My Enigmatic Life

     I’m finally done with tutoring Hisakawa-san for the day, so now it’s time for me to head to headquarters. This is the day we finally become an official Enigma Squadron. Getting into the lift  I quickly punch in the PIN into the hidden control panel, sending the lift all the way down to the lowest level it can muster. As soon as the doors open, I’m greeted by friends and my seniors.

 

“Talk about perfect timing, Govvy.”, Naoya waves. “Commissioner Watanabe is just about to hand out our cards.”

 

“How’d the lesson go, Daisuke-nii?”, Akane asks.

 

“It’s best you don’t ask.”

 

Yonaguni clicks his tongue. Seems like he has a problem, as per usual.

 

“Why the hell did you go get a day job, Inko? Do you think that you guys aren’t going to get paid?”

 

Well, I’m not expecting much pay if I’m being honest. We are just rookies after all.

 

“How much will we be getting paid anyway?”, Gege asks.

 

Shirogane-senpai ponders for a moment before answering.

 

“Hmmm, since you all are only ranked Green, I’d say about nine million, five hundred thousand yen a month for Adjunctants and ten million yen a month for Combatants.”

 

I blinked. My mates blinked as well. Akai recovers before anyone else does, smiling crookedly.

 

“Excuse me, Shirogane-senpai.”, he says politely. “I don’t believe we heard you correctly, could you please repeat that?”

 

“I said ten million yen a month-”

 

“LLLLLLLLLET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

 

Naoya screams out in jubilation, making Shirogane-senpai jump. I honestly can’t blame him for that outburst, I can barely contain my own excitement!

 

“Akane, how much is that in pounds?!”, I query.

 

“Fifty-five thousand, four hundred and seventy pounds, Daisuke-nii!”

 

“Are you a human calculator, Akane-san?”, Miyamura-senpai asks with amazement.

 

“Fifty-five thousand a month…”, Yoko says slowly. “That’s about how much the family fishery shop makes in two.”

"That's more than my usual allowance.", Sunni states rather plainly.

Talk about Rich Girl Syndrome.

 

“Imagine how much stuff we could buy with that money, Gege-nii-chan!”, Haruhi says excitedly.

 

“Yeah, it’ll be ours to spend freely as well.”, Gege smirks.

 

Miyamura-senpai smiles heartily at our unconcealed excitement.

 

“I’m glad that you all are so looking forward to your first pay-day, but you must remember why we get paid so much.”

 

“Our field of work is a dangerous one. A lot of things can go awry.”

 

Ninomiya-senpai speaks to us for the first time. And when someone as taciturn as he is speaks, people tend to listen keenly.

 

“People far more experienced than you have lost their lives working as an Enigma Squadron.”, Shirogane says soberly. “This is something that you must always keep in mind.”

 

Yonaguni scoffs derisively.

 

“Oi, there’s no need to tell them that, Tsubaki. They’re not gonna be on the job for long. I’ll give Mop-Head and Tiny a week at most before they call it quits, with Inko lasting two weeks.”

 

Yonaguni’s off-hand, border-line mocking remark quickly gains the ire of Naoya.

 

“What did you say?!”, he bristles.

 

“For your own sake, you’d better quit early.”, Yonaguni carries on, staring sharply at Naoya. “Because you brats are weak as shit. Especially you and Tiny, if Arianne-chan and Yoko-chan weren’t with you, I’d write you off as good as dead.”

 

Naoya grits his teeth tightly to the point where you can almost hear them grinding. Akai simply stares at his feet, unable to bring himself to look at Yonaguni.

 

“Oi, Nariki, that’s enough-”, Shirogane-senpai starts.

 

But Yonaguni ignores her, turning his attention to Gege.

 

“And to make things worse, one of your Adjunctants is a lazy, unmotivated bum who can’t go fifteen fucking minutes without yawning! The fact that you’re the old man’s son is unbelievable! The only thing you’ll achieve is getting everyone killed because you’re too interested in taking a nap instead of relaying important information!”

Gege stares back at Yonaguni for a moment, but quickly hangs his head in defeat. Finally, Yonaguni rounds on me.

 

“And you, Colen Daisuke, expect me to believe that you can lead this group to victory, or at least safety, for every mission? I know that I’m not really that smart, but don’t try to bullshit me, okay?”

 

For the first time ever, he calls me by my name. And what a time to do it, after he has berated my friends and I, trampled over our enthusiasm and gained the discontent of the girls in our squadron.

 

“If you’re quite finished, Master.”, Yoko says darkly. “I would like to say that I hope-”

 

“Yeah, I do.”

 

I cut off Yoko with my late reply. She immediately dials back, but still casts Yonaguni a glare that clearly doesn’t mean him well.

 

“I know we have our flaws and weaknesses, but I know we can grow past them. We understand that what we’re doing puts our lives at risk, but we’re doing this to protect each other, so there’s no way we’re treating this like it’s some video game, you idiot.”

 

Yonaguni furrows his brow. From the side-lines his squadron looks on with blank, indiscernible expressions.

 

“We’ll prove it to you beyond a shadow of a doubt.”, I say, my voice growing in intensity. “I heard from Commissioner Watanabe that it took your lot about four years to obtain the rank of Platinum, correct?”

 

Yonaguni doesn’t answer, he just stares at me intently. Well, it didn’t matter a lick if he replied, laughed or even turned his back to me. No matter what the bastard does, I will make my declaration.

 

“Remember these words, Yonaguni Nariki, we will completely surpass you all in four years. On this, I will wager my life.”