You closed the hook-and-eye on your collar, clasped your medal around your neck, made sure the row of ribbons and medals on your chest was in order, then adjusted your cap. It was March, and winter uniforms would not officially be changed over to spring until April, so you were in stark dark black, though it carried some dark blue undertones. Not that the Navy would admit such a thing, of course. Point was--you looked good.
Aiko was putting the finishing touches on her hair. Despite the fact that it was a more traditional ceremony and so forth, she had decided against wearing a kimono or anything like that, instead opting for a more modern, Western look. You weren't sure how that made you feel, but she looked gorgeous so who really cared, right? You knew she wasn't thrilled about the whole thing and leaned into her shoulder (tall) to offer a bit of comfort.
"You don't
have to go if you don't want to," you said. You had been saying it all week in the lead up.
"Haruna, honestly. I'm fine. I want to meet your friends and the food will be good. You can stop saying that."
"I just don't want you to feel obligated to go if the ceremony isn't comfortable for you!"
"Urgh.
Stop thinking about it. It's
fine." Aiko insisted. Right. You'd really been overthinking
everything of late, working yourself non-stop despite not actually having very pressing duties. The moment things let up even a little, you started expanding your duties and agitating politically. A good work ethic was one thing, but you needed to pace yourself or you'd burn out again.
"You're right. Absolutely no thinking."
The wedding itself was taking place in what had, at one point, been a fairly prosperous shrine on the outskirts of Tokei, located on a hill that offered a grand view of the city below and the bay itself, especially on cool, crisp early spring days like this one. The shrine though, was no longer really in the outskirts. Across the road, businesses and buildings had sprung up as Tokei expanded to meet the new needs of the modern age, warehouses to house rice, timber, and whatever else it was that was needed.
The bride's father had spared no expense for the reception, not only renting one of the buildings across the street to serve as a large hall with space for dancing and dining, but also refurbishing it (or at least temporarily furnishing it) to turn it into a comfortable, welcoming space. The party even spilled out into the street beyond, with decorations and lanterns and banners proclaiming the happy day to anyone passing by.
Your car was left parked at the curb and the two of you filtered inside to join the other guests. Naturally, you stopped to provide the normal gift of money to help the two start a new life together, though you suspected that they didn't need it. Aiko had helped you pick an appropriate amount when you expressed anxiety about not wanting to be seen as trying to show up the bride and groom's families.
With the ceremony still to come, you slipped inside to mingle with other guests--there wasn't much in the way of food or drink yet, that would come after the ceremony itself. That was happening up at the shrine, with only close family members in attendance, as was appropriate. They'd make an entrance afterwards, then the party could get underway.
At one end of the room was a raised dais of sorts meant for the bride and groom. They could sit there while guests made speeches, music was played, or toasts were made for their health. There were no tables, with everyone sitting on tatami and being served their various expensive courses on their own lacquered tray. You know, once the food started. Very traditional, which made sense for the families involved when you thought about it.
You milled about for a moment, trying to find a familiar face in the crowd. You caught sight of a few other Navy uniforms, but didn't recognize anyone else instantly. Too bad, you'd hoped that Akio would be here. Maybe he was just fashionably late? Or you were early. He probably didn't even know what fashionably late was.
You did run into one familiar face, just for a moment. Akibara Shinzo waved you over, beaming, and you made a show of looking overjoyed at his presence. The two of you had been on two more 'dates' since your return, which consisted of the two of you ducking whatever spies your respective families had trailing you and then going off to waste time. Honestly, he was a good friend, especially since he'd come around to your rejection and was now just running out the clock until he inherited the company and could marry his actual girlfriend.
"Darling." you said regally, clearly joking. Aiko immediately broke into giggles.
"You look lovely, wonderful to see you. And this must be the girl I've heard so much about." Shinzo said, equally sarcastic, "You know, my father is having second thoughts about you. Apparently you're a bit wild."
"Oh, such a shame. They can't stop our love, you know."
"Not in a million years." he joked, "Look, I gotta duck, best man duties, but baseball is starting up again soon, and I have all these tickets I don't know what to do with. Suffer through a game with me, and I'll make sure you and your girl here get the rest?"
"Deal!" you agreed. Not because you couldn't get tickets, but because honestly, it sounded like fun.
