“You sure you’re going to be alright?” Julie asked, concerned over Asagi’s reaction, or lack thereof. Having just seen the recording by James, she was concerned that Asagi was going to overdo it and bottle this up. If her eyes were any indication, the burning in her eyes was only the start of what would be a disastrous burst of emotion. She needed some means to release, but the question was what.
“I’m fine, honestly,” Asagi assured, giving her an equally assuring grin. However, it did little to ease the azure-haired girl, who knew better.
Sighing in defeat, she decided to move on. “How’s Hayashi-kun?”
“He was sleeping before you guys called me,” she sighed. “The docs say physically he’ll be fine. But…Kurusugawa and Himemiya both say it’ll take a while before he heals mentally…”
“I’d actually be worried if he bounced back from this too soon,” Julie commented. “Are you sure you’re going to be alright? We did just witness someone lose his mother…”
“I could say the same to you,” Asagi answered back. “You were right next to me when that happened.”
“It’s true we failed to save a life,” Julie agreed. “But the difference is that you are closer to Hayato than me and Mayura. And the fact is he attacked you personally. He wanted to hurt you. That already says you’re one of his targets.”
“That doesn’t mean his attack worked on me,” Asagi assured, wearing a wide grin. “He may have won this battle, but the war’s just started. Trust me, I’m alright.” Despite the bravado that was her norm, Julie wasn’t convinced. She felt that just underneath Asagi’s exterior, there was something simmering just beneath the surface, ready to explode. However, there was little she could do for her fearless leader at this point.
“I suppose you’re right,” she acquiesced, for now. “I guess I’ll return to my quarters.”
“Righto then,” said Asagi, giving Julie a cheerful wave before entering her quarters, locking the door behind. Outside, Julie simply let out a sigh and walked away. She had a feeling of what would happen next. Fearing for the worst, Julie called up a few people to meet her at Asagi’s quarters. Things were going to get ugly fast.
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Looking into the room, she slowly walked over towards the bed and sat down. Taking slow, calming deep breaths, Asagi mulled over what had happened in the span of a couple hours. It was a defence mission. The objective: hold off the Orphnoch threat, and push it off the planet, or if worst came to worst, stall them to allow everyone to evacuate. Sadly it very quickly degenerated to the latter, with their battle lines pushed back far into the base. A point for them, unfortunately. And like any other engagement, there were bound to be casualties. There was no denying that in any given battle involving large numbers of non-combatants who were scrambling, even if they were military, the risk was high. To say anything else would be a stupid call, and a very foolish oversight.
Then there had been unexpected breach in their lines. Some had managed to slip behind the line, and were after the evacuees, so naturally she had diverted the Belkarangers to assist. There were lives to be saved, and there were enough mages on the front to fill in the blank they left. Plus, Ryoutaro had been commanding the front for Nanoha and Fate, so they were covered for a while. Having joined in the fray with Blitz team, they had made short easy work of those who had dared to slip through, easy enough, and the Admirals plan to seal the back way had gone off without a hitch. So they had thought until one that had hidden away jumped out and took out the Admiral, and pinned her under rubble, and forcing her hand to activate the detonation.
“Damn it,” she quietly cursed. Of all the people trapped, it had been Hayato’s mother. Why? “Why? Why her…” And even so, she had made the decision that they had to leave her behind. They ran, knowing full well she’d never see the light of day again, never make another smile, never make another difference, never see or love her family again…
“GOD DAMN IT!” she screamed, whirling around as her fist slammed into the wall next to her. “WHAT THE FUCK?” Blindly reaching out, she grabbed the first thing she could, which turned out to be the chair for the desk and hurled it across the room, embedding it into the bulkhead.
Her death was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to have beamed out with them. They may have had the base, but they could’ve saved every single life. People may have had gotten hurt, but it didn’t matter if all the lives were saved. Why the one? Why the one that affected her the most? Why did it be the one that now burned hotly in her chest? It burned so badly; clenching; squeezing; suffocating her. It was infuriating. She couldn’t believe it.
“HOW THE HELL DID WE MISS THAT?” she roared, grabbing the desk next, and with adrenal strength, tossed it towards another wall as the impact warped its form.
