Full Metal Panic! - Volume 8 - Chapter Pr

Prologue 
 
 
If you’re careless, and your mind becomes clouded, it is possible the world around you – the world you know – will cease to exist. 
From then on everything is vague and unclear. 
Places and time. 
Oneself, as well as other people. 
I don’t want to die without knowing anything! 
A girl wearing dragonfly glasses protests loudly, as tears fall from her eyes. 
C4 explosives are wrapped firmly around her torso. A 16-circuit bomb. If the wrong wire is cut, the bomb will explode instantaneously with deadly force. An innocent girl would be blown away in an instant. Leaving her body as nothing more than flesh and blood scattered on the ground. 
It all spirals into darkness. 
Inside the cramped cockpit, endless information keeps flooding the multipurpose screen. 
<In the process of charging up. Starting up all components. Fuselage control unit. Fuselage diagnostic unit. Passive perception unit. Strategy data unit. Firearm control unit. Main-balancer. Start up complete. The CCU link> 
The generator’s coolant unit is emitting a low groan that steadily grows louder. 
He adjusts his grip on the slightly trembling throttle, trigger position confirmed. Checklist abbreviated. The enemy immediately advances toward him. 
It all spirals into darkness. 
This girl, who always had strong eyes, pauses her hand in the middle of cutting his hair. Quietly she looks him in the eye, and hesitates. 
Hey, why don’t we kiss? 
There is no reason for him to refuse. He is forming the response when she presses the razor against his throat. 
You want to see me dead, don’t you? It’s impossible. 
Eyes full of disdain, her hand moves. The sharp blade sinks into the skin, then the windpipe, and slices through his jugular. He can’t even cry out her name. The only sound that escapes him is a strange wet gurgling. 
It all spirals into darkness. 
The passenger plane crash-lands into a world of water. 

It’s cold. Cold. Cold. 
His beloved mother is no longer warm. While embraced in darkness, not once does he move. Two muttered words are the only things echoing in his ears. 
Live. Fight. 
Help never comes. The water divides. The crashed airplane, holding him within, sinks deeper into the cold sea. He feels nothing anymore. Or, maybe, that is the ideal ending. 
It all spirals into darkness. 
The sky is clear and the weather is fine. Somewhere in a courtyard, surrounded by many windows and many people, a girl he doesn’t know appears, standing alone, stalk still, before him. 
Her head is bowed. She’s crying. 
Idiot. 
“Leave”, she whispers. Everyone looks at him and sneers, throwing jeers and ridiculing him. 
And then – 
Radiance. 
A burning light stung his eyes as he slowly returned to his senses. As if he were injured, his fuzzy mind called upon the soldier within him, and he began to question himself. 
Where am I? 
Under the bed. Sunlight shone through the window and was thrown across his closed eyelids. A cheap motel bed. A cheap motel – A motel in a town called Namsak. A town located in a tiny corner of Southeast Asia. 
Who am I? 
I’m Sagara Sousuke. Kashim. Sousky Seagal. Sergeant. Urzu 7. He had been called various names. 
Now? 
It was morning already. Probably around 7 o’clock. It seemed, last night he wandered around so much that fatigue had finally won out. He most likely got, maybe, six hours of sleep. 
How did I get here? 
Counterfeit passports were prepared. Several airmail connection flights were taken, and the land route was used as well. 
This region has some leads, but nothing that really matters. 
Then, why am I here? 
It was decided. 
The enemy would be hunted down.