Note:

On the topic of samurai functioning as police, the nonfiction book Secrets of the Samurai mentions that samurai clans had military police. These special samurai had authority not just over commoners but also over other samurai. The Tokugawa shogunate took the military police organization to a whole different level, resulting in a police state.


While Shichiroji was doing his progress checks with his program instructors and taking the tests for his classes, Kanbei decided to while away his time in the campus' sake house. He could have left the campus and gone to one of the geisha houses in downtown Sai'an, but Shimada Kanbei had little interest in the pleasures of the floating world. He did not mind having a drink, however. It was one of the few vices he indulged, if that could be called a vice at all.

It was after he had ordered a bottle of white rice wine that he noticed the strange sight of a young woman sitting alone at another table 12 feet away, poring over her textbook while drinking rather vehemently. The woman was clearly older than Shichiroji, but probably younger than Kanbei. In fact, she appeared to be about Chihiro's age at the time Kanbei's betrothed wife passed away. "Perhaps she is a graduate student," the young officer thought.

"Does alcohol help one's concentration?" Kanbei wondered as he stared at the odd spectacle of the hard-drinking student. But that was not the only reason the soldier was staring at the strange woman. From where Shimada Kanbei sat, he could see her profile, which strongly resembled Chihiro's. In fact, the female student could almost pass for Chihiro from what he could see of her. Like Kanbei's former fiancée, this young woman had very dark skin and pale blue hair. "Is she a Northlander?" Kanbei wondered. The combination of dark skin and pale hair was more common among the inhabitants of the North Sector, though people of such coloration were not limited to the northern states. Chihiro's family were not Northlanders. They had been living in the West Sector for generations. What made Kanbei ask if this female student was a Northlander was not her coloration. It was the five rings in her earlobe – the fisherfolk and farmers of the Northlands had the custom of piercing their ears in multiple spots, some wearing up to 9 earrings on a single ear. Lieutenant Colonel Shimada had encountered Northlander peasants while the Allied Air Force was fighting on the northern front.

Kanbei must have stared at the stranger for a little too long, for at that moment the student turned towards the dark handsome man with an annoyed look on her face. It was then Kanbei realized that the front view of the woman's face did not look like Chihiro's. And this stranger had silver eyes, not Chihiro's pale blue.

Kanbei quickly averted his gaze and turned his attention back to his drink. But it was too late.

"Just what are you looking at?!!" The woman barked at the samurai officer who commanded mighty mecha and brave men.

"So I have aroused the ire of a mean drunk," Kanbei thought. By now any imagined resemblance this young woman bore to Chihiro had evaporated from Kanbei's mind. It was only too apparent to the dark-haired samurai that this stranger did not have the pleasant disposition and graceful demeanor of the late Miss Hasegawa.

"I sincerely apologize for my rudeness," the dark man addressed the irate student in an amiable tone, "I did not intend any disrespect. You reminded me of someone I used to know, that's all."

The student's down-turned lips drooped even further as she glared at him.

"She is probably thinking this is the oldest pickup line in the world," Kanbei thought, "but I really did not mean it that way!"

The woman shifted her position slightly, turning in her seat to face him with a somewhat aggressive posture that the seasoned soldier knew by experience could launch into a combat stance in an instant.

"Just how many bar brawls has she been in?" the samurai wondered.

But the handsome officer decided he should keep his silence instead of trying to explain matters to this bellicose stranger. Anything he could say now would probably worsen the situation. As those angry gray eyes continued to bore into him, Kanbei wondered if this was going to turn into a sake house brawl. The well-trained samurai would have no difficulty winning a bar fight against the average college student, but he would rather not have to do so. Fortunately, the angry scholar turned her attention back to her book after giving Kanbei one last disgusted glare.

The squadron commander concentrated on his wine cup until Shichiroji came by the sake house to collect him.

"A tiger out of the forest can be bullied by a dog, or so the saying goes," the Lieutenant Colonel gave a wry smile to himself as he cast one parting glance at the dark-skinned student hunched over her book and pondered how little power he had outside the world of warriors.

--

"Sai'an University is an odd place," Shichiroji said to his friend while they were picking up their weapons from the campus security office.

"Why do you say so?" Kanbei asked.

"I've been told that there is an unspoken rule here: casual acquaintances are not allowed to ask each other which state they come from to avoid an awkward situation in case their states are on different sides of the war."

"That makes sense," Kanbei said as the two samurai in civilian clothes walked down the wide concrete path leading away from the campus.

