Kenchiro P.O.V
Remind me?
Remind me of what?
I've seen more than my fair share of death. I still see the whites of her eyes, the entrails of his stomach, and the bullet hole engraved on his head like a scar.
"You needn't remind me of anything. I've lived with reminders clawing at my mind every second of every day. It's you who needs the lesson."
I gripped the controls tighter and brought the plane into a loop. With a sharp pull, I brought the nose up, the horizon spinning wildly until Yamahra's plane filled my sights. Adrenaline surged through me, burning away the hesitation I thought would paralyze me.
I fired.
The sharp recoil jolted through my hands, the deafening roar of the guns drowning out every rational thought. I've never attempted murder—never thought myself capable of it—but in this moment, morality is a luxury I can't afford. It's him or me.
As the bullets ripped through the sky toward Yamahra, I could only think of one thing.
You wanna know something? They always said you'll remember your first—first love, first kiss, even your first kill. However, they never warned me about what comes after.
No one ever told me that death lingers, that it follows you, wraps around your soul, and never lets go. And yet here I am, pulling the trigger again, adding another ghost to my shadow.
Blood filled the cockpit mirror, staining the glass like it was tinted with my resolve, a crimson reminder of the line I'd crossed. It dripped slowly, each drop marking time in a world that suddenly felt too still.
His plane took a nosedive, spiraling toward the grave waiting to claim him below. Flames engulfed the wreckage, a fiery testament to the act I could never take back. The sky itself seemed to hold its breath, the world watching as innocence burned away with the debris.
Everyone was a witness to my first kill. There's no more innocence, no more purity left in me—just the weight of what I've done, etched into my soul like a scar that will never fade. And honestly, I was okay with it. After all, it was him or me. Survival doesn't leave room for morality; it only demands that you choose, and I chose to live.
A lone tear slowly graced my cheek, tracing a path I hadn't realized it needed to take. Was I crying for him, a man I condemned to flames, or for the life I could never reclaim? As always, time would be the only answer to that question.
I hesitated, my hands trembling as I gripped the controls, the weight of what came next pressing down on me. Victory wasn't supposed to feel like this.
Guess Kaizer was right—victory often came with a price. And the price of mine? It was my ticket to hell, stamped and sealed the moment I pulled that trigger. There's no redemption for men like me.
I couldn't think about what happened—not now, anyway. There wasn't time to dwell, not with what lay ahead. A new course of training, a new unit awaited me—Kiyo called it Tokubetsu Kōgekitai.
I couldn't help but wonder: what exactly does this new unit entail?