Chapter 2 – The World Beneath Our Battlefield

Half an hour after Hiroshi and Saratoga's conversation about bunnies, the aircraft finally landed at a small airport near the city of San Francisco. While it, alongside other coastal cities around the world, had been devastated at the start of the Siren war years ago, with advances in technology pushing the otherworldly menace back towards the depths of the sea, the iconic city now stood stronger and more beautiful than it had in the past.

After Hiroshi had woken up Takao, they gathered the various bags and items they had brought along with them and disembarked the aircraft.

The warm mid-Spring sun shone down onto the trio, and their hair fluttered in the cool sea breeze as they stepped outside of the hangar. In the distance, the cries of seagulls could be heard. If not for the skyline of San Francisco in the distance, the three would be unable to tell the difference between the naval base and where they were now.

Hiroshi, now less annoyed at Saratoga, turned to her and said, "Thanks for flying us all the way out here, Sara."

Takao gave a brief bow to Saratoga and added, "Thank you, Sara. Please forgive me for my foolish misinterpretation of you."

"Oh, it's no biggie!" Saratoga beamed back. "Takao, I've wanted to be better friends with you for a while, so there's no need to apologize! And Hiroshi, again, sorry for earlier."

"Huh?" Takao asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, she just tried some maneuvers that almost woke you up earlier." Hiroshi shot a glare at Saratoga as he made up a coverup on the spot.

"Anyways, remember that the base needs us back by 7:00 tonight, so don't take too long on your date~" Sara winked at Hiroshi before shooing them away, "Have fun, you two! I'll be out and about, too, so call me if you need anything!"

Sometimes, 'Sister Sara' was hardly a worthy nickname for Saratoga – at times like this, 'Mother Sara' was certainly more appropriate. Hiroshi and Takao walked briskly towards the parking lot of the airport, where Hiroshi had arranged to pick up a rental car for the day. Even from afar, the blushes on the couple's faces were clearly seen – both slightly embarrassed from Saratoga's parting statements.

"So, what do you think of Sara?" Hiroshi asked once the two had exited Saratoga's visual range, "She's a lot kinder than you expected her to be, right?"

Takao playfully poked Hiroshi in the cheek with a pout on her face, and then transitioned into a sarcastic smile, "Should you really be talking about other women in that way to your fiancée?"

Hiroshi gulped as he stared into Takao's amber-colored black holes, "What I meant to say was that you were probably a lot nicer to Sara than she expected."

Takao giggled to herself at Hiroshi's recovery, "Good. I look forward to getting to know her better in the future."

"What about our date?" Hiroshi asked, "Are you looking forward to that in our near future?"

"Of course," she said, pulling herself to Hiroshi's arm, "I've been excited all morning, and now we're finally here~"

As Takao said this, they arrived at the parking space that contained their rental vehicle – a plain white sedan. It was no looker, but it hardly mattered since its only use would just be bringing the couple closer to the city, where most, if not all, their date activities lay. The man who had brought the car to the parking lot exited the vehicle, handed the keys to Hiroshi, and departed in another awaiting vehicle.

"Let's get this date started, shall we, Takao-chan?"


After a short and uneventful drive into the city, Hiroshi parked the car within one of the many parking decks downtown. Not wanting to waste any time, they quickly left the complex, and caught one of the city's iconic cable cars, which would lead them to their first destination of the day – the San Francisco Aquarium, which had been recently constructed to replace the previous Aquarium of the Bay, which was destroyed during the initial stages of the Siren War.

"Have you ever been to an aquarium before, Takao-chan?" Hiroshi asked as the cable car began to move.

"No, we weren't allowed to travel outside the town where the academy was, nor were there any aquariums on campus. We did keep koi, though - they're truly elegant creatures." Takao said, recalling her memories of her time at the military academy for kanmusu.

Hiroshi sighed, imagining how difficult it must be to be identified as a potential user of the wisdom cubes, and having to go through all that training and restrictions from a young age. However, he was thankful that the girls were able to live relatively normal lives once outside of the academy, allowing for such dates like the one he was on with Takao to be possible.

"There are so many different kinds of fish in public aquariums, and I'd say some of them even put koi to shame!" Hiroshi told Takao. "I'm sure we'll have a blast."

"If it's with you, I'll have fun doing anything." Takao smiled as she leaned her head into Hiroshi's arm.

After twenty minutes of enjoying the sights of the city and the cool breeze in their faces as the cable car coasted along the streets, Hiroshi and Takao now found themselves at their destination. The couple was fortunate, as they had chosen to take their trip in the middle of the day on a weekday – these were prime hours for visiting any sort of attraction, as the premises would be nearly devoid of other people, allowing the two to fully enjoy each other's company.

The couple fell in line to purchase entrance tickets – fortunately, the line was rather short, and there were only four groups of people ahead of them.

As they continued waiting, Hiroshi began to softly laugh to himself. This was the first time in years he had been to an aquarium, and seeing how few people there were had given him much joy. In his experience, public aquariums were usually quite crowded, noisy, and chaotic – the complete opposite of the current situation he and Takao found themselves in.

A small smirk appeared on his face. There would be no children squealing about spotting clownfish today. It would be the ideal aquarium date, just like how they were depicted in media – a quiet, peaceful time where he and Takao could bond and observe fish together.