Shinzo disappeared back into the crowd, and you found yourself on the hunt for friends again. You were resigning yourself to finding someplace to sit and look awkward when someone gently tapped you on the shoulder. You turned and saw Lieutenant Kanabe Akio standing there with a big grin on his face and a pretty (and noticeably pregnant) girl on his arm.
You had a brief moment of elation, then confusion, then elation again as you worked things out in your head. Akio was a trans man (was that common knowledge?), so it wasn't
his, but he had talked about the odd relationship he had where he, his boyfriend, and his girlfriend were all mutually involved. Which was weird? But if it worked, it worked. Even better if they were all happy.
But that meant… that the kid was his boyfriend's? Probably? Maybe? You were pretty sure trans men couldn't
do that. but you weren't a doctor. Who knows what testosterone injections could do? This, ah, modern age was something, wasn't it? Still, it wasn't like anyone who didn't already know would be able to tell--he was just another man like any other, as far as you were concerned.
"Lieutenant Kanabe!" You said, beaming.
"Lieutenant Arisukawa," he replied. To think there had been a time when the guy had apparently hated you!
"So nice to see you," you said, then bowed slightly to his companion. "Lieutenant Arisukawa Haruna. This is my girlfriend, Miss Kishimoto Aiko." The woman bowed in return, though she was a bit hampered by her state.
"Akio, meet Aiko," you added with a huge grin. Ha. Akio, Aiko. You were the funniest person on the planet.
"So nice to meet you," said Aiko. "And, ah. Congratulations?" She said, gesturing vaguely at Emi. You detected the slightest bit of discomfort from her.
"Oh!" Akio's face flushed a little pink. "Th-thank you. It's very exciting." The woman squeezed Akio's arm.
"It is! Just… after the war ended, you know. It just seemed like the right time," she said.
"Of course. Sorry, I think we missed your name," you said.
"I'm Hirata Emi. Akio has told me a lot about you."
"And yet I knew nothing about Miss Kishimoto. Not a word, even while we were stuck in that pillbox under the ocean," Akio quipped, "Is this your secret admirer with the wax-sealed letters?"
Sure, it was romantic, but it was mostly to keep that creep of a supply officer out of your mail.
"The same. It was a bit of a secret at the time," you admitted sheepishly.
"I'm glad it's not anymore," Emi chimed in. "You two make a lovely couple."
"You're far too kind," Aiko said. "But yeah! I'm a student over at Horonai University. What do you do?"
"Usually I'm a seamstress, but with Akio home right now and with the baby coming I'm probably going to be taking time off for the kid. I want them to grow up with their parents nearby, you know?"
"Oh, so you're… a housewife?"
"Well, I'm not exactly
married." Emi said at a sort of half-whisper. Akio's cheeks got a little pinker underneath his neatly trimmed beard (that was new since the last time you'd seen him).
"Maybe don't spread that around too much," Akio added. "It's just… kind of non-traditional in our house, if you'll remember."
The mill of conversation soon parted the pair of you as Akio and Emi moved on to greet others, leaving you and Aiko alone again for a moment. Aiko looked after them, her brow furrowed a little.
"Something wrong?" you asked. You knew there was, but she needed space to figure out if she wanted to talk about it.
"...It's just strange how willing she is to just. Stop her career to have his kid."
"I understand the feeling, but… if it makes her happy to be a mother, why not let her do things her way?"
"But is it really what she wants? Or is that just what she's been told she wants? She's just… you know. Been convinced that all she wants to do is pop out babies for a man. Like, them not being married is fine--it's good, honestly--but…" She trailed off in a mumble, her voice staying as quiet as possible. "I'm being crazy again…"
"We can't read her mind, Aiko, so we just have to accept what she tells us. And some people do want to have kids. That's how the two of us got here," you joked, trying to lighten the mood. "It's okay. Let's go mingle some more. Get your mind off it." You looked around the room, trying to zero in on someone even a little familiar.
You almost passed by one face, thanks to how haggard the man looked compared to the last time you'd seen him but… was that Lieutenant Arita? The drunk you'd hauled back from garrison duty? He was wearing civilian clothes and didn't have a beard so it was hard to be sure, but you'd seen pictures of him around for some reason.
