Chapter 1: Prologue

PROLOGUE

A salarywoman who should mind her own business

Japan, 2013 AD

She was your everyday office employee who was in the spring of her youth. Or rather, in a season of passion for her job as a designer and uncaring of everything frivolous in life, like marriage. Just the other day she had cut off the phone call from her parents when the topic came up. She didn't even want to hear it, not for the millionth time anyway. The salarywoman was well aware that young woman like her were the reason that Japan's birth rate had dropped to rock bottom. Many businesses in the country focused on children and they were suffering because of it.

Especially schools; she heard that her old school had closed last month due to the steadily decreasing amount of applicants.

Of course, she refused to take part of the blame. Let people who wanted to copulate take the job of repopulating their country. It wasn't like she was fit to take the job of a mother and a wife; she preferred the company of fellow workers, her beloved laptop and a cup of tea.

She didn't have a problem with her looks, being born with an average face. There wasn't anything special about her; her warm brown eyes weren't going to impress anyone. Even if her mother called her a beauty, parents in general tended to look at their kids with rose tinted glasses.

She did have some issues, some would even perhaps misunderstood it a mental disorder. It came with being born as a SEN child, and growing up different would give any child some complexes. She couldn't sit still in class without causing trouble for the teacher or another child that was trying to study. It was difficult to pay attention to what was being taught in class when all she had was a bundle of energy inside trying it's best to come out. She had learned to restrain herself after some of her friends stopped talking to her.

Japan was a country that loved their people to be equal and uniform, even more so in school where their children were to be molded into what they deemed normal.

The only thing that saved her from expulsion from her school was the money her middle-class family had thrown at a therapist. She had been diagnosed with ADHD so there was no problem with her intelligence and cognition. After an arduous educational journey that had been a bit bumpier than most, she graduated from a good university with a degree in Interior Design.

Even with her academic issues solved, as an adult she hadn't taken any advice from her therapist to put any effort into her social life. Talking to others was just out of her comfort zone. For one, picking up on social cues was beyond her capabilities more often than not. When her friends laughed at some jokes all she could do was smirk awkwardly. Or how she tended to shy away from reunions and other social gatherings, simply standing in midst of a crowd made her uncomfortable. Worse still was the idea of people bringing up her past; as it would make them realize that she was still the same spacey girl with an overactive imagination.

She wanted to bury those memories; to forget all about them. All she wanted in her future was a successful career, and one day an opportunity to open her own interior design company.

"Please! Wait, you can't do this to me!"

"Yes, I can… Kuzuyama-san. Just clean up your desk and leave our office before I call security to escort you out!"

She was snapped out her musing, inwardly scolding herself for leaving reality. 'Damn! I didn't pay attention to senpai in the middle of site-recce, hopefully I didn't miss much.'

"We're done with the surveying location, have you taken notes on the amount of daylight, noise, and circulation in the office?"

"Yes," Her co-worker, a fellow junior designer answered and she followed his example.

"But there seems to be some problem with getting original CAD file for this office layout."

"It's an old skyscraper so they only have the hard-copy," their senior noted.

Luckily her senior didn't seem to notice her spacing out for the last few minutes. "Do we have to redraw it then?"

"How troublesome." Her fellow junior added, before glancing at the depressed ex-employee and HR manager's standoff on the corner. "What's going on over there?"

Her senior wasn't a strict person, in fact, she was very lax and didn't mind gossiping when working as long it didn't disturb their time table. "Ah, he is at it again… that guy over there is the HR manager here. I met him before, he's a very strict guy who can't take slackers at all."

"You have no one to blame but yourself for being an incompetent worker and repeatedly taking leave without permission! The company has been lenient enough to you!"

"Please! My daughter is still in school and my family-"

She frowned at the man, his family was pitiful indeed to have a husband and father like him. If you had a wife and daughter so dependent on you, why didn't you put in more effort for their sake? Heck, why did you start a family at all when you can't even work properly?

"What a poor man, that HR manager is merciless," her friend said.

Her senior shushed them. "It's none of our business, and someone in charge of HR has to be strict…"

"But-"

She interrupted, "The company will go under if we keep incompetent workers. It's better for employees like him to suffer, rather than everyone else who works hards." Back when she when she had been a student, her school keep their incompetent teachers who were biased against her status as a SEN child. Even though the law stated that schools had to reprimand them for their discriminatory attitudes, they had not. If not for her good marks, she would never have graduated.

"Uwaa… that's harsh of you! Be more sympathetic!"

"Sympathy shouldn't be wasted," she said bitterly.

Their senior sighed, "Never mind, let's go home now and remember to come early tomorrow. We will have a briefing on this project in the morning."

"Yes, ma'am."

┬┴┬┴┤幼女と少年戦記├┬┴┬┴

She would come right on time, of course! Her senior promised to give her a large chunk of this project to design! She would bring this dreary office that looked like chicken coop to 21th century! An open, economical office concept with plenty of daylight and bright color! It wasn't a massive project and the budget wasn't much either, but she was sure she could convince them to move from that humiliating, disenfranchising and isolating design of workers' cubicles. Then again, anything could be better than their sad Cubicle Land!

"Uhm, are you going in or not, young lady?" Asked the old office worker behind her.

She hastily tapped her card on the scanner and rushed in, almost running to the half-opened fare gates. How could she block the way during rush hour like this?! Thankfully no one paid attention to her weirdness as they were too busy trying to get into their own train. She waited for a while so the first train to her home passed by, aiming for the next so she could leisurely take the last cart. It tend to be less crowded, and if she was lucky it would be a Women-Only car.

