Monica slid a slim folder across the desk toward Arata. Her face was calm, unreadable, though her eyes seemed to watch every twitch of his.
"You said you had no family" she began, "but the blood scans we performed during initiation suggest otherwise. There is… one more."
Arata frowned, his hand hovering over the folder.
"That's impossible. My mother died when I was born. My father" he spat the word, "never remarried. He would never have raised another child."
"Not remarried," Monica said softly. "But another child exists. A girl."
Arata let out a bitter laugh. "A mistake, then. A half-sister. Some bastard scrawled into your records by accident."
"No accident." Monica tapped the folder once. "It matches your bloodline precisely. A fragment of her existence survived in the archives. She lives."
Something in Arata's chest clenched. Against his will, his mind drifted back—back to the dirt floors of the hovel in the outer district, back to when he was five years old. There had been a baby girl there, hadn't there? Two years old, wide-eyed, with messy hair. He used to whisper to her at night, call her by a name he thought he'd invented to comfort himself.
"…Tiro," Arata whispered. The word tasted like dust on his tongue, foreign and familiar at once.
Monica's brows arched slightly. "So you remember."
Arata shook his head, eyes hard. "No. Not until now. I imagined her. I had to. I was alone in that house with a drunk and a corpse for a mother. I made up someone to talk to—someone who would listen. Tiro was just a shadow in my head."
Monica turned the folder toward him. A single line was written there, faint but unmistakable: Subject: Tiro — status unconfirmed. Location: obscured.
"She is real" Monica said. "And she is not lost. Somewhere beyond the Empire's reach, she breathes still. We do not know where. Perhaps the Rinnett borderlands. Perhaps further. But she is alive."
Arata stared at the page as though it might vanish if he blinked too hard. His pulse hammered in his ears.
"So all this time…" His voice dropped. "All this time I thought I was imagining her."
Monica's tone softened. "Not imagination, Squadron Leader. Memory. A thread the world meant for you to hold onto."
He clenched his fist, the old anger rising to shield the rawness inside him. "And what am I supposed to do with this? Hunt her down? Add another ghost to the pile of bodies this Empire stacks at my feet?"
"That" Monica said, closing the folder, "is not my place to say. But one day, the path you walk will lead you to her. Whether you are ready for that day… will depend on how you endure what is to come."
Arata said nothing. The name echoed in his head like a bell tolling across an empty battlefield.
Tiro.
Not a dream. Not a ghost. Real.
"Well, the girl maybe special, who knows. Anyways, the formalities are done, when you reach your house you will receive a package with essentials, so go ahead and enjoy for the next two months, it's about sundown now, so an army carriage will escort you to your new address. This is the address." Monica said handling him a card.
The card read '27, Downing Street, King's Avenue, Rammaset Empire'.
"I... Isn't this one of the most sought-after areas in the posh society? To live here is to be successful, is it not?" Arata asked, a little taken aback by what he saw.
"Congratulations on making it in the world, Sergeant, or should I say Squadron Leader." Monica said, almost smiling.
Arata politely took his leave after Monica asked someone to fetch the carriage for him.
As he was waiting for the carriage outside, he saw the sun slowly setting beyond the horizon. As he stood there, eyes scanning the bustle of the army headquarters, he noticed her—the girl entering with a purposeful stride, her academy uniform crisp and sharp, the words Air Cadet emblazoned boldly across her back. Her athletic figure, honed from rigorous training, was emphasised by the fitted uniform, each movement graceful yet strong. Against the backdrop of her fair skin, her obsidian-black hair seemed to catch the last rays of the setting sun, shimmering like liquid night, glowing with a brilliance that made even diamonds pale in comparison. Her face, perfectly sculpted, was a portrait of strength and beauty—sharp jawline, high cheekbones, and eyes that reflected the quiet confidence of someone who'd lived through the discipline and rigour of military life. There was something magnetic about her, an aura of command, and no man in the room could tear his gaze away.
"Good evening, Sergeant" The girl saluted at him.
"Good evening, Cadet" Arata said with a smile.
After greeting the officer, the girl left the premises to go inside the headquarters.
'She may be my senior at the academy when I join as a cadet.'
When Arata was lost in thoughts, a person approached him and jolted him from a string of thoughts, too weird to explain.
"Sir, your carriage is waiting down the grand stairs, if you will please follow me" A very polite man came to call him.
"Yeah, let's go" As Arata looked at him to say this, he saw who the man was, he had brownish hair with a smile across his face and finally blue eyes, which shone even in the darkest night.
"Darwin, why are you here, dressed as a driver," Arata said with a surprise in his eyes.
"C'mon man calm down, don't shout in the atrium, the voice echoes." The other guy made a contorted face like someone grabbed his balls. "C'mon we will talk in the carriage"
"I am sorry Darwin, but I am very tired after the meeting with magister, I would like some time alone, if it's alright with you." Arata was quite tired after the mind violation Monica had done, the experiences in the memory, it was as if he had experienced them once again.
"Just till we reach your new house then, I even have a housewarming present for you." Darwin said with a stoic expression on his face.
For a moment Arata saw the vertical pupils he had seen in Kohler's eyes. 'Am I too tired, or did I really just see that.'
"Let's go Asshole, it's dark now I need to drop you off then I have an appointment with the battlefield tomorrow," Darwin said with the kind smile back on his face.
"Fine, just until we reach my house, though" Arata said.
"Thank you, Sergeant, please come with me, we shall go together" saying this Darwin started walking with pace in his step. "So, Asshole, I saw you looking at Kohler's daughter with quite an interesting expression." The soldier said with a grin on his face.
"No, no, it was just that I thought that we could have a relation in the future." Arata said with a flustered expression on his face.
"Asshole, my friend you know that I think you are quite handsome, but I think she is a little out of your league," Darwin said with a sincere expression on his face, like he was concerned for Arata.
"Wha... what, not like that."Arata had trouble containing his embarrassment. "I meant as colleagues, also stop calling me that! My name Is Arata."
"Well then, Arata nice to finally know your name." Darwin said as he walked down the stairs.