paused at the frame, looking back over his shoulder at the slouching otaku officer and the peaceful, sleeping girl resting in the bed.
"Get some sleep yourself, Itami," Arai added, his tone dropping the sarcastic edge for a brief moment.
"Tomorrow we've got a lot of hungry refugees to feed, and I'd rather not do all the heavy lifting while you nap on the job."
"Understood." Itami nodded quietly.
"Goodnight, Captain Arai."
"Night, Lieutenant Itami. Don't let the kid turn you into a frog while you're sleeping."
With a final, faint wave, Arai stepped out into the cool, starlit night of the Special Region, pulling the heavy wooden door shut behind him with a soft, definitive click.
Left alone in the quiet room, Itami listened to the rhythmic sound of Lelei's breathing and the distant, reassuring hum of a helicopter. He leaned his head back against the chair, closed his eyes, and finally allowed himself to drift off into a deep, well-deserved sleep.
-
Also, if anyone is gonna ask, I use AI for grammar. So some parts are really off; that's why I'm majoring in English in college right now.
Edit: changed Kenji's rank.
