Most days, Akari liked to pretend that he cannot hear how they whispered behind his back, how he is detested and hated, be it in jealousy or for some slight he may have unknowingly done. Some days, the rare day when his armour has been weakened, he does hear the mutterings and ill will from all around him and it would be all too much. Those days, he was ill fit for company, he would take to the deeper laboratories where he would then lose himself in his research. It was best for both him and those who wag their tongues. He knew how sharp his tongue could be at the best of times, at his worst he knew he could be more than a terror.
The moment before leaving for the battlefield was not the best of times for both the muttering and his current dismal disposition. But he could neither stop his people from talking nor send them away. Negativity was a dangerous thing in the battlefield and they were about to enter their version of a warzone. Still it was difficult to just let it slide off him, like water on feathers. "If you are all done griping about being pulled away from your comfortable beds in the Research Tower, it won't go amiss if the kits are all checked and secured and all medical teams are separated to their assigned areas."
This was greeted with some enthusiastic yeses from most, but anger or disgruntlement from others. The group could be easily separated into two distinct groups. The newer, younger combat medics, the unbloodied ones, the ones who has yet to go on one of these kind of missions. They were the ones who groused and grumbled. The "bloodied veterans" knew his words for what it was. It spoke to them 'take your positions and ready your weapons, this is what we have trained for.' Akari knew it will not be long before their innocence will be lost in what Circus battles entail. It was nothing to the sterile, contained rooms of the Research Tower.
For most Circus combatants, the cold metal walls of the Airship were where safety was. The haven from the skirmishes that would be all around the ship. For Akari and his team, it was the battle zone where they fight for the lives of the defenders of their people. The last place for infighting or low morale. Akari just needed to beat that into the heads of the uninitiated twits.
A chuckle heard from the entrance of the landing bay was both welcome and peeving. The shock of red hair and wide grin were unmistakable as the First Airship Captain made his entrance with several Rabbits in tow. "Don't push them too hard little Akari. They'll be stressed enough once the mission commences."
"Tsukitachi, you coddle your subordinates!"
"You are one to talk, I wasn't the one who asked their subordinates if they used insect repellants on themselves."
Tit for tat. "Rude as ever."
"Only the truth for our little Akari."
And from that simple exchange Akari knew Tsukitachi has raised the survival rate of the Airship one crew from 70% to a good 90% survival expectation for the battle. A distracted Akari, though not useless and as confident as he is with his skills, was still not the best candidate to lead a medical team in a Circus operation, definitely not in the scale that they were going to at present. But a fully invested one was a force to be reckoned with even for death. It was a distraction tactic worthy of the rank 1 combatant that Tsukitachi was touted as.
Tsukitachi, on the other hand, had his hands full. Though his own subordinates were done, all already briefed with the day's operation and only the last checks with their Circus bracelets before the mission start was left, there was still the Medical team to settle in. The team itself was easy enough to organize and station, it was getting the SSS to stay safe within his Airship that was tricky. He had no leverage to speak off against the other and he was loathed to use the same tactics as his colleague and his brother…
Truly, a difficult position for someone like him used to having everything falling into place as he has planned and positioned many steps before hand. And one wrong move on his part and he knew he will have not only the National Defence Organization, but the wrath of two of the most dangerous men he has ever had the misfortune to have 'befriended.' Such was the tightrope he needed to traverse.
Akari would wipe the grin off of his former students face had he the ability to do so. As verbally taking him down was the only option afforded to him, so as always, he opted for that route. "If you are done lazing about your ship, I suggest you make yourself useful."
"And how do you propose I do that little Akari? I'm dead tired already, I need my rest for the action later on today."
This was Tsukitachi's way of distracting him from his own thoughts, Akari knew, and bring him back to the current situation. The upcoming battle. His bookends still knew how to take care of their ex-Professor. But sometimes he has to take his turn in taking care of them.
"Lead the way to the bridge and I will make sure you do your work."
Hirato watched as his rank 2 and elite rank 2 fighters sortie. It was a rare operation where both Airships were needed to augment Airship 1's need of rank 2 elites to cover the scale of the operation. And inside the First Airship, he knew, Akari and his team awaited all and any injured combatant. That in itself was a nightmare fuel that he could live without.