"...I think I see someone I know," you said and tugged Aiko towards the man and his companion, an androgynous looking person with a distant, spacey kind of gaze who seemed to be more interested in whatever they were drawing than the wedding party. You pulled up to the pair and smiled.
"Lieutenant Arita? It's been a while," you said in your best social voice. He looked back at you, uncomprehending for a moment before recognition dawned on his face.
"Oh Ensi--" He glanced at your uniform, took in your rank, the medals, all of it, and corrected himself. "Lieutenant Arisukawa. It
has... been a while." He sounded about as embarrassed as he ought to, given the last time you met you'd been hauling him out of a bottle in some house full of rentboys.
"And it's Major Arita now. Retired. So I guess… Mister Arita." he said slowly, stumbling a bit over his words, and you glanced downward awkwardly to notice that his hand against the table was trembling something terribly. It reminded you more than a little of some of the patients from the war neurosis ward. You tried to make conversation.
"This is Miss Kishimoto Aiko, my girlfriend," you offered. "And major? Sounds like you were busy."
"You could say that," he said, his voice flat. "Er...Asuka. Come meet the lieutenant."
"Huh?" the spacy looking person looked up from their sketchpad, pushing their glasses back up their nose. "Sorry, hello. Matsura Asuka, I'm-"
"Is that a half-wave dipole antenna? For direction finding?" Aiko blurted out, and you winced at the rudeness. Matsura nodded, turning the paper around with a small smile.
"Yes, just something I'm playing around with. They're all much too big now but I was thinking about how to best mount them on an aircraft. Navigating over water has proved very difficult…"
"Oh, that's brilliant, but wouldn't it work better if it were arranged vertically?" she said.
"Well, yes, but drag is a factor. How did you recognize this?"
"I'm a student at…"
You suddenly realized you were sharing an exasperated look with Mr. Arita, who clearly experienced this fairly often as well, and you felt a certain immediate immediate kinship.
"Yours do this often?" he joked.
"Absolutely, yes." You sighed. "Half the time she's pointing out something in some popular science magazine and it's all I can do to nod along."
"Thank the Spirits, I'm not alone."
"What did they say their name was? I missed it during the excitement over the antennae."
"Matsura Asuka. They design planes for Ohara Airworks. Several of them were in the war."
"... I think I've heard of them, maybe?" you frowned. "An Akibara subsidiary? But I don't really follow airplane development. Airplane nearly killed me once. Ugh."
"Now that's something I know all about," Yachi said with a grim laugh. "The war?"
"No. Before it. I dove into the water to save some idiot who crashed his floating kite. Got double pneumonia and almost drowned."
"Ah. You couldn't pay me to fly over water… even before. My condolences."
You waved it off.
"It is years behind me. So what have you been doing since you were in the colonies? I swear I keep seeing your name around."
"I did a spot of flying during the war." Arita said dryly, and it took a moment to realize the degree he was downplaying things. It had been rather difficult for you to imagine him as anything except perhaps a pretty face for the propaganda, given your last interaction with him.
"Wait, you're that 'ace pilot', right?" you finally realized. "Pursuit plane pilot?"
"That's me. Ace pilot, thirty victories. It's something the Gallians came up with for the newspapers. And… you're the Navy Princess. Got in the papers with her sleeves ripped off, did a lot of heroic stuff. I read a lot of newspapers while I was waiting to fly. Weren't you at the front for a while?"
"...I had a brief stint, yes. I don't recommend it. The submarine was better than that mud." you explained.
"The
mud. I had to put down just behind the front a few times, and once my plane sunk in past the landing gear. They had to get me a new one. I… I saw a few pilots flip even though they made a perfect landing in that stuff."
"I had to drag a battery of anti-aircraft guns through it. And then fight a bunch of Caspians. That's what they give me this for..." You tapped the Order of the Meritorious Spear that hung around your neck and he laughed. Like before, it was a grim sound. Something that sounded amused but not happy about it.
"They'll let anyone be a noble these days," he said and tapped at one of the little badges on his jacket--little ribbons for wear with civilian clothing. One of them was the Order, and you balked at that, them simply giving it to a pilot, before thinking a moment. Thirty victories. If there was a samurai that won thirty duels with enemy warriors in a single year, people would still be writing poetry about him.
