Chapter 34: Chapter 34

I jolt awake. The dorm room is shrouded in darkness, and I can hear someone moving around nearby.

I quietly reach under my pillow for my gun, pulling it out with caution. I strain my ears as the person moves around the beds near me.

The other girls don’t seem to be awake. But then again, I wouldn’t know. The person lets out a frustrated sigh.

“Alex!” he whispers.

~Kazuya?~

“Kazuya?” I whisper back.

I hear him moving toward my bed. “Where are you?” he asks.

I frown and slide out of my bed. “Meet me at the entrance,” I say, making my way there. Kazuya follows my instruction and heads back toward the light.

I reach the entrance first and watch as his tall figure emerges. He grins at me, grabs my hand, and pulls me out of the room and into the tunnel.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” I tell him. “It upsets the girls.”

He chuckles and winks at me. “I’m sure they’ll manage,” he says and starts to lead me away.

“Wait!” I pull away. He turns back to me, raising an eyebrow. “I’m not dressed,” I say, gesturing to the long shirt I sleep in. It barely covers my thighs.

His eyes roam over my body. “Doesn’t matter, you’re going to change anyway,” he insists. He grabs my hand again and continues to pull me down the dimly lit tunnel.

As we enter the main hall, I notice a few shops starting to open. The factories must already be running.

He leads me to the training room. It’s filled with smoke and bustling with Kagegun soldiers. They’re all dressed in Perfect soldier uniforms.

I take them in, my eyes wide. Kazuya pulls me toward the Kagegun men.

“Kazuya, there you are,” Sanoske says in Japanese, before turning to me. His eyes scan my body before he turns back to Kazuya with a frown. “Why is she here?” he asks, still in Japanese.

The other men gather around. Haruhiko sidles up next to me, grinning.

“She’s coming with us,” Kazuya replies, switching to English.

Sanoske purses his lips. “No, it’s too risky,” he replies. He turns away and gives Saito an order.

Kazuya wraps his arm around my shoulders and insists, “It’s not, really. I’ll keep her with me, protect her. You don’t need to worry about her.”

Sanoske scowls at him. “She could be a hindrance,” he says in Japanese.

“Don’t you think she misses the sky too?” Kazuya counters in Japanese.

Sanoske is silent. He glances at me, his lips pursed.

“Are you going on a raid?” I ask in Japanese.

The men look at me, and Haruhiko chuckles.

“More like a check-up,” Kazuya replies in English, grinning at me. “We won’t even be out for a full day. Just getting some fresh air, and you’re coming with us.”

He squeezes my shoulder. We both turn to Sanoske expectantly.

He glares at us. “If she gets in the way, or gets hurt—”

“She won’t,” Kazuya interrupts him. His expression turns serious. “I will protect her.”

Sanoske stares at him, his lips pursed. Then he glances at me, frowning. Finally, he barks an order to his men. Kazuya rolls his eyes and grins at me.

“Let’s get you changed,” he says, guiding me toward the army’s changing room.

He finds a Perfect uniform for me and politely leaves the room while I change. It feels strange to be wearing gray again, the same color I wore my entire life. The color everyone in Resistance avoids.

The uniform is too big for me. Of course—it was made for a man. But I adjust the straps, roll up the sleeves, and tighten the belt. I stuff the boots and pull my hair back, tucking it under a gray cap.

I step out, grinning.

The men fall silent as I appear. Sanoske stares at me. His eyes are hard, unsmiling, scanning my body slowly. I feel my cheeks heat up.

“Man, you look just like them,” Haruhiko chuckles. The other men nod in agreement, their expressions grim as if they’ve just remembered who I am.

I lower my head, trying to hide the blush in my cheeks. Kazuya stands beside me and places his hand on my shoulder. He gives me a reassuring smile.

“Let’s move out,” Sanoske orders, picking up his sword and securing it around his waist. Kazuya hands me a Perfect rifle. I grip the familiar gray plastic.

“Do you know how to use it?” he asks me as we catch up to Sanoske at the front of the troop.

