Sakamoto is now sharing a room with Akimitsu and


Chapter 8: We Are One

Sakamoto walked across the hallways towards the army base to find Akimitsu and soon enough, he sees his wolf friend standing across the door and he said, "Hey there."

"Hey, Sakamoto." Akimitsu replied.

Both of them entered inside the room and Sakamoto took one look at this room and it's very different from the other sleeping quarters he had slept the first night and Akimitsu said, "It's not really much, but you know...it's kinda roomy and things like that. Excellent view too."

Sakamoto looked at what Akimitsu's view is and from what it is...he noticed that Akimitsu is spying on all the girls in the showers and that was definitely not something he expected and he asked, "That view?"

Akimitsu was surprised that Sakamoto was standing right behind him and jumped back and turned to him, chuckling nervously at this and said, "Well...sometimes I tend to...just observe."

Sakamoto folded his arms at that in a stern manner and said, "Uh-huh. So you're just looking around to observe them?"

"You could call it that. I mean, I'm sure you've done the same thing too." Akimitsu said.

Sakamoto nodded his head and he responded, "Never. My father has always taught me to respect women and never spy, touch or flirt in any way with them."

Akimitsu closed his eyes at this and he lets out a huge sigh and said, "I wish I had a code like that. Normally when I follow them in the shower, they'd slap me in the face, call me a pervert and all those other things. I got it from my dad. But whenever I see them, I can't help myself. I can't stop staring at them. It's a guy thing, you know?"

Sakamoto nods his head and he unpacks his stuff to get himself settled in and Akimitsu said, "Sorry if I made you a little weirded out."

"Oh, no. You don't have to apologize. I'm just kinda surprised you'd do stuff like that. Especially since you're an army fighter." Sakamoto answered.

"Well...that's not all of it. Sometimes, I just want any girl to like me and hope that this is the one...one that I can spend the rest of my life with. So...I do stupid things to impress them. And honestly...none of them are interested because I always end up getting beaten up, tied down or one takes my clothes and leaves me stranded naked or half naked. It's...it's not fun." Akimitsu explained.

"I see." Sakamoto replied.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" asked Akimitsu.

Sakamoto looked at Akimitsu in the eye and replied, "Yes, I do. Her name is Bao-Yi. She's the most beautiful woman this side of Shanghai Secluded Valley."

Sakamoto took out a picture of Bao-Yi and gives it to Akimitsu and his response was surprising and the white wolf said, "Wow...she does look wonderful."

"Yes. We've been together for a long time now." Sakamoto added.

Akimitsu gives the picture back to Sakamoto and he sat down on his bed and puts his paws on his head in frustration and sighed heavily. He then said, "Sakamoto...have you ever had one of those days where you say to yourself, 'What is my purpose of being here?' Like, questioning yourself if you're good enough here?"

Sakamoto turned to Akimitsu in surprise to that question and he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well...since I've been here, I've tried everything I could to prove myself that I can be a better fighter, but the only thing I'm good at messing things up. I have great skills and abilities, but I just keep kicking myself everytime it's not good enough. You know, I've tried really hard to make everyone take me seriously, but I worry that I made cause an embarrassment to China, Japan and my father. And he served in the war with this guy, Oak Sung. What if...what if I'm not good enough as he is?" asked Akimitsu.

Sakamoto was pleasantly surprised that Akimitsu second guessed himself whether he's a good fighter or not and he sat down next to him and said, "Listen, it does not matter whether you want to make everyone else proud. If you try your best to exceed everyone's expectations to please them, why are you focused on what other people think?"

"I've been living under my dad's shadow for so many years and everyone expects something of me and as hard as I try, it just fails. Most times I do get it right, but I still ask myself, 'why am I here?' every day." Akimitsu added.

"Well...why are you here?" asked Sakamoto.

"I don't know. I...I guess I wanna try to prove to myself that I'm more than just Hayate's son. That I can be a warrior in my own right and not be labeled as a screw-up." Akimitsu added.

Sakamoto blinked his eyes at this and he said, "I wanna tell you something that my father told me before. You should do what pleases you and not what everyone else expects you to be. Do not worry about what others think about you. Just do what you came here for...fight for China and Japan. We love our countries and we will do whatever we can to make sure that our rights and freedom will be around. Just focus on what you came here to do and you can't control what other people say or do. Just do what pleases you."

Akimitsu began to have a moment of clarity over what Sakamoto said and he realizes that he's pushed himself to prove everyone else's that he's not a screw-up instead of focusing on what he came to do and he looks at Sakamoto and said, "You really believe that?"

"Yes, I do." Sakamoto added.

Sakamoto's wisdom immediately sparks a huge amount of reflection on Akimitsu and he never met someone like him before. Akimitsu then asked, "What's your father's name?"

"Oak Sung."

Akimitsu's eyes widened up after he heard that name and he soon found himself in shock that he's partnered up with Oak Sung's son and never knew about it. He then chuckled softly and asked, "What?"

"Shocking, I know. But I'm not here for any special treatment or whatever. I just wanna have a regular experience in the army. I love this country and I'd do anything to fight for it." Sakamoto replied.

Akimitsu was still in shock, but it eventually calmed down and he said, "I understand. You're a Bushido-Akio?"

"Yep. No big deal." Sakamoto added.

Sakamoto got up and went to his bed and he looked at Akimitsu and said, "It's gonna be exciting training and fighting the Mongols side by side with you."

"I feel the same." Akimitsu said, with a smile.

"Looks like we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow, so we should get some sleep." Sakamoto added.

Akimitsu agreed with that as he laid his head against the mattress and he said to Sakamoto, "Thanks for coming by to help me fight those Mongols. I never would've done it on my own."

"What are army partners for? You look out for each other." Sakamoto added.

Sakamoto was right on that and Akimitsu was appreciative of what his new friend and partner has done and he said, "I'll keep that in mind."


And a friendship starts to emerge. Next up, it's training day for Sakamoto and Akimitsu!