"I can't help but think you earned it," you said, "Better you than some of the sad excuses I've met in the Navy." You leaned in, as if sharing a secret. "Don't tell anyone that I said something nice about the Army, it'll be the end of my career."
He snorted, half-laughing. Then his partner broke in, seemingly shocked out of their intense conversation about radio waves (like radio was an ocean or something?).
"You're a
noble, Yachi?" Matsura sounded confused.
"You didn't know?" You asked, incredulous. "The Order of the Meritorious Spear above… 4th class, I think? Automatically confers nobility on the recipient." Not that you had needed that, of course...
A server wandered by with a tray of small glasses of alcohol. Sake. It wasn't the really nice stuff that would be broken out when the bride and groom finally arrived, just lubricant. You considered it for a moment, then decided it was better to wait for the good stuff and be polite then.
"No thank you," you said almost at the same time that Arita did. You couldn't help it, you smiled.
"You too?" He asked.
"...Yes." That was all you had to say. You felt that he understood where you were coming from because he just nodded.
"It's hard," he said after a moment. "Being back."
"...Yes," you agreed. "It's hard to explain what it feels like when a Caspian destroyer is bearing down on you and there are shells whistling around your ears."
"Something like the sensation of a tracer whipping in front of your plane, I imagine. Or maybe more like waiting for the flak."
"The hardest part is that it's so exciting. How do you explain that you feel the most alive in those moments?"
You paused there, watching Arita's face, worried a moment that you'd said something wrong, that he didn't share that particularly feeling.
"It's awful. I've been trying to write about it. About how… overwhelming and awful it is. How exhausted you feel when it's over and you don't want to do it again but you know you will and that you'll be just as excited."
"Spirits." You said. "...I was worried I'd said something wrong. Maybe I was unique."
"No, I think that's something many veterans go through. It's not something you can explain to them," he said, tilting his head towards where Matsura and Aiko were back into their conversation about radios. "It's outside of their experience."
"Exactly." You said. "...I think that's why I keep going back. The sea, standing on your steel battlements--I
have to go back."
"... that's why I can't go back." he said quietly, "It takes something from you, and I guess I ran out of whatever it was."
You didn't have an answer to that, except to hope that it wouldn't happen to you. So you just nodded sympathetically. There was a moment of silence, not awkward, just understanding, broken when Matsura learned back into the conversation.
"Wait, will that make me a noble when we get married?" they asked. You blinked, not sure what to make of that question. Non-binary people didn't
get married except to each other. There was a brief, absurd moment where you wondered if you had Arita gendered incorrectly, but no, obviously not.
That made you… uncomfortable. Should it? Was it any stranger than Akio's atypical family? But… That was different. It felt different, anyway. Wasn't it… invalidating? Letting Arita past the mystery? Wouldn't the illusion shattering make it… awkward? Boring? Like, non-binary people were supposed to be alluring and all but you'd never really been interested unless they swung too hard into the feminine… Even then, you'd not so much as kissed one.
Frankly, you didn't
get it, and this wasn't helping. Arita had been super into boys last time you'd seen him. What had happened? None of this made sense. Matsura wasn't even that masculine! You should just move on to something else, less contro-
"You're getting married?" You asked, curiosity overriding your good sense. Arita looked disgruntled at the question. Matsura just seemed unphased as ever. Aiko shot you a disapproving look over Matsura's shoulder. Oops.
"Eventually, or so we've planned. It's a bit complicated." Matsura explained.
"Of course. I can imagine it must be." you replied, trying and failing to be diplomatic. That was rare for you. "I know that the formal religious ceremonies are kind of a new
thing but I don't exactly know if you can just invent one out of nothing. I mean, they're all based on something people actually
did and this… It's a bid odd? Don't you think?"
"
Haru." Aiko hissed as she rejoined you and elbowed you in the ribs. Ow. Arita continued looking disgruntled.
"It'll be something of an invention, sure, but that
is my job. Much like maintaining our
enlightened guardianship of Joseon is yours," they said, their voice not wavering. Like they were talking about the weather. For a brief instant, you could see the girl in the blue dress. Smell blood and see the dark stains on the delicate fabric. You heard Min-Seo throwing your pathetic attempt to help back in your face. You felt the color drain from your face. If you hadn't been raised on the subtle jabs of the court or been more of an idiot you might have missed that one. Hurriedly, you bowed.
