Sequence 1

Looking out his window at the setting sun, Shuji could feel his exhaustion. His maiden deployment in Nagasaki had not gone nearly as well as he’d hoped. He had sustained a small injury and his subordinate had broken her leg. What a nuisance.

Shuji pushed away from his desk and stood from his chair. As he glanced down in disgust at the half-finished mission report, he decided that paperwork could wait. His hand absently moved to his phone.

This was around this time that he’d text Hanako about dinner. Shuji would cook, or she’d cook, or they’d just grab something to go. It was simple; they had a routine. They were consistent. Over time, he’d grown very accustomed to her influence in his life. He missed that consistency.

No. NO. This wasn’t the time. He needed a distraction. If he thought about that for too long, he might make a decision he’d come to regret. She needed this. She needed this. Hanako could never get out from under the Kobayashi thumb if she married him. And hell, why would she want to marry him? She wasn’t ready for that; he wasn’t “husband” material. That’s what he kept telling himself. That’s what he’d been telling himself for months. But that didn’t make it any easier whenever he thought about it. So he needed to not think about it.

The new Lancer took a small look around his unpacked room. No. That could wait as well. Unpacking wasn’t mentally intensive enough. His mind might wander. With his usual bored expression, Shuji walked towards his door. He opened it and stepped out onto the balcony, closing the door behind him.

The room he had was on the second floor of the male apartment complex. Across from it was its female counterpart. But that didn’t interest him as he turned to walk towards the stairs.

After they’d gotten back, Shuji dropped Umeki off at the infirmary on the first floor of the male complex. Then he’d reported to Intoku-taicho his mission’s success and the lack thereof. After a few hours of staring blankly at paperwork, Shuji decided he should probably check on his subordinate. Walking down the stairs, he turned to the first floor of the male wing. Shuji opened the only door and entered.

He was at once greeted by a stagnant “hospital” smell. Wrinkling his nose as he stepped towards the counter, Shuji really wanted to make this quick. “I’m looking for Umeki Yumiko please,” he spoke absently to the receptionist.

“Oh, you’re her superior that carried her in, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m the flower guy.” Was this guy serious? Why did it matter who he was? Couldn’t he just be pointed in the right direction?

“Sarcasm will get you nowhere Yotogi-san.” For a moment, Shuji gave him an annoyed look. But then he fixed his face when he saw the pin on the receptionist’s collar.

This man, this unimposing man, was a First Lieutenant. Shuji regretted his earlier sarcasm. Not because he cared about harming this man’s feelings. But if he got reprimanded by Intoku-taicho he might die of fright. Those eyes were needlessly terrifying.

“I’m… I’m sorry, sir.”

“Apology accepted. Now, you were checking on your subordinate.”

“Yes sir.” For some reason, the man chuckled at this.

“Please, my name’s Ikishini Aoi. I’m fond of my name.”

“Okay, Ikishini-san.”

“Aoi,” he said with insistence.

“Okay,” Shuji said with annoyance, “Aoi-san.”

“Umeki’s in the third room on the right. I think someone’s still treating her. Feel free to go right in.” Aoi flashed him a toothy grin and gave a small wave. The Nagasaki branch had its fair share of interesting characters.

Not wanting to prolong this awkward encounter, Shuji shuffled around the desk and walked down the cramped white hallway. When he came to the designated room, he threw a quick knock on the slightly ajar door before pushing it open.

Shuji’s eyes settled on Umeki in the middle of the room. The Lance Corporal was still wearing her ridiculous outfit in the hospital-styled bed. She was also passed out. That was strange? She hadn’t been unconscious when he left her. Hurriedly, Shuji walked towards her.

The first two steps were fine. The third one didn’t get that luxury. With the speed at which he was walking, Shuji’s body kept moving forward as his left foot remained stuck to the floor. He did his best to twist about as he fell and he succeeded.

“Ow, watch where you’re going!” he heard a high pitched voice ring. Shuji opened his eyes and looked forward with a confused look. Just what had he walked into? A splash of violet obscured his eyes which only served to confuse him further.

Wait. It was hair. Violet hair? Nagasaki was a strange place. This hair belonged to a rather petite girl buckled under his legs. Wait…why was a girl laying on the infirmary floor?

“What are you doing sprawled out on the floor in a hospital?”

“Get. Off. Me,” she spoke with grunts as she pushed his legs off her. Finally, she looked up at him.

And for a moment, time stopped. The anger had yet to cross her face. For a moment, for a fleeting moment, he looked into her eyes and thought he knew her. He didn’t know why, but for some reason he didn’t want to yell at her for tripping him.

Then her blank face turned to anger, and all of that disappeared. “Ya just gonna sit there, pinning me to the ground?”

“I would hardly call it sitting,” he spat in response. He lifted his legs and brought his feet to the side. In another moment he was upright.

Looking down at the little fire hazard in front of him, he took a few mental notes. Her purple hair fell a few inches past her shoulders. She had it tucked behind her right ear which exaggerated her saucer-like blue eyes. She used her small arms to dust off her front.

Why was he even taking note of her appearance? It was perfectly useless information. Shuji vaguely recalled losing track of time while making eye contact with her but decided that had nothing to do with it. The fascination was probably because he had finally met someone in Nagasaki that was shorter than him. That had to be it.

He watched as she climbed to her feet without an ounce of grace. “Thanks for all your help getting up,” she mumbled as she continued to dust herself.

“Thanks for all your help falling,” he replied quietly.