And then there was him. Him! The one who dared challenged her. The fucker had rubbed the Admiral’s death into her face. And he had the gall to say that he would be testing her. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
‘NOBODY WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE!” Another violent strike unleashed, she grabbed a section of desk that had dislodged and tossed it, smashing it into a console, short circuiting it. Alarms and klaxons blared, but she didn’t care. He had hurt someone close to her. He had hurt Hayato. He had been responsible for not only the loss of a base, but he was also responsible for the unnecessary death of a mother; a mother who was simply doing her job. Another angry scream reverberated through the room as she started to punch the wall repeatedly.
“DAMN IT!” punch, “FUCK,” punch, “IT,” punch, “ALL,” punch, “TO,” punch, “HELL!” she angrily yelled. Looking around, her hands reached out and grasped the chair she had lodged, and yanked at it, ripping the back of the chair from the rest of it, and threw it straight at the door, embedding the seat half-way. Not even aware majority of her strength was being enhanced by magic she continued to let her rage out upon the room. This was utterly unfair. This was not supposed to happen. This was supposed to have gone perfectly!
“DAMN IT TO HELL!”
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Outside, Mayura let out a tired sigh. From where she stood, she could clearly hear Asagi screaming angrily, causing a fair amount of property damage. With her were Ryoutaro and Julie, whom she knew were the ones best for dealing with Asagi when she became like this. She would’ve personally liked to have called on Hayato, but with the way he was at the moment and the fact he deserved his rest, she wasn’t going to call on him. Either way, the last thing she wanted to do was add on emotional baggage for Hayato. There’d come a time for when he’d learn about this particularly nasty/angry side of her, but today wasn’t going to be that time.
Wincing at a particularly nasty impact, Mayura mulled it over in her mind as she wondered whether to actually go in and stop Asagi’s rampage. But then remembering the last time she tried that, she shuddered at the thought and opted to stay outside and wait out the storm. Nodding to herself, Mayura simply sat down across the door and waited. Forced to listen to the mixture of property damage and Asagi's anguished cries, she wanted to help her. It was going to be a fair amount of time before she calmed down and be approachable. Seeing Julie and Ryoutaro finally join her, they settled down and waited. That was all they could do.
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Sighing tiredly, Hayate quietly read the after-action report. Although the evacuation had been successful, it had been a morally crushing defeat. Although losing an admiral in general was already a big enough defeat, it was more so with her forces, especially due to the fact the admiral was the mother was one of her own. Admiral's Hayashi's death was a really bad blow to everyone's morale. Adding to how listless Asagi was, despite how well she tried to hide it, it was clear everyone had taken it as a personal attack. It was only worse due to James' transmission. Having recently found his profile on the wanted list, she made a note to have Fate start investigating him. Add on to the fact that Asagi had given her full support on the investigation on him, she was sure it would only be a simple matter of time to at least get a lead on him. But she would have to plan her next steps carefully. If anything, letting their emotions get the better of them would play into his hands.
The first thing on the top of her list was to deal with the issue with Faiz. She would have to deal with her first. With her in the city, she was a major threat that would have to be dealt with immediately.
But for now, she glanced at one of the medical reports that had been attached. Filled out by Lt. Himemiya and Kurusugawa, it reported on the mental state of one Cpl Hayashi Hayato. He hadn't taken it too tell, and had been depressed since his mother's passing a few days ago. Having been declared fit to return to duty already, Farukon had reported how Hayato was hardly doing anything at the moment. He would wake up, and go about his day. Although at least he was taking care of himself, it was clearly seen in his behaviour that he was running on autopilot. There was no effort. He phrased as, he just wasn't there. He also felt it prudent to point out that he hadn't even seen Asagi appear on base at all. Reading that, she raised an eyebrow. Wasn't Asagi rather close to Hayato? She figured that due to how close they were, she would probably be there for him since square one. Putting the report down, she decided to make some calls and pull a few strings. Glancing outside, she a small smile formed on her face as she watched the former forwards sitting outside, eating, and apparently laughing. At least everyone was trying to put the incident behind and carry on with their lives.
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Sitting in her office, Asagi furiously worked upon her computer. At first glance, one would assume that she was hard at work trying to make sure that her company was working in top form, and various other tasks that a CEO of her stature would be worrying about or working on. However, it was all an illusion, as before her were various displays, giving her information about one man: James Torrington. With focused drive powered by anger, she worked away at the console, calling up displays, charts, records, leads, anything and everything out there that she could find about this man. She wanted to know everything about this man, and she intended to get it. He had made himself her archenemy, and she would do all she could to bring this guy down. She would bring justice upon him. She would prove to him that her ways of Super Sentai worked. After all, she was BelkaRed of the Belkarangers. Good would always triumph over evil.\
"Just you wait, I'll find you," she muttered, moving a screen aside for later study. "I'll find you for sure..."