"My apologies. I overstepped. Please, forgive my hasty words." you said in a rush, indicating with a tap on the arm to Aiko that it was time to leave. Time to do
literally anything else.
You found yourself drifting almost instinctively toward the drinks table, and the moment you realized you reversed direction and headed toward the front of the hall. As you did, there was a commotion and people's conversation went quiet as the happy couple finally arrived, impeccably dressed in traditional clothing. There was a murmur of admiration through the crowd and then a general cheer as the pair of them settled on the raised little stage set aside for them to be admired on. Kenshin looked dashing and handsome, even out of uniform. Like he'd stepped out of some historical epic. Koide Hatsu (well, Kusakabe Hatsu now), the bride, was positively glowing as well. Extremely pretty, even behind her glasses. Kenshin was a lucky guy. Kenshin cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Thank you all so very much for joining us today. Hatsu and I--we are very happy to see so many of you here to celebrate the joining of our families together. I'm not very good at making speeches, of course, but… thank you all! " A pair of servers appeared, carrying with them a cask of sake--the good stuff--and a pair of mallets. The cask was laid in front of the two and each of them took a mallet in hand.
"Join us in drinking to good health and happiness!" And with that the two of them swung in unison, cracking open the lid of the cask. Within moments, drinks were being served out liberally. You felt sweat breaking out on your brow.
Spirits, you wanted a drink. Thankfully, someone was offering you a small cup of sake and you knocked it back at the first toast without thinking about it before you felt Aiko's hand cover yours.
"Just the one to be polite is fine, I think," she said quietly. Urgently.
"But there are going to be more toasts later," you said.
"I think Commander Kusakabe will understand. Besides, you still need to go say hello to him, don't you?"
Yes. Yes you did.
"You're right--I should go congratulate him. Come on--" You tugged Aiko along by the arm and headed over towards the dias, putting on your best smile as you went.
"Ken! Finally. Let me give you my congratulations for the day," you said, beaming. You were genuinely happy for him, really. Plus you hadn't seen him since you'd been reassigned almost a year ago. "And to you, of course, Missus Kusakabe. Congratulations!"
"Haruna!" Kenshin leaned forward and slapped you on the shoulder, his face splitting into a broad grin. "Thank you so much for coming. And for your kind words. Who's your guest?"
"Oh, of course. This is my girlfriend, Kishimoto Aiko." Aiko bowed a little.
"So nice to meet you, Commander. I've heard a lot about you."
"Only good things, I hope," Hatsu broke in, smiling.
"Of course! There's no one in the Navy I trust more than Kenshin," you said with a great deal of bravado. "Look, I trusted him to tell me what to do while we were slinking around under the water in that miserable little tube, I'd follow him anywhere."
"Hey now, that miserable little tube is my career, remember?" Kenshin said with a laugh. "What are you up to these days?"
"They have me running a depot in Tokei, managing a bunch of the poor WNA girls. They don't know what to do with them, so of course I get handed them. You?"
"Still staff work," Kenshin said, pulling a face. "I'd rather be at sea, but I'm hoping I'll get something once the post-war shuffling is done. Of course, Admiral Hatano wants to hang onto me, says I'm the best man for the job I'm doing. And trying to talk them into
not ordering more submarine cruisers. It's a mess, you know…" He waved his hand, groaned.
"Surely you're not in that big a hurry to leave behind your new bride?" You said, teasing. "No little sailors in the immediate future?"
"...We're not planning on having children anytime soon, since Hatsu has a career to think about just like I do." Kenshin admitted. "But we are looking forward to living together."
Hatsu nodded in agreement.
"My father said no living together until we got married, which was a
pain. So old fashioned! But Kenshin has this really lovely little house in the hills picked out. We can see the whole harbor from up there."
"Won't that be a bit of a commute to Naval HQ?"
"It will be, but it's closer to where she works. Ohara Airworks."
"Oh yes. I just met Matsura Asuka. Seemed like a nice person."
"Matsura is a genius!" Hatsu said. "Really, they've come up with so many designs I don't think any of us could have even imagined in our dreams."