His eyes trailed off her and he slowly turned his attention to his unconscious subordinate. She was laying in the hospital bed over all the sheets. His eyes went to the spot on her leg that had protruded earlier. It seemed to look much more natural now. So, she had gotten all fixed up after all. But that didn’t explain why she was asleep.

“You’re her superior I’m guessing?” Shuji turned his attention back to the short violet-haired medic.

“And what if I am?” he asked, his face settling back to its usual scowl.

“I think it’s sweet you’re coming to check up on her,” she spoke as she crossed the room. Standing beside the bed, she looked over at Yumiko before her focus turned again to Shuji. “I mean, it’s awful of you to let your subordinate get hurt like this. So you’re incompetent. But at least you’re nice about it.”

Rolling his eyes, Shuji walked over to the other side of the hospital bed. He didn’t need to justify her attacks with a response. After all, she was the one whose job was support. What did she know about fighting? He then looked at Yumiko’s sleeping face for a moment. In sleep, she almost didn’t look like an obnoxious pain in the ass. Almost. Exactly why was she asleep?

“Why is she asleep exactly? It’s not as if she lost a dangerous amount of blood or was unconscious when I brought her here.”

At this, she chuckled to herself and offered only a nervous smile in response. “Well, I had to mend her bones. And ‘s delicate work. I kinda figured that… my job would be a lot easier if she wasn’t talking.” Crossing her arms, her nervous smile slid into a sly smirk.

Shuji couldn’t help but let out a chuckle of his own. As he looked down at Umeki, he had to admit that a minute without her speaking was a minute well spent. Looking back up, his eyes met that of the medic who’d treated her. Then their chuckles both melted into a quiet, honest laughter.

“She just wouldn’t shut up! I had to treasure those seconds of silence.”

Shuji kept laughing at this until both of their laughter of stifled It felt good to laugh, especially at Umeki’s expense. “I think I got one word in the first five minutes I knew her,” he replied quietly. Again, they shared a small laugh over a common nuisance.

“Though, I did learn quite a lot,” she said offhandedly, turning her attention towards paperwork on the nightstand beside her. That annoyed him. He wasn’t very fond of her attention resting on something else.

“I assume it wasn’t about baser social interaction.”

“About a certain new Lancer who scowls a lot.”

“Oh?” he asked, feigning interest. It wasn’t as if he cared a lot about what Umeki could’ve told her. Umeki’s opinion was negligible at best. So whatever she had managed to rattle off before being sedated was of no consequence to him.

“Yeah,” she said not looking up from her papers. “A guy named Yotogi Shuji that’s strong enough to block a charging Oni but gets knocked out by his own finishing move. She sounded so impressed. But personally, I find it pitiful.”

“Is pitiful really the right word to describe an attack powerful enough to dent an Oni’s chest?”

“Oh no,” she sat down her pen and turned to face him. “I mean, I’m impressed that your spirit is powerful and whatever. I find it pitiful that it took you down as well.”

“Well, if it took me down imagine what it would do to you. I doubt a shock wave is even necessary. A strong gust of wind mind threatens your balance.”

The medic’s face went red as his insult to her petite frame. Shuji only wore a smirk in response to her embarrassment. She turned her attention back to her paperwork. For a few moments, there was an uneasy silence settling over the room.

“Ass,” she whispered to herself whimsically as she scribbled away furiously at the paper on the nightstand.

After a few moments of mixed signals and silence, the medic put down her pen and then turned to look at him. “Honestly, I was expecting someone…I don’t know. Taller?” her voice trailed off. Her eyes moved to Yumiko before turning back to him. “She rambled about how strong you were, and how calmly you handled everything. It was a bit inspiring, and more than a little annoying,” she added quickly. “I didn’t expect you to be so young.”

“What’s wrong? Not sure how to talk to the other kids your age?”

She scoffed before rolling her eyes and looking back at the papers on the nightstand. “No,” she said without looking in his direction. “Just bitter that I’d have to wait for you to die before someone pretty could transfer here.” Her eyes widened. “No! That came out wrong,” she raised her hands in defense as she turned to him. “I’m sure you’ll be just fine. Don’t die. That’d be bad.”

Someone hoping to benefit from his termination would usually offend Shuji, but she had already realized her mistake. It would be fun to toy with her a bit. “Well,” he shrugged. “If you want someone pretty that badly I guess I can arrange dying. A bit of an inconvenience though.”

“No no no,” she said in a hushed voice. Rushing over to the door, she quickly shut it before scurrying back over to him. “Don’t say die too loudly. We’re in an infirmary,” she hissed.

“Oh what was that?” he asked while raising his voice. “A nurse wants a member of the Vanguard to perish for her own gains??” He raised his voice with every word. A look of panic and annoyance shot onto the petite medic’s face as she walked forward to silence him.

“Stop! You’re going to get me in trouble, dumbass.”

He ducked as she reached to cover his mouth. “No.” Quickly, she used her free hand to plant it over his mouth. Shuji mostly had allowed this to happen; there was no way a medic was faster than him.

“What do you want?” Now that had interesting implications. He could ask her for a plethora of things. Sedatives for his subordinate would probably be a wise choice. But, he was avoiding having to check his messages or deal with the repercussions of yesterday. What Shuji really wanted was a distraction for a couple of hours.

“Your time,” he spoke through the muffle of her palm.

The medic dropped her hand to give back a dumbstruck look. “Really?”

Shuji nodded in agreement as she kept her hand over his mouth. She really should consider moving that. Well, perhaps she’d already considered it but wasn’t quite sold on the idea. Shuji raised his hands to move hers off his face, but she grasped them with her free hand.