Aircraft Design Company- Matsura's Planes Are Always Fastest!

The crunch you'd experienced in the first few weeks of the project was nothing compared to your experience at the end. As they say, the last 10% is 90% of the work, and it certainly felt like it. Once you realized the prototype was coming in overweight, the team worked like maniacs to solve the problem, to mixed results.

The first attempt to reduce mass was to switch to a lighter wood for large parts of the construction, using glued layers instead of solid pieces. The wings didn't even stay on during stress tests, the glue parting and boards snapping.

The second attempt was much more brute force. Some parts were moved around to create a clear path, then the wings were pinned in place with two three foot long steel rods, acting as an anchor for wires and to steady the wings. After that, complex interlocking set of wooden spars and slats you and Sakane had spent a week on were properly dumped from the design as unnecessary, and the framework was hastily redesigned around this brutal solution. It saved weight and was extremely sturdy, but it felt crude.

Streamlining efforts were mostly focused around the nose of the craft, refining it's shape until it was a sort of airfoil, which only made it look even more like a duck. It blended naturally into the horizontal stabilizers and elevators and looked brilliant in the wind tunnels. The shape, including a little V at the bottom (the "beak", as Kibe infuriatingly insisted on calling it) even added to the stability.

You wanted to do more, but you couldn't. You were down to the wire for this one; the factory needed the final plans if it was going to be finished in time for the trials. At 5 pm on the dot, you signed off on the final design and handed it to Bando, the factory manager, and he shuffled out to make your dream a reality.

The moment the door closed, you wheeled around and yelled "It's done!" and the entire room let out a ragged cheer. While it was still early in the day, most of the crew had got maybe 4 hours of sleep the previous night, and all of them were worn down.

"Time to get some sleep, finally." Hasagawa said, packing up his things, before Kawamura jumped to his feet.

"Fuck no. This is a victory. We faced hell and came through stronger. We are going to celebrate." He announced. The exhaustion that had plagued him for the last few days seemed to drop off his face.

"Yosai, I just want to see my kid." Adachi protested, but Kawamura was having none of it, and the usual suspects started joining in.

"Tomorrow! Tonight, we party!" Uyeno cheered. "Come on! You deserve some fun!"

"When was the last time we even went to Miss Yukaku's?" Tezuka added. "Those Akibara dudes have them all to themselves!"

"Let's get fucked up!" Kibe cried. Even Adachi couldn't refuse that. Only Sakane was the holdout (you'd never seen the man do anything but pack up and head home to his wife), but after a few minutes of badgering he gave in too.

As you all started to get moving, you noticed Koide moving around the desks, stuffing loose papers into files and sorting them onto the file cart. "Hey, Hatsu, that means you too." You added. She looked awestruck.

"I'm invited?" She said, wide-eyed.

"Of course."

As you passed the crafting office's open door, Kawamura yelled "HEY OLD MAN, WANNA PARTY?" A beautifully crafted paper airplane did a perfect loop out the door and crashed into his nose.

"Guess not." Kibe laughed.

As you were stepping out, the group ran almost directly into a telegram courier. "Sorry everyone." The woman bowed furiously to everyone in turn. "Priority telegram for Matsura Asuka."

You took the card and flipped it over. It read.


Oh, shit. That was today, wasn't it. Urgh. Shinzo was... well, he was very well connected, and not unattractive. Getting on his good side would be a straight line to getting the attention and support of the Navy's higher-ups. On the other hand, this show was almost certainly a pretense to sleep with you, which, sure, okay, and what if he wanted more after that? That could get complicated real quick.