"Mmhm. And their boyfriend? I think? Arita Yachi?"
"He's a lovely guy," Hatsu said. "And they're quite the couple."
"Yeah, nice enough for an Army type," you replied, grinning."...Especially considering the first time I met him was my first naval posting, small world I guess?"
"Oh! You know Arita?" Now Kenshin was interested. Oh no. Were you going to have to spill all the embarrassing details? The answer was
clearly yes.
"So, I was on some miserable little destroyer tender and we were down in Nokor, right? And we got orders to get this Army boy back home ASAP, so I spend
half the night searching all the back alleys in the damn city to find him, right? And finally I luck into the right, uh. House of entertainment... and then I had to play mother duck to get him back to the ship because he was drunk out of his mind. Really pleasant guy once he sobered up, though."
"Oh no!" Hatsu gasped, hiding her smile behind a hand. "That must have been… awkward"
"It was, a little," you admitted. "But catching up with him was nice enough."
"Sounds like the Army," Kenshin said before Hatsu gave him a gentle nudge. "Anyway, we'll have to catch up again soon. The two of you should come over for dinner sometime."
"That would be lovely," you said, taking your queue to scoot along and let others offer their congratulations to the happy couple.
There, you felt like less of a cad now and things began to go smoother. You drank a few more toasts as the sake got more expensive and as fathers and friend stood up to give speeches and congratulations and proposed yet
more toasts you were feeling pretty good. Even though you did your best to pace yourself and reign in the drinks, you still felt rather warm and happy as the evening drew onwards, and a little proud you'd stopped at your limit. It was a good party. You didn't stick your foot in your mouth again! Great! Someone was playing music and you found yourself just kinda staring at Aiko. Wow, you were lucky.
As the late afternoon turned into proper evening and the sun disappeared, electric lights twinkled on to give the space a warm glow. It was good. Except for… something. Something was off and it took you a moment to notice that a group of men in business attire that you didn't recognize from earlier in the day had joined the party at some point. All of them had to be dead drunk at this point. And if your mother were here she'd sniff at how underdressed they were for the occasion.
Apparently, you weren't the only one who thought this was weird. A small (very small) woman in a formal kimono was starting to get louder, her voice cutting through the chatter and music of the party.
"Itoh! What the hell!" She was loud. Sheesh. This was a party! You started to clamber to your feet and Aiko grabbed at your sleeve.
"Haruna…"
"I just want to see what's going on." You tugged yourself free before she could object and made your way across the room towards the entryway, ducking past a hurrying server with a platter of food. The small woman was getting
louder now and it was going to ruin the good time…
"
Spirits!
Okura too? You have some nerve showing your face here
tonight you bastard--!" You squinted, looking from the group of businessmen to the small woman who was bubbling over with barely constrained rage.
"You need to leave right now, or I'm--"
"We're not leaving 'till Okura gets a chance to say hello to Koide--"
"That's Mrs. Kusakabe to you, motherfucker! Get out! You're not ruining her special night--" Okay, okay. This was starting to get out of hand. You caught a glimpse of Arita drifting closer out of the corner of your eye and stepped forward, trying to interpose yourself between the arguing parties.
"Okay, okay, that's enough," you said. Remarkably clearly, too. You were only a
little tipsy after all. "It's a party, let's relax."
"I am
not relaxing," the small woman said. "Not while these Akibara bastard party-crashers are here. They're not invited--" Akibara? You blinked, a few things starting to click together in your head.
Hatsu had worked at Akibara. That was the place things had been
bad for her. Really bad. You felt your own anger start to bubble up inside of you. Was this the bastard? Right here? In front of you?
You pushed past the small woman, and you heard Aiko behind you having a sharp, quick conversation with her, though you didn't hear the words. You had a job to do now.
"Hoi, I think you'd better leave," you said. You wished you'd worn your sword. "If you're who I think you are, you're not welcome here--especially not tonight."
"What's that supposed to mean?" One of the businessmen said. "Okura jus' wants to say hi to his old co-worker. They were sweet on each other, you know?"
"Yeah," said another one. Rat-faced little turd that he was. "I just want to say
congratulations. Even if she picked the wrong guy." Oh.