“I know it like the back of my hand,” I reply simply, slinging the gun over my shoulder. I notice Sanoske stiffen.

We march out into the main hall and down the same tunnel we had emerged from when we first arrived. We are joined by a scout, Samuel, and Roy, all dressed in gray.

Roy comes to march near me, giving me a friendly smile. Since my meeting with Miss Violet, she has been in intense negotiations with his parents about our marriage.

They are hesitant for him to marry a Perfect. I’m still seen as an enemy by many in Resistance, and they don’t know me well enough to risk the future of Resistance on me.

However, Miss Violet’s influence is significant, and she thinks we’re a good match. This is all kept secret, of course, to protect our privacy, as all engagements are in Resistance.

I know that Roy has also been advocating for us to his parents, and I wonder how long they will resist. He seems confident.

We fall silent as we move toward the surface, climbing through the fallen train and over the broken rails. We push open a trap door and emerge into what must have once been a grand cavernous chamber.

The glass is broken, the beams are twisted, and the ceiling has collapsed. The sky is wide open above us. And it’s snowing. The snow mingles with the ashes on the ground, blanketing the earth.

A cold wind whips past us, making me shiver. The sky is low and white, and the city around us is cloaked in snow. It sparkles in the faint morning sunlight. I take a deep breath of the crisp air and can’t help but smile.

I hadn’t realized how much I missed the outdoors. I spent six months outside with the workers, then journeying across Albion. I had grown used to the fresh air, the warm sunlight, the feel of rain.

But this is the first time I’ve ever experienced snowfall. I tilt my head back to watch the snowflakes descend. Against the white sky, the snow seems darker, almost like ashes.

I stick out my tongue, and a snowflake lands on it, melting instantly. I giggle softly, savoring my first taste of snow.

I’d seen snow from my windows and watched it blanket the earth in thick layers, but I’d never touched it before.

I bend down and scoop up a handful of the stuff. It surprises me. For something that looks so soft and beautiful, it’s incredibly cold and melts quickly in my hand, vanishing. I notice Roy watching me.

“It’s my first time outside in the snow,” I explain, smiling slightly.

He nods once and returns my smile. “It’s a magical time,” he says.

“The only time Albion isn’t covered in ash,” Sanoske snorts, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword. He smirks at me, then jerks his head at his men and we start to move.

Our mission—or rather, their mission—is to inspect all of Resistance’s chimneys, the ones from the factories and baths, to ensure they haven’t been blocked by debris or filled with snow or ash.

We also have to make sure they’re hidden from the Perfects’ view and emit only a little smoke, not enough to draw an army. We also need to check the mirrors.

As we walk, Roy explains how the mirrors work. He tells me they’re all angled perfectly to reflect the sunlight, bouncing it from one mirror to the other down tunnels and into Resistance.

So, the mirrors reflect the outside weather. When it’s a dark, rainy day, there’s less light in Resistance too. The mirrors are adjusted at night and with the seasons to catch more or less light.

But that also means they’re facing the sky, and therefore they’re very visible from above. The Resistants cover the mirror holes with a thin layer of gray cloth. There’s less light, but the mirrors aren’t blatantly visible.

“Every day, a scout goes around to make sure the holes stay hidden. They’re our biggest threat, but they’re essential,” he tells me as Jun and Sanoske squat over a mirror hole and secure the gray cloth.

I look around at the leveled city, then back at Roy. “It’s so nice to be outside,” I murmur. “How often do Resistants usually come out?”

Roy presses his lips together and gives me a small smile.

“Most of them? Never,” he answers. “They have no reason to be here. It’s dangerous outside. It would be chaos if everyone was wandering around out here, and we’d be discovered immediately.”

“So only the scouts and the army get to come out?” I ask, and he nods once.

“And my father and I. To supervise. Well, he supervises. I’m still learning.” He grins at me, his smile bright.

“Alex, come see this,” Kazuya calls me over. Roy follows me as I walk over to him. Kazuya is holding up a piece of leather with a shiny silver coin hanging from it.

“Oh, that’s—”

“It’s just like the one you have, isn’t it?” He chuckles. “It’s a dog’s collar.”

