Lost Eden
Chapter 1: The Quisterra Restoration Council
Kenji Fujima slumped down on one of the empty stools and sighed deeply. The pub was packed as usual in a Friday evening and he had just about had enough of the customers pestering about.
He was no damn prostitute, thank you very much. If it weren't for the fact that he needed the money, he'd be out of this shit hole. Then again, everywhere in Quisterra was a shit hole. This pub, the other one like it just across the street, the apartment he shared with Mitsui. . . .
He'd faced the fact the moment he could think, and at sixteen, he'd grown used to knowing--and accepting--what a dung heap Quisterra really was.
Shaking his head, he ran a hand through his thick brown hair and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the hem of his sleeve. He slowly counted the minutes before his shift would officially be over. But again, as was Fate's most favorite past time--torturing every other, no, make that, EVERY damned person in the fucking universe--the seconds ticked like hours, the minutes ticked like days.
"Hey, cutie! Get me another glass of beer!"
A low growl escaped Fujima's throat. First, because he had been thinking of lying low until his shift was over and before he could even act on it, he'd already been spotted. And second, he hated being called "cutie". He was no girl, and he was definitely not some little trollop who'd throw himself about. Especially, to drunk and dirty men with rotting yellow teeth and bad breath.
People like that bumbling oaf who had just ordered another glass of beer. He was always there. Fujima had no idea where the dunce got the money to spend on beer and smoke and--he just got that bad taste in his mouth--harlots, but this guy had definitely been checking him out for quite a while now.
How he wished Mitsui worked here with him. Then his friend could teach that dolt a thing or two about personal hygiene--among other things. Passing by a couple of tables as he made his way to the bar, another couple of dimwits propositioned him. He ignored the first one, and had been very tempted to smash his tray onto the second one's head, but after being reprimanded repeatedly over not showing the proper "courtesy" to paying customers, he learned to control himself and ignored him too.
Just as he was reaching the bar, a third one came up to him and propositioned him in a rather polite--no, make that in a NOT-SO rude way. He had enough courtesy to not-so rude people--having to deal with the worst of the lot most of time in his god-forsaken life--and so he quietly shook his head before stepping past the man and to the bar to get the other stupid man his stupid drink. Yep. He was never good at remembering names--or more frankly, he only remembered the names of the people who counted.
That's his flat mate, Mitsui and . . . that's about it.
Not that he found complete displeasure at the attention. He was flattered to a certain extent--about one percent of what he felt, the entire ninety-nine was, of course, a different matter. And with a bunch of drunks being the ones giving the attention, that small one percent was dropping down to zero at an alarming rate.
Its not that he didn't like men--he liked men a LOT. If Mitsui wasn't his friend and he wasn't too keen on keeping him as a friend, he'd have jumped him long before. Its just that there were never any decent men in Quisterra--at least not in his part of the planet, the people there knew nothing but drink. Then again, when you lived in Quisterra, what else was left to do? And also, there were few men--and women--in the ghastly place to begin with.
If there was just one decent guy who'd come up to him and ask him to be with him for life, he'd accept it without any hesitation--mainly because decent guys were so rare and he knew when to take the opportunity when it was offered. And having an ACTUAL decent guy propose to you was a single chance in a billion.
But, as Fate was happily pulling her strings, he hadn't come across one decent guy in sixteen years--besides Mitsui and he'd already crossed him out as a possible lover--and he had this gut feeling he wouldn't run across one, more so, make him fall madly in love with him, in the next two decades at the least.
"What's taking so damn long?" he suddenly snapped at the bartender. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the delay--perhaps his shift would be over by the time the beer arrives and he wouldn't have to come to that disgusting slob of a man to serve him his drink.
The bartender looked at him tiredly. "We're out, I just checked. They're refilling. It might take a while."
"Oh." They could take their time.
Leaning on the bar, he crossed his arms after pulling his sleeves up to his elbows. It was so damn hot.
Busying himself with his feet tracing the cracks on the tiled floor underneath him and shutting out the buzz of all the people in the pub, he almost missed one particular conversation that had been the topic of his and Mitsui's early morning debates lately.
A couple just a few meters away from him were discussing in not-so-hushed tones about what was perhaps the most interesting--and ostentatious--thing that had ever and would ever happen to Quisterra yet.
"The Quisterra Restoration Council members are being finalized tonight," one of them said--Fujima wasn't sure which one though as both faces were quite hidden from view by several burly men leaning on the bar counter. Luckily, they were conked out from drinking too much that only their snores filled the air and as loud as they were, they didn't completely drown out the sound of the conversation Fujima had interest enough to listen in.
