Today is memorial day. Half of J-MEF staff is gathering near the only park in this compound with a bouquet of flowers in their hands. One by one, they are placing each of them neatly near a stone that was erected years ago. Written on it, using a contrasting silver color, is a large and very clear message.

HERE BE A STONE.

MEMORIZE OUR NAMES.

FEEL OUR PAIN.

TWO HUNDRED THOUSANDS DEAD.

MANY MORE TO COME.

DARK SUNDAY TRAGEDY.

Dark Sunday Tragedy, everyone knows that three word sentence of a name. A catastrophe of human kind, a reminder that even people can be pushed to its absolute limit, revealing their ugliest side in the rawest way possible. I still remember the tour they gave us when we were young, to a museum that displays blood stained clothes of those who died. Recently, through some briefing that my wife gave me, I have learned that most of the artifacts were retrieved in secret by The Agency. We became the first organization to publicly release every piece of media that we can gather about that event. It is definitely a very powerful move from us. A symbol solidarity, towards the innocent civilians of Milium.

The government of that country of course, denies every accusation about their cruel behavior. We couldn't do anything but stay put and barricade ourselves from them. A war between two nations that can annihilate each other within seconds is never a good thing. If either one of us deploys a Weapon of Mass Destruction, there will be nothing but doom. No winners, because nothing will be gained, but a long stretch of charred lands.

Back to the memorial, right now I'm watching the proceeding silently while sipping a bottle of home made tea. Although my bench is located far from the stone, I still have a clear line of sights to it. I don't want to get near it, not with how many people surrounds the stone like a flock of hungry birds to a piece of bread.

Some of the attendant has an expression of sadness, with tears running down their cheeks. Most men on the other hand didn't say anything, walk up to the stone, place a bunch of flowers, and leaves. If I were to be them, I would probably do the same thing.

Parmadita

Which one of them is sexiest I wonder?

Lukman

Oh my god, you scared me! How long have you been there?!

Parmadita

I just got here. Are you enjoying the view, as much as those lecherous men does, eleven o'clock from us?

Them women sure put on some sexy black dresses, don't you think?

Slightly to my left, is a bunch of old people with binoculars. I noticed them long before I sat here.

Lukman

Please don't think I'm at the same level as them. I'm far better than that.

Her head is shaking left to right in disagreement, jokingly stupefied at my statement. She sit right beside me and put her hand forwards, towards my bottle of tea. I pour a single cup of warm drink for her to enjoy.

Parmadita

So, you're better than those geezers then. Okay, proof it.

Lukman

Well first of all, I can enjoy the whole scenery in all of its majesty without using binoculars. Just me, my eyes, and music in my ears.

I give her a look to my wireless earphone that I'm wearing. It small, white, and practical. The agency gave me this one because of its ability, which I won't reveal to her just yet.

Parmadita

Ain't it a nice thing to have a perfect sight. Also fortunate enough to have a pair of working ears.

Lukman

I couldn't agree more.

She must be a bit tired from walking. It's about fifteen minute of fast paced walk from our apartment into this place. No one in their right mind would want to leave their neatly tucked bed in this fine morning, if not with a purpose. I for example, did exactly that, because I have to work in about half an hour. But her purpose remains a mystery to me.

Lukman

I suppose you're not leaving our apartment just to make sure my eyes isn't cheating on you.

Parmadita

I think that's a perfectly good reason to stalk your own husband. But you do have a point, I still have faith in your loyalty as my partner.

Lukman

Then you must have something urgent that you want to tell me.

Parmadita

Yes I do, and this place will suffice. No one is around us to listen, except those perverts over there.

Lukman

Just whisper it to me, I think they're preoccupied by a lady in black stockings, least more than our conversation.

She sits closer to me, her arms linked into mine. I can feel her breath on my shoulders, and that's intentional. This way, her voice are a lot more audible to me without raising any suspicion. With a soft and small voice, she began to whisper.

Parmadita

It's about that guy from Milium.

Lukman

Which one?

Parmadita

The one that we're talking about last night. You remember him.

