Life Hunter

"Sir, can I talk to him?" Arima asked Moria when he woke up. Moria was talking with Haze through the satellite phone when he heard Arima"s demand. Moria hummed and then handed the phone to Arima.

"Haze, it"s me, Arimane" Arima said when he grabbed the phone.

"Oh, it"s you. You"re alive, that"s good. What"s wrong?" Haze was a bit surprised and then asked.

"Wait a second" Arima glanced at Jin and hinted him to look at his computer. Jin was first confused and then exclaimed as he understood. He picked up his computer and then connected Arima"s phone with it. Jin then gave a thumb up to Arima. The latter nodded and continued "I wanted to ask you; what are you going to do with that data?" Arima went straight to the main point and gravely solicited.

Haze fell silent on the other side and the squad around Arima also attentively listened "…I don"t know. I"m not sure if I should give it to the country. I"m sure you realized that the facility we just destroyed was not that equipped against intruders. From the data, we learned that it was because this place actually existed for a long time and was supposed to be perfectly hidden. But the information leaked somehow, and we were able to find it. Years after its construction" Haze explained

"The reason I"m telling you this is because I suppose that the government learned this through a spy or a traitor on their side. They then ordered us to attack that place because they knew we would be able to infiltrate it and eliminate the resistance. Basically, it means," He paused "That we were sent here just for them to acquire the data. I"m sure they were not expecting us to destroy the entire island with the FEBs like you did though" Haze laughed a bit and said.

"Ultimately, if I give this data to them, they will start working on it in the shadows, preparing to attack the two other great powers. At that point, there will be a world war. After all, you perfectly know, as much as I do, that the government is always like that. Opportunist and mindlessly seeking supremacy and new ways to gain power. But more than the government in its entirety, the problem comes from some individuals" Haze stated and Arima"s group fell even more silent.

Only Arima himself smirked "Then we have two choices, give them this data or," His smirk became even wider "Keep it and tell them it was lost"

"Hey!" Erin exclaimed, shocked "That would mean treason, you know?!" He shouted but Moria didn"t say anything.

"That"s…" Haze was also speechless. It was the same for everyone. The problem wasn"t that Arima didn"t want to give the data away. The problem was his word choice, "keep" the date instead of "destroy" or "delete". He indeed said to "keep" it.

"What do you want to do with it? Don"t tell me you want to threaten the three powers…" Haze inquired but his voice turned weaker at the end of his sentence.

"Haze" Arima cut him "Can I ask you something?"

"What?" Haze frowned.

"If you had the chance to accomplish that foolish dream, would you do it?" Arima grinned and questioned.

"What foolish dream?" Haze responded in complete ignorance. He was also unusually curious. At the same time, Tieria finally woke up by having Arima talk next to her. She lifted her head from his shoulder and rubbed her eyes.

She looked around saw everyone staring at Arima. She was slightly confused and looked at him too. The words she heard just after made her question what the h.e.l.l had happened while she was asleep.

"Eradicating war"

**************************************************

When the squad came back to their continent, Arima was directly hospitalized. He apparently had some broken bones on his back. The doctor even said that it was quite impressive that he wasn"t paralyzed because of the shock.

Because, one, Arima took the blow of an explosion and two, slammed his back on water when he was sent flying away by the shock wave, to protect Tieria. The latter felt guilty for everything and stayed with him for the whole period he was in the hospital. Which wasn"t that long. That fact itself was so strange that the doctors checked Arima"s state two times before letting him go.

"…Did we magically heal him at some point?" One of the doctors muttered while he was drinking his coffee.

When Arima returned home, Scatha hugged him as she was relieved. She knew that Arima had already come back a few days earlier. But she couldn"t go meet him because of her work, so she was quite annoyed about that.

"h.e.l.lo, Ma"am" She then heard a voice and looked at the source. She saw Tieria there, smiling at her "I"m Tieria, nice to meet you"

"Oh, yes. I"m Scathach Blade, Arima"s mother" Scatha responded in kind and then dragged Arima with her "Who"s that? Your girlfriend?"

Arima laughed wryly and Tieria spoke one more time "If I may ask, can I move here?"

"…What?" Scatha froze and asked in return.

"…Eh?" Arima reacted even later. For him, it was more than unexpected. He didn"t know why she would say that so suddenly.

"…You"re sure it"s not your girlf-mm?" Scatha asked one more time and Arima covered her mouth before she could finish and just waited for Tieria to continue.

"I just don"t want to return to the orphanage. If it"s okay with you, I would like to say here. I don"t think there"s someone closer to me than you, Arima" She explained her motive and Arima lowered his head with a darkened expression.

Scatha looked at the two and realized it wasn"t the time to make some joke. She looked seriously at Tieria "I don"t know what happened, but if you really want to stay here, you can. And Arima can"t refuse" She said and looked at her son "You won"t reject a girl seeking for comfort with you, right?"