Edging a bit to his right, he tried to look around the unconscious men lying face down on the counter without being too conspicuous--to no avail.
With a shrug, he sat on the stool closest to him and contented himself with just listening.
"Why just now?" the other one said.
"BECAUSE people keep backing out. We have efficient men and women but very few of those have the commitment to take up something of this caliber," the first one answered.
"Hmm, I suppose. . . ."
"This is the first time you've agreed with me on something tonight, did you know that?"
"Er--"
"Oh, shut up and finish your drink. We have to go."
"Hey! What--"
"And don't start with me because I know the moment you start its going to be hell making you stop so be a good subordinate to your superior, chug down your drink and get your butt off your stool. Oh wait, don't go so fast. You're a klutz when you're in a hurry."
"I resent that!"
Fujima chuckled slightly. Well, he liked the first guy's attitude. . . .
"Yo, Fujima! Beer's ready!"
Fujima groaned. "Yeah, coming." Jumping off his seat, he marched towards the bar, grumbling about his rotten streak of bad luck that just goes on and on and. . . .
"Oomph!"
A rather large body collided into him and Fujima found himself lying flat on his back, Fate and her strings dancing around his head with a big smile on her face.
"Oh, I'm sorry," said a deep voice and a strong hand grabbed his shoulder before gently setting him back onto his feet again.
"Hey, Maki. You were saying about klutzes and hurrying up?"
"Hanamichi," the man said in a warning tone before he looked down at Fujima. "You all right?"
Fujima blinked and shook his head to clear it. He blinked a couple of times more to clear his vision and he found himself face to face--well, not REALLY face to face as the other man was taller--with what perhaps was the hottest guy he'd ever laid eyes on in . . . well, since he first laid eyes on Mitsui. But then again, Mitsui was . . . Mitsui. This guy was . . . this guy was . . . well, he had no idea, but tall, dark and handsome coupled with a really great body and sexy voice, oh, and PLUS manners was DEFINITELY something he didn't see everyday.
He nodded dumbly, a soft, "Eh," escaping his lips.
The man smiled at him. "That's good." He turned to his companion which, Fujima just noticed, was a rather tall one with a shocking mop of red hair. He was also quite a looker--handsome face, strong built. . . .
"Let's go."
Alarm bells went off Fujima's head. No way was he letting this guy leave without even knowing . . . well, ANYTHING about him.
"Ah, wait, I haven't seen you around this place before," Fujima began, feeling a bit stupid. "You guys new here?"
"Oh, we're from the new office," the man replied. "QRC?"
Quisterra Restoration Council. So they were talking about business a while ago. Who would have guessed?
"Yeah, that's real interesting," Fujima said lamely, thinking of something witty or interesting to say. He new the Quisterra Restoration Council and of how Ryota Miyagi--the newly-appointed Consul of Quisterra--had disbanded the former group due to incompetence and was establishing a new one. Personally, Fujima didn't see the point in thew restoration. He'd lived on Quisterra long enough to know what a hopeless case it is, but he couldn't say that to a possible QRC member.
"Well, we have to go. Got a meeting in a few minutes." The man looked at his watch before turning back to him. "It was nice meeting you. I'm Shinichi Maki, by the way." He held out his hand.
Fujima shook it, trying hard not to blush. "Uh, yeah . . ."
"This is Hanamichi Sakuragi," Maki introduced his friend.
The redhead nodded at him, looking slightly peeved about something--Fujima guessed it was still about Maki's comment about him being a klutz when in a hurry.
And then Maki looked at him expectantly.
Fujima blinked. "Hm?"
"Well, it would be pretty nice to know your name."
"Oh!" Fujima almost slapped himself. "Uh, my name. . . . It's . . . it's . . ." He blinked a couple of times. He could have sworn he knew his name a few seconds ago . . .
"Ei, Fujima! The beer!"
Fujima twirled around to face the bartender who was looking at him with an eyebrow raised, a glass of beer in his hand. "Er, coming!"
"So, Fujima, eh?" Maki said with a small smile. "Pleasure meeting you, Fujima."
"Uh, thanks?" Fujima said, and this time, he REALLY slapped himself.
"Fujima! Are you working here or not?!"
Fujima groaned. "Yeah, yeah. . . ."
"We have to go. See you around," Maki said before heading for the pub exit and disappearing through the doors, Hanamichi not far behind.