Lukman

The one senior officer with a murdered wife? Is there any update on his interrogation?

Parmadita

That's right, that one. Only half an hour ago, Aya called me through the pendant and gave me a summary. Long story short, Milium is currently running a project that might change the status quo, in a bad way.

Lukman

How bad?

Parmadita

Ominous kind of bad. His words are cryptic. Something about "ascension" and "the chosen one". Aya also said the higher ups got a hunch about this. It might have something to do with the high amount of mana being produced here recently.

Lukman

Yeah, about that. I have been calculating on the side about why our mana production suddenly spikes up, and it's quite concerning.

Parmadita

Why?

Lukman

Because I still don't know why it behaves that way. It's as if our understanding of mana is being unfairly challenged. I feel there's a fundamental theory that we've assumed to be true, but all that will turn out to be wrong. If not wrong, then at least it would be inaccurate.

Parmadita

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Lukman

The point is... Wait...

Don't talk.

Parmadita's face is shaved away from all expression. She's serious now, because my tone is flat, low, and direct. My earphone is ringing with a familiar patterns of beeps. It is alerting me to something.

Parmadita

Status?

She said that clearly, like we are in the middle of a gunfight. Her arms are tightly linked to mine, it hurts a bit but nothing that I can't manage.

Lukman

We need to go to a place, not far from here.

Parmadita

Go, I will follow.

This is the place. A dank old corridors, walls around us, tight space, and not a passerby coming in and out. There's a chalk marking near the corner of each walls. It's intentional, subtle. This marking was made by spies from Milium or those who're taught by them. They don't know that we already know this ancient techniques, so they're still using it to this day.

I found this area about a month ago. Curiosity got ahead of me and I "planted a bug" in the middle of this corridor. A low powered microphone which can detect anything other than a white noise.

The earphone I was using isn't there for tunes, but instead to hear any kinds of disturbances that's around this place. My ear caught a conversation between a couple of man, talking about the keywords that Parmadita just told me. "Ascension" is a big one to look out for.

Their voices sounds deep, distorted, artificial. I've heard some mana based technology that does this, was made for children as prank toys, but nowadays aren't produced anymore, largely because it was prank toys. Someone probably got their hand on one and decided to use it in this facility.

Parmadita

Anything?

Lukman

Not anymore. I'm going to grab that mic and scram. You should stay here, stay sharp.

Parmadita

Wait!

Lukman

What?

Parmadita

What happens if someone sees you?

Lukman

It's dark in there, I'll find a way to blend in.

There's a good distance between me and that mic. I starts to walk slowly towards it. My back is touching the wall, face forward, minimizing my silhouette against the natural light coming from the entrance. My steps are small, but just a bit of a misstep could lead to an echoing ping of "Hey, I'm here look at me, I'm an idiot that stepped on a weeks old soda can".

My eyes have partially adjusted to the light, I can see further down the corridor, noticing something is off. That faraway door, that leads to another area of the facility, is not closed entirely. Now in any other building in Ha, I might not care about an unclosed door, but this is J-MEF. Every single door in this building can close itself automatically, in one way or another. Some use a system of springs, while other uses either mana or electrical devices.

Something is holding onto that door. If luck is with me, then I will not find out what's keeping that door open. Honestly, there's not a lot of room to hide here so I'll just trust on their eyes not adjusting to the difference of lighting as my only hope of survival.

As I reach out to my bug, it turns out luck is never with me in the first place. An elongated shadow approaches my location. Feet by feet someone is getting closer, I don't see a reason why. In the heat of the moment, just in the corner of my eye, there's a little ballpoint. The gleam of a metal surface struck my retina, giving me a split second blindness.

My eyes are now fully adjusted to the darkness, I can see a clear figure of a person stretches a hand out, grabbing that pen. From the bottom, I can see two slender legs with white stockings. As eye rotate just my eyes alone, along the curvature of this person, I can confidently say that she's a woman. Her figure is unmistakably familiar, like a person that I know from months ago. I'm afraid to be right, but she is none other than my superior.

In my own mind, I screamed; "Miss One, what the hell are you doing here?"