At that exact moment, Rocky left the house and tilted his head as he looked at Tieria and Arima.

Arima sighed strongly and turned his head awkwardly "(Why are you saying it like that?!)" He shouted in his mind and shook his head before looking at Tieria in the eyes "Of course I won"t refuse"

Tieria beamed "Thank you"

Since that day, Tieria started living with the two of them and it was also in the same year that Arima stopped going to school and spent his days doing something completely different. His daily actions were, of course, learn under Scatha"s tutelage, spend time with Tieria and play with Rocky. But most of the time, he was out of home.

And even Scatha didn"t know where he would go. A few months later, one day, she asked Tieria if she knew something about that while they were both watching the TV.

"I"m not sure" Tieria answered but she was quite casual about it.

"Come on, I thought you were closer to him than that" Scatha said as she b.u.mped Tieria"s shoulder.

The latter smiled wryly "It"s not like I don"t know for what purpose he leaves every day, but I never asked what he actually does" She then explained.

"Mm" Scatha hummed and grabbed a handful of popcorn and ate it "So, what"s that goal?" She asked.

Tieria couldn"t help but smile when she thought about the answer to that question "Getting rid of war in the world" She declared.

"…" Scatha gaped and some popcorn fell from her mouth. She shook her head quickly and coughed "Are saying that Arima actually decided to go for something so childish?" Scatha backed away and squinted her eyes like something was fishy "…Are we talking about the same person?"

Tieria laughed and nodded "We are"

"I can"t believe it…" Scatha sighed and laid her back on the sofa "And so, how is he doing that? Knowing him, he must have a plan"

"Mm" Tieria nodded again "He must have one. But I"m sure he also took the most realistic one" She said and Scatha immediately agreed "I think that"s why he"s not telling me the details" She added and Scatha"s expression turned solemn.

"Anyway, if we"re talking about the same person, then I"m sure it will be okay" Scatha said "Maybe I won"t have to work anymore when there will be no war" She uttered and grinned. Tieria just chuckled.

*********************************************

"So basically, your plan is to create an Empire" Haze said to Arima. Both of them were sitting together in a meeting room at the top of a building.

"Don"t say it like that. Sounds like I"m the bad guy trying to conquer the world" Arima retorted and continued to type on a laptop "I"m sure you understand that we need to become an independent force to make this plan work"

"Yeah, I understand that" Haze replied "You want to create a country on your own. Let me be honest with you, that"s kinda crazy" He said and stood up "But still," He looked through the window "Getting this far in three months, that"s actually scary. How did you manage to create an enterprise and own this building so quickly?" He inquired.

"Well, first, you need to start a business on your own, even if it"s not really big or anything. As long as you have enough money, you can do that first step. Personally, I just used the money I stole from the targets in our previous missions" He explained.

"Hey, hey" Haze stared at Arima.

"The next step is also simple" Arima ignored him and resumed "You just have to eat other companies and make yours bigger" He smirked and said.

"How did you do that?" Haze frowned and probed.

"Well, of course, you use what you have in hand and directly go to the top and force it to surrender and give you everything" Arima nonchalantly explained.

"Isn"t that a crime?" Haze asked with dead eyes.

"No, I just aimed for guys who could be threatened. I just told them that I had proof of what they had done and then led them into a trap where they could only give me everything" Arima explained.

"You"ll make yourselves a lot of enemies like that. I would say that it"s not a good idea in the long term" Haze advised but Arima just smiled.

"Don"t worry, I know. I won"t continue like that forever. But even if I did, I think I could make it work" Arima casually stated and Haze trembled. Arima"s mind was definitely not something that should pertain to a sixteen years old boy.

"So, what are your plans from now on? Continue this business until you"re big enough? That won"t be easy" Haze then said.

"Of course. I"ll continue to increase my business, but our most important work will be on something else" Arima raised on finger "The thing a country needs the most is its military power. I will create a second company, a mercenary one" Arima announced and pointed at Haze "Both of our squads will be the first members"

"Mm" Haze fell into deep thought.

Arima raised a second finger "And after that, we need talented people, particularly in the D&D department. To make use of that data we have" He said and smiled "Of course, there"s one last thing that I need to accomplish that crazy goal. But it"s for later" He added.

Haze shook his head and sighed "Fine, I"ll follow you in that messed up plan" He smiled and extended his hand. Arima snickered and shook his hand with Haze.

*************************************************

In the Time Garden, while Lilis was watching all of this unfold. The water of the pond she was looking at trembled. At the same moment, ominous laughter resounded in the garden.

Lilis gulped and understood that what came next would explain why Arima was treated like a criminal by the Time Garden itself and also the reason why the latter was reacting so strongly when he displayed Arima"s past.

Lilis slowly touched the water of the pond, knowing that in the following reminiscences, Arima"s life would change dramatically.