'Harutsuki' gazed at the kid busy spelling with the rest of her class the word Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia written on the class board.

It was a young female - probably not far from nine or ten years old - with an urchin cut.
Her curious eyes were sometimes slipping over to the officer while she was spelling, making her miss syllables. She was then quickly reporting her attention to the board, until another subject of interest in the room was monopolizing her attention.

She looked well-behaved, yet unfocused.
Was it the blank spirit he was looking for, ready to be written on?


The child sat in front of him, seemingly rather intimidated by his presence.
"Are you afraid of me?" asked the officer after a moment the kid spent between fidgeting and gazing at him with curiosity.
"Yes, mister.." she answered with a little voice.
"Mistress told me to come here.."
"Since how long do you live here?"

The girl counted on her fingers with concentration.
"Four years, mister."
"And do you know why you are here?"

She gazed at him with a sad-looking expression.
"Mother and father died.."
He didn't say a word, contenting himself with observing her.
"They ate a fish and then they died.." finally said the girl.
"What kind of fish?"
"I don't know... A bad fish?" pondered the girl while gazing at him yet again with that expression full of curiosity.
"Hm..."

Of course, Harutsuki knew about the details. The child's parents were from a rich family owning a plantation on Kyushu. It just seemed they incurred the ire of an Hogoshan 'syndicate', who apparently found a way to appropriate their wealth, using legal and illegal means.
She was now an orphan, a child taken care of here, among her kind.

"Do you know what i am?" then asked the officer.
"You are..." She took a look at the uniform "A soldier?"
"That's right. I protect the Emperor and the shogunate from their enemies. I serve the Empire."

The man leaned forward to scrutinize the girl.
"Do you know what this means?"
She appeared to reflect on what she should answer.
"I..."
But nothing came. The officer leaned back, apparently disappointed.


He was about to leave when he felt something was pulling him from behind. The kid was gazing at him with her curious eyes.
"Mister... Take me with you please..."
"Hm.." mumbled the man, looking down at the little thing "I don't think i could make any use of you."
Thoughtfully, she raised her head to look back to him.
"You're looking for someone.."
"You don't have what i need." replied the officer after observing her again.
That said, he turned around and left the orphanage.

The Naval Secret Police always was a shadowy institution.
Its members weren't many; Yet they were all sharing a great deal of responsibilities.

They were the ones watching; The ones dealing with defectors or traitors. Their methods were questionable.
They were investigators, prosecutors, judges, jury and executioners; All in one.

Violence and torture were tools they did not hesitate to use for the Empire.

Tokkeitai had its own traditions, shrouded in secrecy. They were forming a loosely tied family, bound by their duty an external eye could see as merciless.

'Harutsuki' was part of this family since decades. He expected his son to take his place, when the time would come.
However, Masao, like a part of Kusari's youth, soon came to turn his back on the traditions brought from Sol. Taking an auto destructive path in his hunt for pleasure, he soon met his fate. A fate 'Harutsuki''s wife never got over with.


In his search for raw material he could shape according to his will, 'Harutsuki' met many embryonic personalities, but none as obstinate as the little thing that once again succeeded to follow him and to enter in his house.

This day, he caught her in his kitchen. She was about to take a fruit when he switched the lights on. She looked down in a guilty way as he was walking to her, until he lifted her by the back of her cheap clothes.

The kid struggled weakly as he was lifting her further so that their eyes could meet.
"Eh.. Hm.. Hello mister..." said the girl, giving up on moving and letting her limbs dangle.
"Hm." Muttered the man, obviously displeased "How did you get here this time."
"I hid in your big chest mister..." she replied, gazing down again.
"Eh... Can you free me now, mister... Please?"
"No." replied the officer while staring at the kid in a threatening way. But he eventually sighed and dropped the child.
She dusted her clothes before raising her head to look at him with curiosity.
"Master..." She said, with an accent of adoration that surprised him.

He turned around, leaving the kid where she was.
"I will bring you to the orphanage tomorrow. Find somewhere to sleep in this room."

"Do not hesitate."
Blood was dripping from the man's mouth onto the dirt floor. The girl was gazing at the small red pond surrounding his knees, dumbfounded.

"What are you waiting for. Finish it." ordered coldly the man behind her.
She slowly raised her head until she met the man's eyes, her gaze lingering along the way over the countless wounds scattering his body.