Oh was this the one, then? You wanted punch him right in his stupid little face.
But no. This is a nice party. No more getting in fights. You need to keep things relatively calm. Otherwise it might upset Kenshin, or more importantly, Hatsu.
"I suppose Kenshin simply had qualities she liked. Like not having to force a girl to pay attention to him. We're here to have a good time and celebrate. You lot," you continued, pointing at the assembled gaggle of drunk salarymen for emphasis, "--are disrupting that good time."
"You can't talk to us like that, we work for
Akibara--" No, you wouldn't let them talk over you. You pushed past their simmering outrage to put on your best quarterdeck voice. The one you used to dress down misbehaving sailors.
"It's good to know who you work for," you snapped in reply. "Because it would be terrible if word of this got back to Admiral Akibara. You know who the best man is?
Commander Akibara Shinzo. And if he finds out you're here to crash his friend's wedding, I'm sure all it would take is a word from him to his father to find out who the perpetrators were. What were your names again?"
You made a show of digging into a pocket to pull out the little notebook and pencil you carried with your wallet. A good habit to develop when working logistics.
"Okura was it? Care to give me your full name? A full report can and will be made if this continues." The crowd of salarymen murmured amongst themselves for a moment, drawing back from you. They were clearly shaken by the revelation that someone important related to the boss was at the party they had intended to crash.
"No? No one wants to wreck their career?" You said, taunting them just a little. "As I thought. Go down the street, there are some bars where you can get even more drunk and pretend this never happened. I'll even give you some yen to pay for the first round of drinks--" You had this under control. They were going to leave. Thank the Spirits this hadn't exploded-
Then all of a sudden Aiko was storming past you in her formal clothes, her face darker than you had ever seen it. What had that tiny woman told her? You tried to catch her as she went past, wanted to tell her that everything was fine--
And then she grabbed one of the little rat bastards by the collar and pulled him to his feet. Off his feet, for a moment, shaking him like a ragdoll.
"You--you fucking
rapist pigs--!" The word 'rapist' seemed to hang loud in the air, and you could feel every head in the hall turn. Aiko was absolutely seething with uncontrolled anger in a way that was honestly a little scary. You'd never seen her like this. "How dare you--!"
Something about it snapped some bravado back into the men, and one of them reached out, grabbing onto Aiko's wrist to try and tug her off his friend. You saw her go stiff, transition from angry to terrified all at once. He was speaking, slurred and heavy with drink.
"C'mon, don't be like that. Everyone knows girls play hard to get--I bet you just wanna come get drinks with us?" His voice lifted into the teasing catcall that you recognized, Aiko cringed away with a look of horror on her face, and you felt your blood freezing in your veins.
You were going to kill him.
Arita Yachi beat you to the punch, literally. He came in from the man's blindside without so much as a warning shout and smashed a fist into the man's jaw with a right hook that would have made your self-defense instructor in the Academy proud. Hell, it made
you proud. The shock of the impact forced the salaryman to release Aiko and he let out an undignified squeal of pain as Arita's left hand slammed into his gut, doubling over as the wind was driven out of him.
There were exclamations of anger and someone threw a punch at Arita. You dived into the brawl, smashing someone in the nose with a tightly clenched fist. You caught a glimpse of Akio out of the corner of your eye as he seemed to materialize from nowhere, shoving into one of the men and knocking them over into a nearby table. Thankfully, the narrow entryway worked to your advantage. It also helped that the three of you had no compunction about hurting people while the salarymen weren't exactly up to snuff on their hand-to-hand combat drills.
In a flurry of shoving and punching the three of you forced the drunk salarymen back out into the street. You had somebody's glasses in your hands and you weren't sure how you acquired them; you threw them at the back of one of the retreating men as they beat a retreat down the road. You stood outside in the chilly spring evening, breathing heavily. Akio was leaning against Arita, arm slung over the taller man's shoulder. There were a few darker spots on his black naval uniform and you thanked your lucky stars that you hadn't been in your white dress uniform. Not his, as far as you could tell.
"We should probably go and apologize to our hosts." Akio said, and you all nodded in agreement, everyone still panting for breath. Arita tried to straighten up from where he was bent over, hands on his knees and his legs started to wobble. You'd seen this with some of your sailors in the war, knew what was coming. In a moment, you'd stepped over to support him. Between you and Akio, you managed to lower him down to sit on the curb. He was shaking now, worse than when you'd met.
