Beware the Left Eye

While representatives of the American Empire visit Japan to hammer out a fresh security treaty, Section 9 helps guard the venue. During downtime, members of the various protection teams gather for poker, and Saito wins hand after hand. Curious about the streak, the Tachikomas trade theories, and when the stakes climb Saito agrees to explain where his unreadable expression came from.

He recalls the year 2020, when the American Empire pushed into Central America to shut down the drug trade. Frustrated by Japan staying on the sidelines, Saito signed on as a mercenary and joined fighters trying to keep Mexico's provisional government in place. Learning that a Special Forces unit of UN peacekeepers was hauling a tactical nuclear weapon through the ruins of Monterrey, he opened fire and killed three before his position was traced. Kusanagi then led the survivors into the hospital he had holed up in, where he cut down two more.

On the rooftop the Major wrecked his jamming rig with three rounds, then held perfectly still with her rifle fixed on him. Saito guessed she lacked mid-range fire-control software and was pulling it down by satellite, but she had carried it all along and had spent those shots purely as a feint. His bullet only grazed her cheek while hers took his eye, and, impressed by his aim, she spared him and pulled him into Section 9. The framing hints the entire account may be a bluff lifted from an old film, yet after Saito folds an all-in hand the Tachikomas discover he would have won, leaving them unsure. Ishikawa observes that lasting through combat rests not on courage or weapons but on caution.