For the past few days, she had been relentlessly working. Because of him, he had brought the death of one of her closest friend's mother. But not only that, he had directly insulted her, challenged her to keep up with him and save lives. That had been the straw that broke the camel's back. That day, it had resulted her letting all of her anger out upon the room she had been sleeping in. He had gone too far. But there was nothing she could have done to make a difference that day; absolutely nothing at all. She felt worthless, powerless to have prevented someone's death. She had let someone die on her watch. Although she was smart enough to know rescuing the Admiral had been a lost cause, it didn't hurt any less. If anything, it had only made her feeling a lot worse that day. When they had returned she immediately put everything into finding this man and bring him to justice.
Bringing her attention back to her work, she continued to read over the various files displayed in front of her. Over the past few days, she had mostly been reading on his service records, studying and learning everything that he did back then. She would learn everything, especially how his mind worked. From what she'd seen, he was clearly in full capacity of his mental state; therefore she had no reason to believe he was insane, more so he was after something specific. Unfortunately, as she read the data, she already knew it was incomplete. Clearly there were people who had tried to forget him, and that included striking him from the records. It was almost as if he never existed. Thankfully, the TSAB apparently kept a perfect record of every criminal they tracked. However, she hadn't even begun to delve into that. Having spent most of her time looking up civilian information, she hadn't bothered to give the information the TSAB provided a look yet. But no doubt, she'd find a lot more there; she continued to plough through the civilian information. She wasn't going to leave any stone unturned.
"Miss Colwell, there is a call for you from a Gen. Yagami," her secretary called up over the intercom.
"Tell her I'm busy," she automatically replied.
"She says that it's important, and that this cannot wait," the secretary meekly replied, clearly nervous about getting yelled at by Asagi. Said redhead stared at the Audio Only display, wanting to just burn it for bugging her. However, knowing Hayate, if she was saying it was important and wouldn't take 'later' for an answer, she probably wouldn't stop calling her until she was answered.
Sighing, she knew she'd have to acquiesce. "Fine, put her through." Watching the display disappear, she waited momentarily before a connection was established with Hayate's office. "What can I do for ya General?"
"Forgotten about Hayato-kun already?" Hayate immediately asked, catching Asagi by surprise.
"Excuse me?"
"Hayato-kun," the general replied. "The practitioner of the Gun-kata? The one who you called 'Ban'? The one who's mother just passed away a few days ago? The one who could use YOUR support?"
"Wait what-”
"He's miserable," Hayato interrupted, giving Asagi a pointed glare on the other side of the screen. "He might be eating, sleeping, working, and such, but that's all he's doing. He's not alive! He's doing nothing but existing at the moment. He isn't saying anything to the Chaplains at the moment, and they're trying to avoid any extreme means of doing anything." Leaning back into her seat, Hayate raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where have you been since you returned?"
"Searching up about James," she immediately answered.
"I suppose it's a somewhat fair answer," the young woman commented. "However...it doesn't give you an excuse to forget about him! You should've seen him long before this! Now, I strongly suggest that you see him, today. Although he probably won't be doing anything extreme, he can't continue on like this. He needs to heal, and as far as anyone can tell, you have the best chance of getting him started. I suggest that you put this vendetta aside for now, and help him."
"But this is-”
"Nothing is more important than your friends," Hayate stated, interrupting the CEO again. "You of all people should know that." With certain finality in her tone, she closed the connection before Asagi could say anything.
Left with her mouth hanging open, Asagi blankly stared towards the wall opposite, as Hayate's words sank in. "Hayato..." she whispered. Leaning back into her seat, she allowed it to spin towards the massive window behind, where beyond she could see the RF6 base. Staring beyond, she somehow felt that Hayate was staring right back at her from her office. She didn't really have an answer to any of her questions. She had forgotten about him in all honesty, and she didn't really have anything to say about. Somehow, something painful started to well up in her chest. She didn't know what it was, but the sudden idea of Hayato not smiling bothered her badly.
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How many days had it been? At least two or three days? He wasn't sure anymore. All he could really remember was her presence before it disappeared. He felt completely detached from the world around him. All he could really tell was that he was running on autopilot for the most part. He slept, he ate, he trained, and if he wasn't doing anything, he was wandering for the most part. For how long he was doing this, at most a few days, but he wasn't really sure at the moment. Everything...felt rather surreal. He wasn't really sure what reality was at this point. Was he even awake at this point? Was he just living out a dream that's just going on and on, possibly even stuck in a coma? He wasn't really sure at this point. All he remembered was agonizing pain from something, and then this odd state of existence. He wasn't even really sure what was going on now.
