Binding: Rain - Chronicles 改 (Defunct)

Chapter One Part Two | Who am I, you ask.

　Chapter 1 Part 2 | Who am I, you ask.

　"Who are you really, Sir?"

　Strangely, Zhaojun was the first to inquire. Perhaps her question wasn't the clearest, but it was still one she'd been wanting an answer too ever since meeting him.

　"A young human male."

　Her face suggested that wasn't a suitable answer - Or at least, not the answer she was expecting.

　"Unsatisfied...?" He cocked his head to the side. A second passes, and he nods. "Then... Who am I? It's hard to answer. First and foremost, I'm an operator. Forgetting my childhood; being in a Gleipnir is all that mattered. But from those eyes... you want a different answer..."

　Shigure sighs. This whole 'changing' thing was harder than he could ever imagine. Or maybe people are just hard to please. There is one last thing he can answer with.

　"An experiment, I suppose."

　"An experiment, Captain? W-What do you mean? You've never told me this..."

　"Upon enlisting, I was a prime candidate for something I can't exactly speak of. Myself and a handful of other people were placed into Akasha squadron." He pauses briefly. "It was never a special operations unit - It was used to test... things... like myself on the battlefield. I've never been told exactly what was done, but I suppose it was thanks to the military I can even pilot a Gleipnir at all."

　Ryuuji listens intently, making sense of what is revealed. Sliding his glasses further on the bridge of his nose. "So you're a military secret. Predictable."

　"Maybe so... But people aren't born with tolerances or specs like myself. If you wish to compare me to some weapon or tool that is..."

　"I guess to fully answer your question Zhaojun, I am a experimental Gleipnir operator. The second half of a Gleipnir frame."

　None of them knows the validity of Shigure's words. Nor do they know why he suddenly decided to expose what he did about himself. However, there isn't any real reason for him to lie - nothing to gain from it. Understandably, Yato is stunned. How could her Captain keep such things from her? Ryuuji sees him almost as a scientific object to be examined. And for Zhaojun... well, she seems entirely unfazed. Like the knowledge was abundantly clear.

　It doesn't escape Shigure's notice. Though he doesn't pry, instead taking note of Zhaojun's indifference to something that typically would demand a reaction.

　"That answers who I am, in some sense. Anything els-"

　"Why'd you hide it from me!"

　He'd been hoping Yato wouldn't react like this but he knew she would. He doesn't exactly have a response. He's hidden a lot from everyone, Yato being no exception. Sometimes due to military orders, but vastly due to him not wanting situations like these. "You didn't need to know."

　That hurts her more than she's willing to admit to herself. She's always seen Shigure as a friend; sometimes wishing for more. To have him blatantly say 'You didn't need to know', it's upsetting. She want's to yell at him and scold him, though the times Shigure had warned her about acting childish in front of others come back to mind. Instead, her face twitches, unsure what emotion to assume.