Fujima sighed heavily and buried his face in his hands. First decent guy he met and he blew it! Damn, he hated this place.
Banging his head a couple of times with his tray, he headed for the bar to get the stupid drink from the stupid bartender to deliver to the stupid lout, all the while thinking, "I HAVE to get out of this fucking planet!!!"
***
Sakuragi kicked a random pebble on the road as he followed Maki down the never-crowded streets of the Quisterran town. He was bored as hell. After being stationed to man the new office of the QRC built in this boring little community where pubs were apparently the main source of income--AND the main cause of expense, he had pretty much nothing to do but sit and mope and get bossed around.
He hated being bossed around. But it WAS his first year in the Quisterra Restoration Council and he was determined to stay as long as possible--which meant he had to take crap from his superiors as much as he hated doing it. Besides, it was all he had left. Maki, Ryota and Kogure and the rest of the QRC people were his family. His only family. Of course, he wouldn't admit that to anyone, especially Maki--the guy being the stuck up stag that he was. Although Maki DID have a lot of things to be stuck up about--and one of them was being QRC's top man at the age of eighteen.
There were also a lot of things that intrigued Sakuragi about the other man. For one, he didn't seem too interested in settling down.
"Hey Maki," he said as they rounded one corner. "You ever planning on marrying?"
"I'm eighteen."
"Most people marry at eighteen."
"In this planet, yes," Maki said. "But eighteen's still too young an age."
Sakuragi laughed out loud. "Are you saying you're young, Maki? Just in case you haven't noticed, you don't look eighteen at all."
"Shut up."
Sakuragi rolled his eyes. "You're no fun."
Maki ignored him and kept on walking.
Sakuragi, being one who wasn't used to people not talking--or more exactly, HE wasn't used to not talking, spoke up again. "You know, Maki, I didn't really ask if you were to marry now. I asked if you ever plan to."
Silence.
"Well, do you?"
Maki stopped walking and turned to him. "Sakuragi, this is Quisterra. You don't start families in Quisterra."
Sakuragi blinked. Well, yeah. that was true. Few families could ever flourish in Quisterra. You would have to migrate and THEN you could breed like rabbits all you want. But that wasn't his point.
"I'm not talking about starting a family, Maki."
Maki sighed, exasperated. "What else is the purpose of marriage, Sakuragi?" he asked before proceeding to walk in a much faster pace.
Sakuragi didn't have problems catching up. "You're so technical, aren't you? Well let me change the question for you then. You ever plan on hooking up with someone? When I said hooking up, I didn't mean marriage, okay? I meant--"
"I know what you meant," Maki muttered. " Sakuragi, you don't PLAN hooking up. It just happens."
"How do YOU know, it's not like you ever got together with somebody before--don't deny it."
"I won't," Maki said. "But that's beside the point. I've met and seen enough people and I know it isn't a matter of planning."
"Then it's a matter of what?"
"Circumstance."
"Excuse me?"
"And maybe even fate."
That made the redhead pause for one brief second. Maki believing in fate? Well, that was something new. "Uh-huh. Whatever you say."
"You don't sound convinced."
"You noticed?"
Maki laughed softly. "I don't know. I never thought about it before. And why have you been asking me these questions all of a sudden?"
"I was just curious," Sakuragi admitted. "Because by the off chance that you find someone and decide to marry her, then the QRC would be needing a new head. The opportunity is perfect for me to step in . . ."
"If I ever DO leave the QRC, Sakuragi," Maki said as they passed through the gates of the QRC Main Office in the region, "it would be Kogure who'd replace me, most likely. And NOT you."
Sakuragi grinned. "Ah, but Kogure's such a sweetie. He wouldn't mind giving the position up for someone more capable. . . ."
"More capable than him?" Maki asked. "Besides me, I can't think of anyone else. Can you?"
Sakuragi's eyes narrowed into slits. "Why you--"
Maki shook his head as he reached for the knob of the front door and turned it.
The two stepped into the small regional office of the Quisterra Restoration Council. It still needed a bit of tidying up, but it had somehow been reduced to what could be considered an office than the huge dump it had been that morning. Eight tables were neatly aligned, four on each side with their respective chairs. Two couches sat by the front door across each other while the small staircase on the other end had been cleared of some hazardous materials most of which were composed of banana peels from Sakuragi's eating spree that morning.
Sakuragi whistled under his breath. "Man, Kogure sure works fast."
