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Cuttlefish -> RE: Small Ship, Big War (5/15/2008 3:16:09 AM)
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February 3, 1944
Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475
Orders: Await further orders.
---
The sun has come out and sunlight dances off the low swells in Tokyo Bay as Ensign Izu pilots one of the ship’s boats towards a dock. While the weather is warm enough to melt the recent snow it is still chilly, around 4 degrees C.
There are three passengers in the boat. Two of them, Lieutenant Miharu and Petty Officer Takahashi, sit calmly. The third, Riku Ariga, sits facing rigidly forward. His hands are gripping the bench seat so hard his knuckles are white.
“It is good your wife can be here for this,” Lieutenant Miharu tells Taiki. “And I imagine you are looking forward to seeing her anyway.”
“Yes sir,” says Taiki. He glances over at Riku. “And if Ariga here remains catatonic throughout the meeting I will be glad of her help in keeping the conversation going.” Riku does not show any sign of having heard.
“A nakodo’s job is never easy,” says the lieutenant with a laugh. “But you seem to be doing well.”
Taiki sighs. His task today is to supervise the first formal meeting between Riku and Nanami Shun. Ordinarily the prospective couple would be meeting for the first time and would get to know each other and decide if they want to marry. That would seem to be a foregone conclusion in this case, but Taiki knows it is important to observe the proper forms, for Chief Shun’s sake if for no other reason.
As the boat approaches the pier two women can be seen waiting. One is a small woman of delicate beauty, formally wrapped in a warm and beautifully embroidered kimono. The other is a tall and striking woman dressed in a western-style coat and monpe, the pantaloons increasingly favored by Japanese working women. The two women are standing close together and talking animatedly with one another. The men in the boat can hear a great deal of laughter as they get closer. Kojima Miharu is giggling, her hand over her mouth, while Sayumi Takahashi has her head back and is laughing out loud.
“Ah,” says the lieutenant, “it seems our wives are well on their way to becoming friends.”
“I wonder what they find so funny?” Taiki asks.
“Take it from an old married man,” says Lieutenant Miharu. “Sometimes it’s better not to know.”
---
Considerably later in the day:
“Hey, he’s back!” says Shiro as Riku appears in the doorway to their bunk area. Riku steps inside, expertly weaving his head around some pipes. The others gather around him.
“How did it go?” says Oizuma.
Riku smiles. “It was wonderful,” he says. “Though I admit it got off to a bad start. I couldn’t talk! There she was at last, sitting right across the table from me, and at first I could not say a word.”
“To think this is the man who used to have a woman in every port,” says Yoshitake. “Two or three women in some of them.”
“No more, my friend,” says Riku.
“What happened?” asks Shiro. “Were you finally able to find your voice?”
Riku nods. “It was Mrs. Takahashi’s doing,” he says. “She and Takahashi kept trying to get me to say something. I guess Mrs. Takahashi ran out of patience, because she stabbed me under the table with a fork! Right in the thigh, it hurt like hell.”
The men laugh uproariously. “And that snapped you out of it?” Shoji asks after the mirth dies down.
Riku nods. ”Oh yes. I yelled, then I had to pretend I had a cramp. But that got things going. After that Miss Shun and I could not stop talking. It was wonderful.”
“What happens next?” Shiro asks.
“Takahashi and Shun will decide when the wedding occurs,” says Riku. “It will be later, when we know we will be in port for a while. We could be sent out again any time, now.” He eyes get a glazed look as his thoughts obviously revert to the day just past. “Ah, what a day it was,” he says. He looks so goofily happy that the other men exchange amused glances.
“Do you want to rig your hammock tonight, Ariga,” Oizuma asks him dryly, “or are you just going to float?”
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