Normally, the good doctor was given to holding court in the Second Airship. That was where everyone expected the doctor to be, even his fellow captain was surprised with the change in location. The sudden change had been inexplicable, logistics and some trickled down note from the chain of command stating that the doctor needed to be in the other Airship. It was not that he did not trust the other captain to take care of such precious personnel, Tsukitachi was close to the SSS rank as well. There was just this niggling feeling that something was going to go wrong.
Over his comm unit he can hear most of the battle that he could not track through his surveillance system. And a different game of chess played out before him.
"Second ship combatant Tsukumo! You are under arrest!"
"The Heart Throbbing Sparkling Prince!"
"Ugh! I can't believe you're the same rank as Kiichi!"
"Queen's Guardian!"
"You thought you could escape from my sight?"
He liked to play chess master once in a while, but not when important pieces of his has a chance of being lost. He wasn't worried for his combatants, not much really, they were fighters and some of the very best the Kuronomei have ever produced even. It was the non-combatant teams, specifically a very brave and naive SSS rank doctor who had no sense of self preservation. It had not been unheard of to find the good doctor on the field, in the middle of a firefight, trying to save some idiot who has gotten themselves hurt. Doctor Akari was headstrong, bullheaded really, and smart, a genius barring his lack of common sense. Important enough that a cushy job within one of the safest place in the world and almost anything within his reach. Had Hirato been a braver man he would have done what the First Ship captain had suggested. Wrapped him in cotton and hid him, safe from harm's way. A shard of glass at his jugular would have been the least of his problems.
"Hirato! Are you daydreaming?!" A deep well remembered voice rumbled through the comm. "Now is not the time for wool gathering!"
"What better time then, when I have the one I dream off so close at hand?"
The Second Airship Captain could almost hear the suppressed growl from his ex-professor. A fiery Akari was a well Akari. To have the other in any other state was almost unimaginable and had on a previous situation entailed that something had gone terribly wrong. His nightmare fuel had pictures of a reality that he has vowed to never see again.
"As I see that you are well enough to function and do your job, I will leave you to your own devices. Though I would like to make it known that it is with loathing that I will do this as I know you will simply fall back to your original dazed state the moment I am no longer watching."
A dark chuckle was all that Hirato would deign the others statement, "you wound me with your sharp tongue sweet Akari."
"Better a sharp tongue than dead Circus combatants."
For a beat Hirato almost thought he heard a crack from the normally composed man's voice, years of association easily had him going down the path of all possible probabilities and arrive to the conclusion that all was not so well for the good doctor. In a beat, he had it down to either a loss of a combatant or some dissension in the ranks amongst the Medical group. As he had yet to hear of any mortalities, some morbidity yes, he doubted it was the former. The likeliness of a dissension within Circus was not likely, they were more trained than that, add to that the name Akari was one that is trusted and no sane Circus personnel would even think of not following the good doctors orders, barring a few tormented souls. So, some grumbling within the ranks of the doctors own people was the most likely culprit. He knew Akari was not so weak as to let the others affect his performance, but it was all in the little things that this will all be apparent.
"Well, I am flattered that you care," he goaded. He knew there was only so much he could do while in his own Airship but at least this much he could do. "Or should I be insulted that you think so lowly of me."
"Think whatever you wish," the other huffed. "Don't come to me if you find yourself wounded."
Mission accomplished. And now for his next act, how to get the good doctor to wear the pink cat ears he found over at Karasuna…
At the end of the day, Akari Dezart was happy to report that they did not sustain any casualties. There were a few close calls, but the veterans pushed through after the initial panic that the new medics put up.
He was glad they were done and over with the new batch, it was just unfortunate that it had to be a major encounter. It had been a trial by fire. They were all so malleable just after their first system shock. It was now that he needed to get them to understand. This was what it was to be a combat medic, are they going to rise up to the challenge or are they going to break.
He was glad for the silence on the trip back. He will enjoy the peace until the next batch of new graduates.
AN: It is highly unusual that there be no petty jealousies amongst the Life Medicine group, nurses complaints not withstanding. There are a lot of "office politics" that goes on in a hospital. But, it was also shown in the manga that Akari was able to step up and be a leader when need be, so we know he can deal. A little help from his bookends will always be appreciated I believe.