No offense to the women out there outraged by the special attention that brought their kin back a century into the age of the stay-at-home wife, but she will take advantage of the special privilege the government had graciously given~

"Hm…"

She glanced to the side and saw the vicious HR manager from before standing beside her. He was reading a book with yellow cover but as he had not flipped it for a while, his attention wasn't on it. He was smiling to himself smugly and she knew he had let his mind wander. She nodded to herself, and decided to leave him to his imagination.

On the corner of her eyes, she surveyed his appearance. He seemed to be in his mid or late thirties, hair combed neatly to the back, sharp of face. The look was similar to that of an evil lawyer from a movie she had watched when she was young. Though this stern, no nonsense expression fit his profession as HR manager to a T, appropriate for someone whose work was laying people off.

She idly put her hand inside the side pocket of her suit and fished out her phone, frowning when she saw her phone was already dead. The battery had run out really quickly lately, even though it was new. "Not again… why was this phone even issued if it was broken?" She wondered out loud to herself.

"Ah, that model is sold cheaply on the market due to problem with the battery." Spoke out the voice on her right.

She was surprised the cold looking man was speaking to her. "Really?"

"You should return it."

"It's a company's phone…" She explained with morose expression. "My manager sometimes sends me updates on things I might have to do first thing in the morning. Those slackers in tech-dept!" They didn't siphon the Company's Tech budget, did they?

The manager adjusted his glasses and said, "You should file a complaint. A company is like a machine, if one of the cogs is flawed then the whole company would be affected."

She wished. As a junior all she could do is tell her manager that the phone she had been issued with had broken, and it was totally not her fault, and hopefully they would give her a better one. Unlike this guy who had courage as HR people to tell off people, she'd rather avoid conflict with anyone. Call her cowardly, but life experience had taught her that keeping your head down meant less enemies and a more peaceful life.

Especially because…

'Hm?' She caught somebody moving on the corner of her eyes. 'Wasn't that the employee he just fired this afternoon?'

"The train's coming, please step back below the line Miss." The HR Manager warned her.

She had been standing over the line without realizing it, and quickly moved back. "Right-" She felt chastised a little, looking at him gratefully. He had gone out of his way to warn her, so she had to be thankful as a basic courtesy. "Thank-" Then she saw that man again, right behind the salaryman with his hands stretched out.

"Hey!" She shouted but it was too late.

The salaryman was pushed off of the platform, shocking everyone around them at the blatant murder in the middle of a crowded train station.

She didn't know what prompted her, but her hand had reached out for his, dangling helplessly in the air. It was the most foolish and impulsive thing she had ever done in her whole life, trying to catch a well-built man, while she herself was a petite woman who had never lifted anything heavier than shopping bags.

In those brief seconds before their death, the woman had no time to ponder about the foolishness of regretting her last act of kindness in life.

Then everything became white.

Especially because... some people could be driven crazy by their hatred,

and even the law couldn't protect you from their ire.

She had seen this before in other people too,

that's why... she kept her head down.

┬┴┬┴┤幼女と少年戦記├┬┴┬┴

Unified Year, 1913

The cry of a baby was the first thing she heard, and it was coming from next to her. What had just happened to her? Her mind felt clouded, and it had never felt that way since she was eight years old. She opened her eyes, but all she could see was a blurry outline of color. Her limbs weren't responding properly, as if all of her muscles had fallen asleep. With some effort one of her groping arms touched something she couldn't identify, something wet and soft.

Her sense of touch told her that her other hand felt some sort of fabric beneath her, a bit coarse and itchy to her sensitive skin.

The scent that invader her nostrils was salty and milky, the scent of a baby.

Her mouth tried to speak, but her tongue was uncooperative like the rest of her body and could only awkwardly made cooing sounds. "Daaa….uuuu…"

She was confused, but her brain refused to think up a solution to this situation.

A blurry outline that might have been a person came over and peered down at her. "Alberich… what a mischevous child, shoving your fist into little Tanya's mouth. You'll get it all dirty!" Chastised the voice of a kind woman who lifted her up and wiped the saliva coated fist.

Alberich? Who was Alberich?

"Little Tanya is hungry so I will feed her first, wait for your turn patiently our little fairy king." The blurry face cooed, snuggling to her face. "Sister Anna, hold little Al for me." Then she felt her body passed over to another.

"Yes, Sister Petronella."

It was when the baby was passed and the weak neck turned that she could look a tad clearer at the full length mirror that was propped against the nearby wall. A nun dressed in dull grey was holding a baby, chubby cheek, pale skinned, with a vivid red tuff of hair with eyes like young green leaves.

"Sister Anna!" Scolded the older nun, "Careful with the boy's neck, it's still tender!"

"Yes, I am sorry ma'am!"

These people spoke in Deutsch? She learned it in high school as an elective, and while she was rusty at it she could make out some words. She called her, junge which meant boy in Deutsch and not madchen. She-no-HE was… a boy?!

Little Al is… me?!

If Alberich was not as shocked, perhaps he would have noticed that the baby girl on Sister Petronella's arm was also in the same predicament. Perhaps an even worse one because her train of thought was interrupted by spoonful of tasteless mashed vegetable. Or that he too would be subjected to the same torture soon.

Beta-ed by BrazeRancor, thanks a bunch!
Edited chapter would be released according to my beta's speed.