Everyone tried to talk to them, but they sounded like distant echoes from far away. No matter how he tried, he could really focus on them. It was really weird. He wanted to reach out, but at the same time, he didn't want to. A part of him wanted things to stay as they were. Somehow, this detached world was comforting. There wasn't really anything to disturb him. No pain, sadness, or anger, he could just float here and just be. There wasn't something to come up to him and hurt him. No one to come up to him and take or destroy something that was precious to him. No one to kill someone dear to him. But...was such a world possible? Perhaps there was...here in this limbo.
Sitting down underneath a tree, Hayato stared up at the sky above him. Watching a flock of birds flying over, he idly wondered what it would be like to them. Flying high above, up in the air above, free from the restrictions of the lifestyle of mankind, he felt he could be free from all this and just soar the skies above. Concerned with only eating, sleeping, and flying, he could live with that. It may be a simple life, but it was a freer life than this. Free of pain, fear, sadness, all those other emotions, he could live with that. He could take that deal and work with it. Perhaps it didn't seem such a bad idea.
Noticing a presence, he glanced over to his right, meeting a pair of onyx orbs, surrounded by a field of fiery flames, engulfing it in a protective shield. Blinking a few times, it took him a few moments to realize that he was actually staring at a pair of eyes, and that what he thought was fire was the striking red of Asagi's hair. Somehow, for some strange reason he felt a bit closer to earth than just a few minutes ago.
"Hey," she greeted, offering him a light smile. "How you doing?" Hayato's response was a non-committed shrug. There wasn't really anything to say. At least that's what he thought, but clearly she thought otherwise.
"Listen...sorry about not being with you for these last few days," she stated, letting out a tired sigh. Looking over, she watched as he simply stared back at her blankly. There was hardly any recognition in his eyes, almost as if he wasn't really there. While he was physically sitting next to her, she didn't think that he was there in spirit. But that didn't stop her from trying.
"I know that you're in pain," she continued, taking one of his hands. "I'm...I'm not sure what sort of pain, but I can imagine it must hurt a lot." Again, he was staring blankly at her. "I...I owe you an apology...”
"An apology?" he asked, gaining a small smile from Asagi. At least he was talking.
"Yeah...I do..." she answered, nodding in response. “I...I had completely forgotten you over this past few days. When we got back...I ended up focusing all my work...all my attention...on James...I...needed to know more...to learn more about him...”
With her vision directed in front of her, mostly because she wanted to hide some of her shame, she failed to see the sudden spark in his eyes. Not paying attention, she had failed to notice how her words sparked something inside. Inside, he felt an odd burn. The way she had described her focus on finding this James, this passion, it bothered him. She was focusing on someone else? She had forgotten him, over someone else?
"He's done something big...I needed to understand this guy...to find out how his mind worked...to see his past..."
"So...you put me aside...for him..."
"What?"
"You...forgotten about me...because someone else grabbed your attention," Hayato replied, somewhat more hotly than before.
"Hayato-kun...”
In an instant, Hayato suddenly felt something pop. Something within had snapped. In an instant, memories of his mother's last moments, the last vestiges of her voice, her love, it all rushed back. Vivid images of the Orphnoch leaping out of nowhere and exploding, collapsing the command deck filled his memories. Soon enough the last few days hit him as he suddenly registered what everyone had been trying to say to him, offering their support, and their attempts to cheer him up, all of which had been in vain due to his catatonic state. Of all the faces, all the voices, all the support, there was no memory of Asagi anywhere, up until today. There was nothing, at all.
"You were there," he suddenly shouted, rising up to his feet. "You were there when my mother was trapped. You were there when she told me to run! Hell you were there when I was in the med bay. And then you suddenly just dumped me for someone else? Sure these past few days I've been out of it, but at least everyone on base tried to offer me their support. Even Julie and Mayura dropped a line to offer me support, but what about you? Where the hell were you?
"Oh wait, I know where. You were in your special little office, researching and looking up about some guy, while I was here in limbo. Well thank you very much for forgetting me. And you think that you can just apologize to me just like that? When I needed you most? You were my friend. Or at least I thought you were. Do you know what I've been like for the last few days? Huh?"