“A dog?”

“An animal. I don’t think Resistance has any.”

Behind me, Roy shakes his head, studying the collar.

“Mine has a name on it and a number,” I say.

“It was the dog’s name and the phone number to call if it got lost,” Sanoske says, tilting his head to one side. “Kind of like a Perfect.”

I glare at him. “What’s your problem today?” I snap at him. He frowns at me. “You’ve been trying to pick a fight with me all morning!”

“You can’t forget who you are, Alex,” he tells me, his tone icy.

I glare back at him. “You don’t know who I am,” I retort.

Kazuya places his hand on my shoulder.

“Alex is part of Resistance,” Roy tells Sanoske, puffing out his chest a bit. Sanoske glances down at him, then cocks his head toward me. I meet his gaze.

“Who I am is not what I am,” I say, holding his gaze. “I am a Perfect. I was born a Perfect, but it isn’t who I am, it’s what I am. Don’t mix them up,” I growl.

Sanoske glares back at me. He holds my gaze for a few long seconds. Then, abruptly, he turns around. Resting his hand on the hilt of his sword, he signals for his men to keep moving.

Roy places his hand on the small of my back and gently nudges me forward. I notice Kazuya watching us with a frown.

We walk from one end of the city to the other, zigzagging through debris and crumbling buildings. It takes a couple of hours to check all the chimneys and mirrors. I realize how vast Resistance is, hidden underground, out of sight.

The destruction of the city still haunts me a bit. I try to imagine the people who lived here, the people before the war, but I can’t. I know nothing about them, and there isn’t enough left here for me to guess.

Roy walks silently by my side. Kazuya and Sanoske lead the men, speaking in hushed tones as usual.

I look up at the sky. The snow is falling harder now, collecting on my cap and the creases of my uniform. But I don’t mind.

I don’t mind the cold either. It nips at my nose and stiffens my joints, but it makes me feel alive. I breathe in the fresh air and take in the sight of the sky.

Sanoske guides us to another hidden entrance to the Resistance. There’s a staircase that leads to a door, which opens into what was once a bunker.

The bunker was destroyed over a hundred years ago, but the Resistants have kept chipping away at the wall, creating a long, damp tunnel.

Before I descend the stairs, I pause to look up at the sky one more time. The clouds have parted slightly. I can see a hint of blue in the distance.

I sense someone beside me. I glance up and see Sanoske, looking in the same direction I was.

He turns to me, his eyes wide and devoid of the hostility they once held. The towering wall above us casts a shadow over his face, accentuating his sharp cheekbones and dark, deep-set eyes.

“You used to love looking at the sky,” he says softly. “In the attic.”

I’m not sure if it’s a question or a statement.

“Yes,” I respond quietly. “I used to watch time pass. It made me feel free to dream.”

Sanoske looks at me. “What did you dream about?” he asks.

I look past him at the sky, feeling my cheeks heat up under his intense gaze.

“Freedom,” I answer. “Running. I wanted to run in the sky, where nothing could touch me, nothing could hold me back. Where there was no roof over my head or walls to confine me.”

Sanoske is silent. Then, he breaks into a smile. “And I brought you to an underground city,” he says, laughing.

I can’t help but smile at the irony. He grins at me, and I scowl back at him.

“I’m still mad,” I tell him.

His grin widens, and I want to hate him for it. Kazuya calls for me, and I take one last look at the sky before heading down the stairs. Sanoske follows me, bringing up the rear of our group.

The men are silent as we navigate the damp tunnels, moving deeper and deeper underground.

“This is my favorite part,” Roy says, slowing down so Sanoske and I can catch up with him. Sanoske gives him a slow, measured look.

“What part?” I ask, curious.

“Going home.” Roy smiles at me. “Do you feel it too? That you’re coming home?”

I look at him, then past him at the men shuffling through the tunnel. I can just make out the overturned train in the distance.

Through that train, then down another tunnel, and we’ll be in the Resistance. But is it my home?

I can’t answer Roy’s question, and he falls silent. I think he realizes he’s touched a nerve.