"Put your head between your knees," you said gently, "Take some deep breaths."
Arita nodded wordlessly, as if he knew this routine, and began to breathe deeply. Behind you, the door opened and you glanced back as Shinzo stepped out and closed the door behind him.
"Is everything alright?"
"No casualties to report, commander," you said with a jocularity that you didn't quite feel despite the victorious skirmish.
"The Army has acquitted itself with courage and unheard of ability," Akio said, and slapped Arita on the back.
"That's a relief. Who were they? Just some random drunks? Do we need to call the police?"
"Some assholes from Akibara. I think they used to work with Missus Kusakabe," you said. "They weren't invited. No need for the police, though. They won't be back anytime soon." Coming to a wedding without an invitation was the height of bad manners and really, they had deserved an ass-kicking just for that, regardless of what else they'd done.
"Oh, that's who they were?" Arita said, voice shaky, still staring at the ground between his feet, "Good to know. Asuka will be happy."
"You okay over there?" Shinzo asked. "Need a drink? Smoke?" He began patting his pockets, then withdrew a slender cigarette case.
"Just give me a minute." Arita said, waving off the cigarette.
"I'll take one," said Akio and lit up one of the (very nice) Alleghenian cigarettes a moment later.
"No thanks," you said. "Is Aiko alright?"
"The short girl is looking after her. I think she's just rattled," Shinzo said. "Assholes. I'm going to talk to my father about this. Absolutely disgraceful behavior--"
"Haruna--!" Aiko's voice cut of Shinzo and you felt her arms settle around you from the opposite side. You leaned into her and squeezed.
"Are you alright?" You asked again, leaning back so you could look at her. Her eyes were a bit red and her make up had run a little--she'd been crying, obviously.
"I--I'm fine! Just. Spirits, what was I thinking? I wasn't thinking, I was just so… so--"
"It's fine. You did what you thought was right," you said, then brushed a hand through her hair. "You stood up to them. That was... That was very brave."
She shrugged, her face a mess of confused emotions. You were going to have to talk about this with her, but later. In private, and when she wasn't at the edge of going to pieces.
It felt a little like everyone was a bit self-conscious about going back inside, and you found yourself sitting with the group on the curb, those of you who smoked doing so (you took Shinzo up on the offer after a few minutes, hoping to soothe your nerves without turning to drink). Shinzo ducked back inside to make sure everything was proceeding smoothly, and Matsura came out almost to replace him, gripping their wrist with a grimace. They sat down silently next to their boyfriend and leaned against them.
You looked away, a bit deliberately, though you couldn't help overhear as they muttered to one another, both more concerned for the other than their own pressing hurt. It was still weird, but if they were sticking with their man as he dealt with war neurosis that bad, they might make that work.
"We better get back inside before we miss the next toast," Akio got to his feet, stubbed out the remains of his cigarette. He glanced down at the two couples. "You coming?"
"I'm going to sit here with Aiko a little while longer, I think," you replied. Arita nodded.
"...Yeah, I still need a minute or two."
"Alright. Good show, Arita. And you, Haruna--" And then he was gone, disappearing back inside to the light, warmth, and chatter of the wedding party. The door closed again and the four of you were alone on the darkening street, the only light a flickering electric streetlamp a few meters down from the door and whatever spilled out of the windows placed high up on the front of the hall. You took a drag on your cigarette, stared up at the stars twinkling in the clear spring sky.
Good party, all in all.
Thank you so much for all your patience! This moment has been a long, long time coming the two quests (and the two timelines) have finally converged. We're super excited to see what comes next and hope you are as well. This is, as many of you might know, a crossover with Aircraft Design Company Quest by @open_sketch, which is set in the same world which we jokingly refer to as 'Gaya.'
If you enjoy my writing, I've just started a patreon, that you can find here! Naturally, no one is expected to contribute or required to do so, but I am in a tough spot financially at the moment and appreciate every bit of support I get.
Again, thank you all for coming along on this ride. I can't wait to see what's waiting in the future.
As always, comments are appreciated more than you know.