"There's another weird rule they have here too," Shichiroji continued, "It is not proper etiquette to ask about someone's class origins until one reaches a high level of familiarity with him/her. But the rule is rather pointless because someone's class background is usually quite apparent from their department of study. For example, everyone in the military science program is a samurai. Not all are from high-ranking families, but the open secret is that everyone there, instructors and students, are samurai. And close to everyone in the Business Administration and Economics departments are from the merchant class. And the people in the School of Applied Arts are mostly from the artisan class. And it goes without saying who attends the School of Agricultural Sciences."

"Peasants in university?" Kanbei had never before considered the idea. In his 30 years, he had taken very little time to understand the lives of people outside the warrior caste.

--

It would probably be three more months before the squadron would be rotated back to the front. Shichiroji hoped to finish the first quarter's syllabus before going back into battle. The young samurai went to campus about twice a week to hand in his homework and meet with his instructors. This day, Kanbei had some free time after completing his duties, so he accompanied his orderly to Sai'an City.

The two unarmed samurai parted ways outside the academic building of the military studies department. Remembering the sake house incident, Kanbei decided to wait for Shichiroji at the campus teahouse instead. But as luck would have it, he saw that fierce silver-eyed woman the moment he stepped into the teahouse. The ebony-skinned scholar was now dressed in the manner of a waitress. At that moment, she was facing away from the entrance, taking an order from a party of four students. Kanbei paused at the doorway momentarily, but never one to back down in the face of an 'enemy', the samurai officer nonchalantly strolled in and took a seat at an empty table that was not too far off and not too close. He picked up a newspaper and started browsing it.

"Excuse me, sir?" A voice spoke next to him. "Can I take your order please?" Kanbei turned and looked into the waitress' gray eyes. She started slightly when she recognized the dark man. For a moment, they stared at each other.

"Brother, I'm sorry about last time," the blue-haired waitress finally said, "I was in a foul mood when we crossed paths at the sake house. And I was rather drunk at that time, as you probably guessed. Though I don't think inebriation is a worthy excuse for my poor showing, I want you to know my conduct had nothing to do with you, and I hope you will accept my apologies."

"No apology needed," Kanbei said graciously, "I was the one who was rude. But I spoke the truth. You reminded me of someone I knew before."

"Someone who has passed?" the woman could not help asking curiously, noting that the man spoke in the past tense.

"Yes," Kanbei replied in a neutral voice, "She died more than three years ago."

"I'm sorry," the female student responded as she noted the vague pain that clouded those seemingly calm dark eyes, "Forgive me for asking."

"I hope I did not offend by bringing up the dead," the samurai in civilian clothes replied.

"No offense is taken," the student waitress answered, "I hope I did not intrude with my inquisitiveness."

"No offense is taken," Kanbei spoke in turn.

"Forgive me," the woman said, "I should not be wasting your time with idle talk. What kind of tea would you like?"

"No, you're not wasting my time at all," the dark-eyed man told her. "But I would like some red tea."

--

Kanbei had finished his pot of red tea and was reading a newspaper article about a samurai police crackdown on an anti-war protest in Sayama Prefecture. 231 protesters from the artisan, merchant and outcast classes were arrested for civil disobedience and imprisoned. Some claimed to have been severely beaten. Among them were the famed pottery master Sugiyama Souichiro and outcast rights activist Mikoto of the Yoshicho District.

"We never read about such things in the military newspaper. I wonder how true such news is." Kanbei was musing when he heard a tap on the glass window next to him. It was Shichiroji standing outside the teahouse. "I'm done," the young blond mouthed to his friend.

"Will be with you in a moment," Kanbei said soundlessly, trusting Shichiroji to lip read through the glass. Then he laid down the newspaper and called out to the waitress.

The woman with light blue hair promptly made her way over to his table. When Kanbei asked for the bill, she said, "Don't concern yourself with the bill, brother. The tea is on me." The waitress smiled at him. "Take it as an apology for my bad behavior the other day."

"You really don't have to," Kanbei protested mildly. "I should pay."

"No, I insist," the student waitress said firmly.

"In that case, I thank you," the samurai officer responded graciously. "I hope you will allow me to return the favor sometime."

Then the tall man bowed slightly to her before turning to leave the teahouse to join Shichiroji. Once outside, the dark warrior could not help glancing back through the glass window into the campus teahouse. The young woman was now clearing his table. She did not look up from her work.


Author's Comment:

"A tiger out of the forest can be bullied by a dog" is adapted from a Chinese saying. "A tiger down in the plains is bullied by a dog"