"Smart, efficient and a fast worker," Maki said with a nod. "So you see, Sakuragi, there's no competition."
"Maki, you're cutting your life short."
Maki ignored him with a small laugh and peered over a tall stack of papers on one of the tables to find Kogure, head resting on his arms as he slept his exhaustion off, glasses askew.
Sakuragi was less subtle though and when he reached forward to tap Kogure awake, his arm knocked back the stacks of papers sending everything crashing to the floor in a messy heap.
Kogure sat bolt upright immediately. "What the--" Then he groaned, burying his face in his hands when he saw the mess Sakuragi had made. "I spent three hours arranging them from page one to six hundred!"
Maki sighed heavily and bent forward to retrieve some of the papers. "What are these?"
"Reports," Kogure said, looking as if he was close to panicking. He scooped up as many of the papers as he could, dumped it on his desk and began to look for the first page. "They're filtering from everywhere. Mainly from Asa. It's about Minami. It seems he's trying to sabotage the Restoration again. We've got supplies ordered from Asa and Rhea and they're stuck by the sentry point."
"Sentry point?"
"Yeah," Kogure said, finally pulling out the first page and was now looking for page two as Sakuragi piled up the rest of the papers in random order on the floor. "Sentry POINTS, actually. Genuseris started to plant them everywhere."
"They can't do that."
"They can, actually," Kogure said. "A small congregation was held the other day in Frater--it's not supposed to go public until tomorrow. Minami managed to coerce the Frater, Vehetus and Asa Dominus to sign a military alliance treaty with them. They have right of sentries in all areas of the three planets. And the supplies would have to pass by Asa to get to Quisterra, which is the problem. The sentries are blocking them. Consul Miyagi was negotiating with them a while ago, I don't know if they were able to reach a compromise."
"Damn. Minami really hates us, doesn't he?" Sakuragi muttered from the floor.
"Wait a second. A military alliance?" Maki asked. "For what? There's no war to fight out there."
"Well, apparently a couple of legions have been spotted just by the borders of the system and the leaders have reason to believe it's from the Tesca System."
"Tesca?"
"Rumors say the Tesca Federation's planning an invasion. Genuseris proposed to start a federation of our own--just for precaution or at least that's what they were saying. The Frater, Vehetus and Asa Dominus were pretty much convinced. The Rhea Dominus and Fidelis Dominus are thinking about it. Our Consul smells foul play."
"Of course it's foul," Maki said, standing up. "The legions spotted were probably theirs in the guise of Tesca soldiers. They're just thinking of a way to get back the hold they had on the system when Taoka was still the Aquila Potens."
"Well, actually, if that was true, then they've succeeded. At least halfway. They still need to convince Fidelis, Asa and Quisterra. Asa and Fidelis won't hold out too long, I'm sure," Kogure said, just about close to finding the fifteenth page.
"This is just great," Sakuragi muttered, finally finishing his random piling and was starting to stand up.
"Thanks," Kogure said, smile a bit strained. Maki knew Kogure would have to sort out through the rest of the papers and it would've been better if Sakuragi hadn't put them together to make a messy pile of his own. But, of course, Kogure remained quiet about it.
"It amazes me how you could be so nice," Maki commented with a small frown.
Kogure chose to ignore that comment. "If you really want the details, why don't you ask the Consul himself? He's upstairs."
"What?" Sakuragi asked, jumping and sending his pile of papers crashing down once more. "Oh no--" He bent down to pick them up.
"No!" Kogure said, shooting up from his chair and raising his hands. "Don't! Er, leave them to me. Yeah. I'll handle it."
"You sure?"
"Sure!" Kogure said with an enthusiastic nod. "Go up the stairs now. Go. Go. PLEASE go."
Sakuragi shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Maki suppressed a laugh as he made his way up the wooden staircase with Sakuragi right behind him. Faintly he heard a, "All right, five hundred and eighty-one pages left to go."
Shaking his head, he entered the single room upstairs where behind the small wooden desk sat a little man in a suit, a phone receiver stuck to his face and piles of papers lying on his desk and on his lap.
This man with the short and curly black hair and the worn-out expression on his face was the Consul of Quisterra, Ryota Miyagi. At the young age of twenty he had been put into power by the Quisterran people and he seemed to look the worst for wear at that moment. Dark circles were under his eyes and his skin was paler than usual.