"Hayato...” Already regret was sinking in.
"Well of course you wouldn't, you were too busy looking up on this guy," he snarled, and turned away.
"Hayato, I didn't mean to-”
"Save it," he spat out, and started to walk away. "I don't need your fucking explanations. I don't need you...you mean nothing to me..." Ignoring the sudden sinking feeling in this pit of his stomach, he continued to walk away. He didn't care that he may end up regretting this. At present he was fair from the correct state of mind to make appropriate or smart decisions. Or that was what he was thinking when he suddenly whirled around before something impacted him on the side of the head.
"Will you just shut up and listen?" Asagi screamed, her face burning with a mix of restrained anger and tears. "Do you even know who I've been after? I've been trying to find your mother's killer! It's true, I did forget about seeing you, but that doesn't mean that I've forgotten about you in its entirety." Pulling Hayato into a hug, she continued to try to persuade him. "I'm sorry that I forgot about you. I really am. You are a good friend of mine, and what I did was unforgiveable. But don't pull this shit on me and turn your back on everything we have. Don't just throw our friendship away over something you don't even know fully."
"Asagi..."
"You're an important friend Hayato," she strongly stated. "A really important friend."
"Apparently not important enough..." he muttered, bringing his arms up to push away Asagi. But yet, there was a part of him that was trying to hold him back, telling him to listen, to hear the full story, before making a decision.
"You're more important to me than you think," she shouted, staring at him straight in the face. "Look, I'm terribly sorry that you lost your mother, and for not being here for you for the last few days. But please, give me a chance. Let me atone for forgetting you. Please...don't throw this friendship away..."
"Asagi...look," Hayato sighed, "what would you feel, if you were in my position? How would you feel if Julie and Mayura weren't there for you? What do you think you'd react if you were told that they had forgotten about you, because they were after something more important, even if it was to help you?"
"I'd...feel annoyed probably...a bit upset that they couldn't or wouldn't talk to me...but...that's what other friends are for," Asagi sighed. "Look, I'm really sorry about this, but this shouldn't give you reason to get that angry with me. You're being childish about this if you think about it." At least he was calmer about this, so she hoped she could get through this with minimal incident, and patch this up as best she could. "You said it yourself, everyone else tried. I wasn't there, that's fine, you have a right to feel offended by it, but you shouldn't take it to that sort of extreme. How do you think everyone else feels? They're probably frustrated that you haven't been responding to them. Before you go on any further about what I've done to you, think about it for a moment, and try to remember their faces. Think about how they probably looked when they realized that you were still too far out of it to be helped. And then tell me whether it should be me, or you who needs a kick in the pants."
Taking a moment to think, he began to recall all the encounters he had with everyone for a bit, before coming to a rather startling conclusion. "I fucked up didn't I?"
"Not royally, but yeah, you did ignore us," a new voice stated from behind. Watching Hayato turn around, and Asagi peering over his shoulder to look, Syn crossed her arms and gave him a pointed stare through her one eye. "I'm not going to say how you're being an idiot about mourning over your mother, considering how I was there. But yeah...I hate to say this, but I agree with...Asagi." She visibly shuddered from admitting she agreed with Asagi. "But you're being a bit of a kid about this. So how about shut up, and grow up. YOU owe everyone an apology."
"I suppose I should-”
"You can apologize by starting to at least talk to them," Syn stated, cutting off Hayato. "At least they'll know you're at least acknowledging their help, even if it doesn't help much."
"Thanks," Hayato sighed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess I do owe everyone an apology..."
"Sure do," Syn snorted, and started to walk away, only to suddenly stop and look over her shoulder. "Oh, and apology accepted, idiot." Flashing him a quick smile, Syn went back on her way.
Letting out yet again another sigh, Hayato leaned back against the tree before sliding down it into a sitting position. "I guess I owe you an apology as well..."
"Well...you're listening, so I guess apology accepted," Asagi sighed, sitting down next to him. "So...you want to talk about it?"
"I'm...I'm not sure where to started," he answered, looking off towards the sky with a far off expression.
"How about...what are you feeling right now?"
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From one of the many windows of the RF6 building, Himeko and Chikane watched from above as Hayato and Asagi spoke. Although they could easily make arrangements so that they could hear what was being said, they both knew that it wasn't necessary. They could already tell what was being discussed, and what they hoped what would be the first of many steps to them forming a stronger relationship.
"Don't they look cute together, Chikane-chan?" Himeko asked.
