Sequence 5

Looking up at his ceiling, Shuji reflected upon his day. Certain parts felt a bit blurrier than the rest. There were stretches where he lost track of who he was and what he was trying to emulate. But, he supposed breaking character occasionally couldn’t really harm him. Perhaps showing some weakness in a certain company wouldn’t be his downfall. Perhaps.

However, before his daydreaming could develop a knock came on his door. Shuji rolled his eyes; who could that be at this hour? After sliding off his bed, he wearily crossed his room. With his typical scowl, he opened his door to the calm night air.

Standing in the outdoor hallway was a man Shuji had never met. He had to be at least in his late-twenties. From his build and posture, Shuji assumed he was in the Vanguard. Members of the Vanguard tended to be a bit more muscular than their Rear Guard counterparts. The man’s clothing was unremarkable except the pin he wore on his collar. It was similar to Shuji’s Lancer pin, but included a horizontal line in it at the bottom of the arrow.

“Good evening, may I help you?” Shuji asked carefully.

The man returned only a smile for an uncomfortable amount of time. Finally, he realized he needed to say something. “Yes! You’re Yotogi Shuji, the new Lancer assigned here. I’m Tatsugawa Kou, the Head Lancer of this Branch. I just wanted to come by and talk to you a bit about your position.”

Shuji stepped back and motioned into his room. “Would you like to come in, Tatsugawa-san?”

“Actually no. The night’s beautiful, would you mind walking with me while we talk?”

The younger Lancer blinked hard before nodding and turning to slip on some loafers. “Sure.” Shuji quickly grabbed his key off his desk and exited his room, locking the door behind him.

After a brief nod, Tatsugawa started to walk down the balcony. Shuji followed reluctantly. “I noticed you’re not wearing your pin. I get that you’re essentially off-duty right now, but you should consider it. It shows a little honor to the position.”

“I’ll give it some thought,” Shuji replied dryly. In silence, they walked down the stairs and Tatsugawa led him towards the exit of the compound.

“I heard your Lance Corporal got injured on your assignment today. Was that unavoidable?”

“Yes. I showed to her how to execute an Oni and then let her try her hand while I handled the rest. Umeki was unsuccessful dealing with even one.”

“Well, Oni are a rather strange enemy. Are you sure you couldn’t have stepped in and protected her?”

Shuji scoffed. “If I have to shield her constantly, then she’ll die as soon as she’s without me.”

Tatsugawa was silent at this. The pair continued their walk until he stopped and laughed. “I guess you’re right Yotogi-kun. Honestly, that tells me more about you than your file ever could. Am I right in assuming that your Lancer wasn’t keen on sheltering you?”

“You would be.” But, that was putting it mildly.

“Well,” Tatsugawa turned to make eye contact with him. “You should know that the way you trained is not the only way to train. Just because someone isn’t strong enough to manage themselves now doesn’t mean that they won’t be. Please keep that in mind. Her safety is your responsibility as well as the mission. That’s the core of being a leader.”

Shuji would’ve rolled his eyes at this if he wasn’t forced to maintain eye contact with his superior. He was well aware that his wasn’t the only policy. It was just the only one he considered using for his subordinates. He didn’t offer back a response; Shuji simply shrugged. If it had worked for him, it could work for others.

“Look, I’ve read your track record. It’s impressive,” Tatsugawa continued their walk. “Forty confirmed Oni kills, and you even brought down a D-rank evolved on your own. But, if a Lancer that cared about your progress trained you, you’d be so much stronger now. Give it some thought.”

Now that he’d turned his back, Shuji actually rolled his eyes. “Perhaps,” he said in a low monotone. He really just wanted to end this conversation as quickly as possible. Shuji didn’t need a lecture. He didn’t want to talk about his Lancer’s failings all night.

“Let me put it this way Yotogi-kun, if you train Umeki-san, you won’t have to protect her in battle anymore.”

Now that was an idea. It was possible that perhaps Umeki could gain some competence and stop getting injured so readily. However, would it be worth the effort? Maybe not. Regardless, he needed to agree with his superior to end this walk and conversation. “That would definitely be an improvement.”

“You see, my Lance Corporal is my little brother Kai. It’d be easy just to let him train on his own and focus on my own mission completion. But I really want him to get stronger. I want him to become independent and surpass me one day. I don’t know that it’ll happen, but I have to take steps to help him get there,” Tatsugawa said with a grin.

Shuji truly didn’t care about Tatsugawa’s story, but he was good enough at pretending he did. There were a lot of feelings in there and he heard the word “leadership” used a lot. Had Tatsugawa prepared this? After a while, Tatsugawa picked up on his apathy and decided perhaps he had rambled on too much. The pair then made their way back to the GUARDIAN compound. “Tomorrow after we get off duty, I’ll take you to meet the First and Second Lieutenant. I’m sure they’ll want to meet you too.”

“Okay, Tatsugawa-san.”

The pair then parted ways. Shuji’s hand dug into his pocket, produced his phone, and turned it on mindlessly. He should finally measure the damage. He unlocked his door and entered his room. His right hand turned the deadbolt. Shuji slid into his chair.

This would be the first time he’d checked his messages since he’d left Nagasaki, as he’d turned off notifications. Shuji wasn’t expecting a pretty sight. The red notification told him he had sixty-three new messages and five missed calls. Not too bad. He checked the missed calls first.

Surprisingly, only two were from Hanako. The other three? They were from his mother. Not surprising. No voicemail though. That was surprising. At least he didn’t have to hear a hysterical woman crying into a phone. Next up were the messages. Only four sources. The most messages were obviously from Hanako, but Shuji would save those for last. He had about seven from his mother. The first was a simple clarification of the end of his relationship. A check-in came second. The following five were all the same three words: “Answer your phone.” That was enlightening. Next.

Following that was Hanako’s friend. Hanako’s friend had a name, but it was far from relevant. She also didn’t have a very good vocabulary. Almost every other word was an explicative. Next. Shuji had received a few messages from Izuru, someone he’d partnered with on a few missions. Izuru was something like a friend. These messages were supportive of his promotion, but still off-put by his ending of things. How did word travel so fast? Tokyo was a big place.

He let out an audible sigh as his thumb clicked on Hanako’s messages. He scrolled to the top. Despite everything that happened, the first few messages were very pleading. She had wanted him to respond, a chance to talk. It was a good thing he’d turned off his notifications earlier; Shuji might’ve caved. The messages she’d sent got much angrier after that. It was understandable, but Shuji didn’t want to read all of it. He kept scrolling through the angry texts until he got to the very last one.

“I’m meeting with my mother tomorrow.”

Hanako had sent this only about an hour ago. Shuji’s mouth twitched. This was one he’d have to respond to.

“Just tell her it was me.” He hit send.