"Yeah, yeah," Miyagi was saying. He raised a finger and mouthed "In a minute," to the two of them before returning to the conversation. "I understand. But we need those supplies as soon as possible. . . . Don't give me that crap. Get it done. . . . Well, Minami doesn't seem to be too enthusiastic in sorting out the situation, just in case you haven't noticed--that is if he wasn't responsible for the delay in the first pla--WHAT? Well, don't blame me if you can't make a decision for yourself. You call yourself a leader? For crying out loud, if you can't help me, just say it out loud--yeah, yeah, I get the picture. . . . No thanks. I'm sending my own men over. Thanks for nothing." With that, he slammed the receiver back on it's base and smashed his head once on the desk.
Sakuragi was on his feet immediately. "Hey, easy there, buddy. You okay?"
Miyagi shot up, grinding his palms down on the solid oak of his table. "Do I look like I'm okay, Sakuragi?!?!?! I'm close to the edge! I've just about had enough of Minami! I've had enough of this planet! I've had enough of this system!"
"Hey, hey, hey," Sakuragi said, reaching out and patting the Consul on the shoulder. "Don't give up on us. You're the CONSUL for crying out loud."
"I'm too young for this--" He looked over Sakuragi's shoulder to Maki. "Care to trade places?"
Maki approached him and smiled sympathetically. "Just take it easy. What's the problem?"
"That was the Asa Dominus," Miyagi said, falling back onto his seat. "The gist of it is that I was calling him and asking him to handle the situation about the supplies--since it IS in his planet's territory--but he says he can't do anything about it. He's a weak old dunce."
"And?"
"I'm sending some men over."
"Us?" Sakuragi asked. It was usually them. And the redhead was more than excited with the prospect. He'd been stuck in this region for too damn long.
Miyagi shook his head. "No. I have something else to have you do."
Maki frowned. "Is that what the meeting is all about?"
"Part of it," Miyagi said. "Maki I'm removing you as the head of the QRC."
Maki blinked. "What?"
Sakuragi was surprised himself. Maki was the best head the Quisterra Restoration Council has ever had. Why would Miyagi remove him?
"Don't take me wrong, you're the best man for the job. But the task I'm giving you would require so much of your time--you wouldn't be able to manage the QRC anymore," Miyagi said quickly.
"What kind of task is it?"
Miyagi took a deep breath. "Investigation, Maki. Minami's up to something and we need to place a finger on it before it completely gets out of control. I need proof. Proof against Minami that's strong enough to convince the other planets that we're heading for trouble in this federation scheme of his."
Sakuragi's eyes widened. "You're asking us to dig up some dirt on him?"
"I'm asking you to find out if the dirt really is there--although I'm pretty sure it is," Miyagi said, "and what its about."
"And when we do get to the bottom of this, what do you plan to do?" Maki asked carefully.
"It depends," Miyagi said, sitting back down and running a hand through his disheveled hair. "If the Tesca System really plans to make an attack then I'm all for the federation scheme. But if Genuseris is just playing games with us, then I'll do my best to show the other leaders the truth."
"How long do we have?" Maki inquired after a few minutes of silence.
Sakuragi frowned. "We?"
"I assume Sakuragi's with me on this?"
"Yep. You're going with him, Sakuragi" Miyagi said with a nod. "And Kogure too. I want the three of you on this job. The next congregation--Its public this time.--will be in two months. You have until that time to sort things out."
Maki nodded. "I understand."
"I really appreciate this," said Miyagi and looking it.
Maki shrugged. "Part of the job. Come on, Sakuragi."
The redhead blinked a couple of times more before waving good-bye to Miyagi and scrambling to catch up with Maki. "Hey, where do we start with this thing?"
"We check the positions of the Genuseris' sentries," Maki answered simply, reaching the bottom of the stairs and approaching Kogure. "Leave that to the others. We're going."
Kogure peered over the already tall stack of papers in front of him, clutching the bundle as he spotted Sakuragi. "Where?"
"On a trip. To Asa."
"Asa?" Kogure repeated, standing up.
"I'll tell you the details on the way, meanwhile, I need some information on those sentries," Maki was saying as he hauled Kogure from his place behind the table and to the door.
"Er, I have some files at the apartment--"
"Get them and pack your stuff," Maki said. "Good for two months."
Kogure's eyes widened. "Two months?"
Maki nodded. "Two months." He turned to Sakuragi. "Get moving. There's little time to waste."
Sakuragi sighed. Well, he wouldn't be bored to hell anymore, but he'll still be bossed around pretty much. He shrugged. At least there was SOME improvement there.
~~~ End Chapter 1 ~~~