Cuttlefish
Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline
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July 21, 1943
Location: Okayama
Course: Disbanded in port
Attached to: None
Mission: None
System Damage: 6
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475
Orders: Proceed to Okayama for refit
---
Lieutenant Miharu chooses to walk to his house from the train station in Kanazawa. It is not all that far, and he wants to see his old neighborhood. It is his opinion that you get a much different impression of a place by walking through it as opposed to driving through it, and he wants to revel in the experience of coming home as much as possible.
It is not quite the experience he expects, though. Everything he sees is familiar. To be sure, there have been a few small changes in the year he has been gone, but for all practical purposes the streets are the ones he remembers. Yet as he walks somehow the lieutenant feels out of place, almost as if he was a stranger here. It’s as though he was walking through the set of a movie about his former life.
This is unsettling. The feeling diminishes as he approaches his house, but lingers in the background. He wonders what causes this feeling of strangeness. Perhaps I just need some time, he thinks.
Then he is walking down his street and standing in front of his house. Nothing has changed. He feels as though he walked out this door just yesterday. He feels as though he has not been here in a hundred years. He muddles through this strange double vision and opens the door.
Once inside he slips off his shoes and steps into the front hall. Then his wife is there, alerted by sound of his entrance. For a moment they just look at each other, and then they embrace. For the lieutenant the feeling of strangeness recedes, at least for the moment. She is here, and he is home.
Quite a long time later he is wearing his favorite robe and seated on the floor beside a table while his wife pours them some tea. Kojima then also sits. The lieutenant admires the grace with which she does so, then becomes aware that she is gazing at him with a serious look on her face.
“What is it?” he asks her. She takes a deep breath.
“My husband, there is something I must tell you,” she says. She then relates how she took in his wounded brother, hid him in the garden shed, and nursed him back to health.
“I have not seen him since he left,” she says. “I know I have disobeyed your wishes. I will accept whatever punishment you decide.”
Lieutenant Miharu leans forward a little, his hand on his chin. He thinks for a moment.
“While it is true that you obeyed the letter of my orders by not allowing him into the house,” he says, “you have certainly disobeyed their spirit.” He pauses and switches to his best command voice. “I therefore order you confined to quarters for the next ten days.” Kojima lowers her eyelashes demurely.
“As my husband commands,” she murmurs.
Somehow they manage not to spill any of the tea.
---
Chief Petty Officer Shun locates Riku at the paymaster’s desk in the corner of one of the storerooms. Riku is seated at the little desk filling out more of the inevitable forms. He looks up as Shun steps in, then quickly stands to attention. Shun regards him for a moment, just long enough for Riku to feel increasingly nervous.
“I have a question about yesterday,” says Shun finally. “Why did that idiot Tokeitai officer approach you in the first place? Why did he select you of everyone on the ship to try to get at the Captain?” Riku maintains his best poker face. This is the question he has worried about the most. He also knew it would be asked, though, and has carefully prepared his reply.
“I am not certain why, Chief,” he says slowly. “From what he said, though, I think he came across a report that I had been seen talking to a man named Ito, a submarine commander. Ito is kind of a legend. He has a reputation as a man who can get things done, you know?” Shun nods. He has known such men before.
“There are some strange stories about him,” Riku continues. “They say he once had an American general aboard his submarine as part of some top secret mission.”
“So why were you talking to this man?” Shun says. Riku braces himself. It is a fatal mistake to think of Shun as all brawn and no brains. He must not underestimate the Chief.
“In the course of my duties,” he says, indicating the desk, “I talk to a lot of people. Lieutenant Kataoka knows, as I do, that it is often necessary to go outside official channels to fill the needs of the ship and the crew. I spoke with Ito several times at Kwajalein because I had been told he had access to goods I needed.” Not a word of this is a lie. It is also not the truth.
“I see,” says Shun. “So Umeda thought you were involved in our ‘plot’ and tried to blackmail you into turning against the Captain.” Riku nods. It is one of his guiding principals that you never interrupt someone who is busy talking themselves into something you want them to believe.
“And you let him think he had succeeded and then went to the Captain,” Shun continues. “Clever, very clever.”
“Thank you, Chief,” says Riku.
“You are a very clever man,” says Shun. “Sometimes I think you are too clever.” Riku says nothing. At the moment he happens to agree with the Chief.
“You jumped in front of the Captain when Umeda tried to shoot him,” Shun says. This change of subject jars Riku.
“Yes, Chief,” he says. Shun remains as immobile as ever, but Riku has the impression that he wants to pace back and forth.
“In a moment such as that,” Shun continues, speaking slowly, “when a gun is leveled and there is no time to think, that is when a man shows what is in his heart. Many would have frozen. Many would have thrown themselves to the floor. You chose to protect your captain.” He stares down at the ground for a long moment. “That tells me more than all your clever plans and schemes,” he says finally. Then he opens his mouth again as if to speak. Riku says nothing. He does not even breathe. For just a moment his world tilts on a balancing point, and all things are possible.
Suddenly Shun closes his mouth with an almost audible snap. He spins on his heel and walks out. The moment passes. Riku lets out a long breath and sits back down. He must be imagining things, he thinks. For a moment he had the strong feeling that Shun was going to talk about Nanami. Then he shakes his head. Not likely, he thinks. Whatever he does, it will never be enough.
Slowly he lowers his face into his hands. He suddenly feels very tired.
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