"Indeed," Chikane agreed, hugging Himeko from behind. "But I wonder how long it'll take before Hayato says anything, or Asagi catches on."
"I wonder how long before Hayate-san starts making bets," Himeko idly wondered.
"Too late," Chikane sighed, calling up a window that displayed a poll Hayate had already set up concerning the pair, and already people were making bets on how, when, and who would actually said anything. "She works fast."
"That she does," Himeko giggled, kissing Chikane's jaw before the two placed their own bets, if only for their amusement.
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Out on the training fields, Kaon gave the Kaiser Knights a pointed look. “You performed well, for your first real sortie.” Rolling her shoulders, she took a moment to gauge all four knight’s reactions. Among the four, Hitomi was the most composed of them. Of course, it was somewhat natural for her considering that she had experience with military training. Add on to the fact that she had gone through basic training, whatever that exactly was, she was prepared for combat. So the fact she entered combat, despite being a completely rookie, she was ready for it; the other three, not so much on the other hand.
Sakuya did the best of them all. With the fact she was a range fighter, majority of the time she was sitting back gunning down Orphnochs from afar. Kodame and Hikari didn’t fare as well. Unfortunately, they had almost immediately panicked when they had entered the fray. If it hadn’t been for the fact Hitomi had been there, trying her best to keep them calm while instructing them whenever she could, it would’ve been a disastrous ending for them all. However, putting it out of her mind, Kaon brought her attention to the here and now. Looking at all of their faces, she could see that there was some measure of confidence in them all.
“Good expressions,” she commented, examining her nails. “Of course now I’m going to have to fix everything. We’ll start with a 2 lap run around this field, followed by a series of bodybuilding exercises, ending off with another 2 laps around this field.” Staring pointedly at them, she gave them a stare that clearly stated that she would brook no argument from them. “We will conduct these exercises for the next two weeks, before we even begin to start training you on your real combat styles. Until you can develop the required strength and stamina, you are not to sortie. Now get going.” Watching them snap to attention, Hitomi immediately took point and started to lead them through their run. Glancing at the brand new watch she had requested from Vivio, she figured that the training would finish in approximately 3 hours, before she would allow them to break for lunch, and they would meet Nanoha, or someone on her training staff for knowledge instruction. Thankfully she had already studied the information, so that time would most likely be spent observing her Kaiser.
Going over her observations of Hitomi, she wondered if she would make for an appropriate commander for the Kaiser Knights. Having been the first of the four to be selected, she was automatically deemed to be leader of the Knights. She was clearly too soft to ever match up to what other Kaiser Knights were. They’re job was to defend the Kaiser, nothing more, nothing left. For that matter, they should’ve been in the same chamber as the Kaiser, but they had been strictly told to assist with the front line. The first mistake Hitomi had made was not to demand that they were to be attached to the Kaiser’s unit. The second was the fact she broke formation to assist another team. All that mattered was the Kaiser. In the pyramid that was the Chain of Command, they were at the top. All soldiers of the army were below them. All answered to them. They answered to no one, but the Kaiser, and herself. No one had the power to control them. And the sheer fact that they answered to someone beneath them in stature bothered her. She would make sure that they learned. After all, her duty was to the Kaiser.
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Later that night after a long day, Asagi and Mayura entered one of the many restaurants in Mid-Childa, quickly being seated due to their stature, and given their menus.
Dropping down into her seat, Asagi groaned, "What a day..."
"Only because Hayate finally dragged you out by calling you directly, and told you about Hayato-kun," Mayura stated, pointing an accusing finger at Asagi. "You barely budged when we tried to drag you out of the office, but one phone call was all it took to get you off your ass, and seeing him."
"I...uh...well...”
"So tell me...what's so special about Hayato-kun, compared to me or Julie that you'd drop your work for him, but not us?" Mayura pressed on, feigning curiosity. Already she could tell Hayato was gaining a firm foothold in her heart. Despite advising Hayato, she decided to play matchmaker, somewhat. At the very least if she could get Asagi out more often and just be with Hayato. He could use the company anyways, and hopefully it would help relieve the stress. That was of course assuming that James didn't try to make any more moves to goad her. From the one time communication they had established, it was clear that he had something planned against Asagi. But without a clear idea of what they could do to stop him, they could only really sit and wait.
And judging from the tinge of rouge upon her face, and the somewhat confused and flustered face, Mayura had a feeling she was going to have an amusing evening with Asagi.