He replied the kid's frightened gaze with a long hard look. She quickly looked away while ducking her head.

It was difficult to talk with that mucus filling his mouth. He found it easier after having spat a couple of times with the little energy he had left.
"Do what the torturer says, little one. Just put it an end. He knows he won't get anything from me."
She tilted her head in an embarrassed way, obviously on the verge of tears.
"M....Mister Dragon...I..."

The man behind her pushed her rudely.
"Kill that fool. Now!"
"M...Master..." just said the kid after having gazed at the man with a poignant reproachful look.
He was looking down at her. She couldn't say if it was with disdain or disgust.
"If you cannot do what is right for Kusari, then you are useless."
"B...But Dragon-san..." she started with a tiny voice.
"That man is directly responsible of the sabotage of several anti-matter storage chambers on Nansei Research Complex. That man is the enemy. You are a weapon. You will destroy our Emperor's enemies."

The kid raised the handgun. Her aim was terribly shaky; her eyes, closed.
"That is right, kid. Do what your master says. Become a murderer just like him. Let him brain wash you until you obey to any crime he wants you to commit in his name."

She opened her eyes.
"Master is nice. I like Master..."
"Your master kills innocents, just to protect a thieve."
"N...No... Master is..."
"Enough! Do it!"

The next seconds appeared to last an eternity. The gun shook on the kid's hands until she finally lowered it along with her head.
She jumped when she heard the gunfire. The man in front of her collapsed, his body only retained by the chains covering it.

She shivered. An horrible silence followed, finally broken by footsteps fading away.
The sound of the door opening up and slowly closing followed.

The kid eventually collapsed on the ground near the corpse.


"Really... Don't you think you are overdoing it, sometimes?" asked with amusement the woman near him, as he was lighting up a cigarette.
"No." he finally replied, after having taken a quick puff.

They observed in silence the kid through the tinted glass. She was slowly bobbing her head, still sat on the ground of the examination room, right near the dead Blood Dragon.

"Remind me..? How long did the last one last?"
"Two months."
"Hmm..." muttered the woman while tapping a finger on her chin, seemingly lost in her thoughts.
"You do realize they are just children, right? What you are doing is technically a crime."
"We have full rights within the bounds of our duty. I train a new recruit."
"Even you couldn't have bore such an horrible treatment at that age."

"That is the point." eventually replied the man after a while.
"In order to make a superior weapon, one must take them young... Break them until nothing remains. Then something can be built on top of the white board they mind become."

The woman shrugged.
"That's exactly what i thought. You are a psychopath."
He smiled without humour.
"I thought that was specifically what you liked in me."

"Is that a joke?"
The kid was playing with a doll on the other side of the tinted glass.
"Yes. Because I'm known for my sense of humor."
"Right. But you have to admit..."

The woman imperceptibly shrugged her shoulders.
"It wasn't my decision."
They both silently observed the kid for a short while.
"And don't think you have the choice. He specifically ordered you to do it." finally said the woman.
"Why me again..."
"I assume Harutsuki believed you could handle it. Just tell me however if you think you are too sentimental to deal with it."

A short silence between them two followed.
"How is he anyway..?"
"It doesn't look good. Medics say he will probably not pass the night."
"That assignment was stupid."
"Hmm..." muttered the woman as an answer.

He turned back his attention to the kid in the room.
"What's with this kid. I thought Harutsuki lost any human feeling long ago."
"And that's precisely why he was able to start this experiment. An experiment you will continue."

The man grunted.
"I'm not exactly the best with kids. Maybe Enko..."
"But it isn't a kid, Hakutaku. It is a weapon. A blade that needs to be sharpened, for our Glorious Emperor."

Another silence followed, them listening to the kid talking to her doll.
"Why is she speaking this way?"
"Harutsuki worked on destructing the kid's mind. It left after-effects, so to speak.."
"Right."

She gave a quick gaze at the man and smiled ironically.
"Do not lower your guard, Hakutaku. That kid may look all cute and sweet, but always remember what she is and what is at stake."
"What will i tell her if she asks what happened to Harutsuki."
"She doesn't need to know. Hmm... You can just tell her he retired. Or invent some nice fairy tell if you care."
"Fine."
"Oh. One last thing. I forgot to mention she will be living with you now..."