While we caught up with Yuki we showed her some pictures of the trip we had taken to our island getaway. She seemed rather impressed but also evenly enjoying the stories we were telling her.

“Next time you should definitely come to visit my home village.” She said with a smile as we showed her the last picture. “It’s a village of around fourty houses in a little valley in the mountains of the Japanese Region. We don’t really have an inn there but we have plenty of spare rooms for guests. It’s very beautiful for hiking and getting some rest.”

“I think Lauren would prefer that over some tropical island.” Luna chuckled.

“It gets warm there too, doesn’t it?”

“Only in heatwaves. But the valley is rather cool during most time of the year.”

“I see. I would definitely not mind… Whenever we get the opportunity to do that however, I do not know.”

Yuki nodded politely while I put my holo stick away and took one of the nachos.

“Is that where you spent your time after we landed, Yuki?” Luna asked. “Back at your home town?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “My parents were very happy to see me again as they thought I’d be gone for a lot longer after you whisked me away.”

“Sorry about that.” I chuckled awkwardly.

“Don’t be sorry.” Yuki was quick to brush my apology aside. “It was a huge career opportunity to me to be able to be involved in the mission. And I would not have enjoyed my time on the other ship either.”

“Still though, I didn’t give you much of a heads up.”

Yet again Yuki quickly brushed that aside, almost literally as she started to gesticulate quite heavily. “Really, I have not made an easier decision in my life than to join you. Even with everything that has happened. If you hadn't I’d also not have met… Oh.”

“Oh?” Luna smiled and swiftly leaned on the table. “Whatever you were going to say sounded really interesting.”

Yuki immediately started to turn red. “Sorry, I said too much.”

I smirked. “I see how it is. Is it one of the hangar officers? The one who you laid down next to back in the holding room perhaps?”

Yuki started to blush even more but she also couldn’t really keep her smile hidden. I had hit the nail directly on its head. “It’s… It’s just purely platonic at the moment…” She said softly. “But I did invite them over to my hometown as well to meet my parents…”

“How did that go?” Luna asked.

“They liked them very much. It involved a lot of me having to translate as my parents don’t speak English, but it was manageable.”

“Couldn’t you use your holo stick for that?” I tilted my head a little.

“My parents don’t really like to rely on technology. It could help them a lot but they are both so used to living like they do that I don’t really want to throw a wrench in that. It’s a very charming way to live.”

“Must not have been easy growing up though. With everything relying so much on tech. And then the war too.”

“We managed and that’s what’s most important.” Yuki shrugged slightly.

“If we would ever visit, wouldn’t it be a bit annoying on you to translate for us?” Luna asked.

“Well,” I answered before Yuki could. “I can speak a bit of Japanese.”

Both Luna and Yuki appeared to be very surprised by that. “Really?” They said at pretty much the same time.

“I’m not going to say I’m super fluent but I can understand and speak a bit, yeah. I’ve been to the Japanese Region before during the war. Somehow I picked up on it rather fast.”

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Luna looked at Yuki with a bit of doubt in her eyes, and Yuki immediately understood the assignment my girlfriend had given her. “What are your favorite foods?” She asked in Japanese.

I could only smirk for it was a rather easy to answer. “All kinds of foods but I prefer having smaller portions with more diversity rather than one single dish.”

Yuki pursed her lips in approval. “That’s not bad. I would call that a lot better than just knowing ‘a bit’.” She said, this time in English.

“What did you ask?” Luna asked as she definitely didn’t understand the language.

“She asked me how cute you were and I told her you were the cutest person on this entire planet.”

Luna frowned. “That’s a lie! I know the word for cute in Japanese and you definitely didn’t use that.”

“Shit, I got found out.” I replied in Japanese to which Luna just pouted and Yuki started laughing.

We settled down again after laughing and finished our snacks. Occasionally while we were enjoying the rest of it, another crew member would walk into the room but not really anyone we were particularly close to. Of course we would greet them, but it’s not like they would come to us to chat for any prolonged period of time.

“It’s getting rather late, I don’t think I will stay up for too much longer.” Yuki said as her plate was empty. Giving herself a good stretch. “Although I need to let my food sink for just a bit though.”

“Hmm, I don’t particularly feel like sleeping yet.” I replied. “So I think I might check out the entertainment zone they mentioned before. Have you been there yet, Yuki?”

“No, I almost immediately came here after I arrived. I was pretty hungry after my trip here and then I just didn’t leave because I was amusing myself plenty with my holo stick. And beside that I also like looking at what other people order. It’s pretty amusing.”

“Food watcher Yuki Yuigahama on the prowl?” I joked.

She smiled. “I always could get some inspiration on what to order in the future. There’s so many good foods out there that I haven’t tried out yet.”

“Fair enough. I like to try out new food as well and Luna is no different.” Especially if you knew about Luna’s non-Earthly heritage.

“Have you seen any interesting food options yet?” Luna asked.

“Hmmm… I think interesting would be the word to describe some of them, yes. But I won’t judge.”

“Color me curious. Like what for example?”

“Fried chicken in between waffles who are then also covered in syrup is one that I can remember seeing go by not too long ago. I don’t think that was someone from our crew though. One of the security guys who work by the elevator.”

“Fried chicken between a waffle isn’t that uncommon. I mean, it’s not something I would eat but it’s definitely not too out there when it comes to surprising combinations.” I replied. “When I think about surprising combinations I think about ice-cream and baked beans or something like that.”

Yuki’s face immediately pulls into one of disgust. “That sounds terrible.”

“It probably is. I was just thinking about something on the fly.”

“I would not mind trying it.” As Luna said this both me and Yuki turned our gazes towards her.

“Luna, as your girlfriend and as your superior Commander, I explicitly forbid you from ever trying the combination I just mentioned.”

Luna chuckled. “Alright.”

I was content with that answer but it looked like Yuki wasn’t just going to drop my girlfriend’s statement. “Were you actually serious, Luna?”

She shrugged. “Why not. If it’s just a spoonful it wouldn’t harm you, right? Maybe you will find something that’s actually rather delicious.”

“Today I learned you would have been one of those people who discovered a lot of edible foods and then ultimately died from food poisoning because of eating some kind of mushroom you were not supposed to.”

“You need to die of something, right?” Luna joked.

“If you die from icecream and baked beans I’m definitely going to put that on your gravestone.”

Yuki had started laughing hysterically about halfway through our little conversation and it was starting to pull quite a bit of attention from the other tables right now. But who cares, laughing is good for your health and it helps with bonding as well. And from the looks on the crew’s faces, I could tell that they were rather enjoying Yuki’s laughing as well.

“You guys.” Yuki slapped her thigh. “I’ll repeat this again but I’m so happy that I joined the ship. Just having a great time with you around.”

I smiled. “Well, we are happy to have you around as well.”

After we wound down the conversation we just chatted a bit longer until ultimately Yuki decided to go to her lodging. “See you tomorrow, Commander, LC.” She gave us a friendly salute.

“See you tomorrow and have a good night, Ensign. And maybe don’t dream about baked beans and icecream if you can help it.”

Yuki snorted, breaking her respectful looking posture. “Please don’t make me start laughing again, I have a real bad time trying to get to sleep when I’m giggly.”

“My apologies. Good night, Yuki.”

“Good night.”

When Yuki disappeared out of sight I looked back at my girlfriend. “Entertainment zone?”

“Sure thing.” Luna nodded. “But I’m not going to make it too late either.”

“Fair enough, but first let’s get a drink or two.” I laid my hand on hers and gave it a soft squeeze.