Shono glared at the ceiling. It was only natural that he couldn't sleep. What had he expected? They'd eaten dinner together with the other soldiers, and he hadn't sensed any malicious intent in their words or gestures. Though not many of them had bothered to exchange words with them. Despite that, he'd found it invigorating, so many people gathered in one place. Then why were so many unpleasant memories coming back to him after all that time? Frederick Sel... That guy hadn't changed a bit.
When he'd first met him, Frederick was one of the Upper District's AAD's youngest captains, at only twenty years of age. After murdering Shono's teammates, he'd asked him to remain there, saying that they could use someone like him. He'd even offered to give him a spot on his team. Shono's friends were dead. They'd been fighting side by side for so many years. They'd stood up against the Aberrations, risking their lives every single day. And they'd met their end at the hands of one of their own. Shono had though about accepting Frederick proposition... He'd even agreed to remain there for a few days. But he'd known that he would never be able to fit in from the start. Devoid of any emotion, all those fighters ever thought about was killing the Aberrations. Destroying the creatures. They didn't talk or care about anything else. The fighters always left at sunrise and didn't come back until well after the sun had already set. In less than a week's time, Shono had made up his mind about leaving. After memorizing the base's layout, he'd sneaked out during the night. And hadn't stopped running until he'd arrived back at the Agency in the Lower District. He still didn't know how he'd been able to do that without getting killed. Perhaps he'd just gotten lucky. But, for the first time, he'd realized back then that that was the only place he could truly call home.
"Can't sleep?" Een asked, stifling a yawn. He pushed himself up to a sitting position, staring at Karabell's bed. The room wasn't that dark, so he could clearly see their Captain restlessly scratching his head, his eyes wide open.. "What's the matter?"
"I was just thinking. Trying to come up with some answers. You were right, Shono. I really loathe this place."
"Don't even get me started..." Een released a scoffed chuckle. "Did you notice how those guys treated us earlier? Thet looked at us like we were some kind of insects. I know I shouldn't get worked up about stuff like that, but it really gets on my nerves. Not to mention the Commander. What's wrong with that guy?"
"It's not all that bad... at least we managed to learn some things about this place. And Kei woke up. But there's something else weighing on my mind. Listen, I wanted to wait until tomorrow to tell you this, but since we're all here... Will you hear me out?" Uneasiness gripped Karabell's throat. Both Een and Shono drew closer to him. He couldn't use Lyra's story as an excuse anymore. He had to tell them about his past by himself. Even if it meant burdening them with unnecesarry feelings, he couldn't stand hiding the truth a second longer. At that point, he was just lying to them. He told them everything, just like he'd told Marno in the past, revealing everything.
His speech hadn't taken more than a few minutes, but he felt like well over an hour had passed. Karabell inhaled and exhaled sharply, staring at the two.
"Alright," Een stated plainly. His reaction reminded him of Alice's. Honestly, what was wrong with those siblings? Shono didn't seem that impressed either. Had Alice spoken with them? No, that was impossible. She hadn't even woken up to eat dinner. "Sorry," Een continued. "I know it must've been hard for you to open up to us. But you seem to have misunderstood something. We don't care about any of that. Right, Shono?"
"Precisely. Your past... is none of our business. That is what I'd like to say. But the truth is... we both knew."
"Huh?" Karabell was dumbfounded. They knew? How was that possible? He'd made sure not to tell a soul about. No, that was also wrong. How could he have forgotten? Or rather, how could he have been so foolish as to think that Marno wouldn't divulge his secret? Thinking back, he should've figured out that such a thing had happened the moment he'd been promoted. He'd received basic information about each and every one of his subordinates. And he hadn't even though about the possibility of the reverse also being true. That explained Alice's reaction. They all knew already. But even if that was the case, how could that annoying geezer tell them everything. No, if he reflected on it, it was simply selfish to keep secrets in that world. As Lyra had pointed out, information was valuable.
"Ress filled us in a long time ago," Een explained. "I, for one, was wondering when you were going to tell us yourself. I know we shouldn't have kept the fact that we already knew from you, but it seemed only fair. Shono didn't want to tell you before we joined the team. He said it was something we should go through together. Then I convinced him it would be better to just forget about it. After all, I didn't care who you were in the past. I didn't want those things to take away from the fact that you were the best leader we could've asked for. Well... It feels kind of awkward to talk about this, honestly." He let out an embarrassed laugh. "Oh, by the way, we haven't told Alice about it. I thought it'd do her more bad than good to know. So..."
Karabell burst into laughter. Why had he even stressed about it? He'd gotten to wary, for absolutely no reason. If anything, Marno'd done him a huge favor behind his back. So, they hadn't wanted Alice to know? What was up with that? The Captain laughed uncontrollably, having completely forgot that they were in the middle of the night.
"When I asked you two to leave a few hours ago. That's exactly what I discussed with her and Lyra. I already told her everything."
They all looked at each other, pleasant smiles playing on their lips. It was a real weight off their shoulders. They'd finally been able to talk openly about the problem that'd been eating away at them for such a long time. Still, to think that he'd already spoken with Alice... It made their efforts seem useless.
"You know, maybe it's really not that bad after all," Een chuckled, repeating the Captain's words.