However, while Hiroshi had the subject of noisy children at the aquarium had been at the top of his head, another thought came to him – would his own children with Takao act like the kids he had been complaining about if they ever visited an aquarium? He could feel his cheeks turning a bit red at this sudden thought…

While the possibility of children in the couple's future was likely, if not absolute, Hiroshi had not thought too deeply into that subject just yet – right now, he just wanted to enjoy his time with Takao, and her alone. Besides, even if the threat was minimal at this point, who would ever want to bring a child into the world while the Sirens still roamed the world? Such moments would have to wait until the world was truly at peace again.

"Ara~ is something wrong, Hiroshi?" Takao asked with a hint of concern in her voice as she noticed her partner's sudden blush.

Hiroshi laughed slightly, now having gotten his previous thought out of his head thanks to Takao's word choice, "You should use 'ara' a bit more. It sounded really cute, especially compared to the ones that Atago does."

"Well, the rarity of that word is part of the charm, is it not? If I used it as often as Atago, it wouldn't be special anymore, so you'll just have to be patient for the next one~" Takao took a step back and gave Hiroshi a confident smile as she leaned forward towards him, put her index finger to her lips, and winked. She quite happy that he had played right into her and let her be the one teasing for once.

"You're right. In that case, I eagerly await your next use of that word." Hiroshi sighed in defeat.

Takao smiled as she playfully shook her head. She then reached her hand out to Hiroshi, who readily accepted the offer and took her hand in his, and the two resumed their wait in line.


After a few more minutes, Takao and Hiroshi reached the front of the line and quickly purchased two tickets for entry.

As the couple walked through the entrance, they took their time to take in the aquatic-themed artwork adorning not only the walls, but the floors and ceiling as well. From colorful coral reefs to shallow rivers, all kinds of aquatic ecosystems were represented. While Hiroshi took a quick glance at the artwork before moving to the next, Takao would spend seconds staring and admiring them.

As Takao continued to stare at the walls, Hiroshi tapped her shoulder to catch her attention. "Is there anything that really stands out to you so far? We can prioritize visiting the exhibits that feature what you like the most."

"Hm…" Takao lifted her hand to her chin, "I think I want to see the fish from the reefs first. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that in person."

"To the reefs, then!" Hiroshi grabbed Takao's hand and attempted to lead her through the rest of the entrance.

However, Takao continued to lag behind, and it seemed more like Hiroshi was pulling her along rather than the two walking together. She tugged on his hand and smiled softly at him, "Sorry, but could we still take time to look at the art?"

Hiroshi gave a soft laugh in response, "Of course. Take your time, Takao-chan."

Takao gave a brief bow in return, and the couple continued to enjoy the entrance of the aquarium before moving onto the main attraction.


Some ten minutes later, Takao had finally seen enough of the artwork, and decided to move on to the real thing…

The aquarium's coral reef exhibit started off small. Numerous small tanks lined the walls, each one containing only a few fish. However, that didn't stop Takao from going to each tank and inspecting them for seconds at a time before moving onto the next one.

"It's so elegant…" Takao commented to herself as she gazed, fascinated at a bright blue angelfish slowly, but gracefully swimming through its tank.

Hiroshi smiled to himself, thinking about how her reaction would be to the huge reef tank deeper in the exhibit that he had seen advertised online…

"That striped fish in the tentacle-looking plant is really cute," Takao commented aloud at one tank.

"That one?" Hiroshi pointed at what he thought Takao was talking about, towards the right-end of the tank.

Takao nodded.

"Oh, that's a clownfish. Everyone loves them," Hiroshi said, a single chuckle getting through his mouth as the thought of children excitedly pointing out clownfish flashed through his mind for a split second.

Takao confusedly tilted her head, "What's so funny?"

"Ah, it's nothing. Everyone knows what clownfish are from this one old movie, so I just found it cute that you didn't know," Hiroshi explained with a smile.

Takao blushed momentarily before asking, "What movie was it? Maybe we should watch it back home."

"It's called 'Locating Nautilus'."


"Do you want to try that touch exhibit over there?" Hiroshi teasingly asked a few minutes later, pointing out an open-top tank off to the side of the corridor they were currently in.

"No thanks…" Takao managed to say as her spine shivered at the thought of touching live, slimy sea creatures. "I'm quite content with just observing…"

Just as Hiroshi was about to grab her arm to playfully force her to try it, he stopped, remembering that this was Takao's day. A small sigh escaped him as he made a mental note to do this next time the two found themselves at an aquarium.

"Of course, Takao-chan," Hiroshi chuckled to aloud, not trying to hide the almost devious smile on his face in the dim lighting. While Takao tried to brand herself as a steeled warrior, there were other times, like right now, when she was the exact opposite. She had no problems with handling dead fish, or even fighting tentacled Sirens in hand-to-hand combat, but she drew the line at touching starfish and rays? How cute.


Takao was awestruck – the large, cylindrical tank in the center of the room was completely different from the previous tanks, befitting its position as the main attraction of the exhibit. While the previous tanks were all small and separate, the central tank towered over everyone, and was connected to the tank that lined the circumference of the room through a pool of water on the roof, making the entire display an underwater dome of sorts. It was also much more diverse than the earlier displays that had focused on single species of fish – bright reds and blues and oranges flashed everywhere, each one being a single fish amongst thousands more within the tank.

One could have easily mistaken Takao for a child as she excitedly picked out a spot in front of the central tank and gazed, mesmerized, into the kaleidoscope of fish and coral in front of her, her eyes rapidly darting from one sight to the next, unsure of what to focus her attention on.

Hiroshi was similarly mesmerized, but not by the fish – he stared at Takao, engraving her cute expressions into his mind as she observed the small fish weaving between the coral.

He continued watching Takao for a few more moments before whispering into her ear, "It's quite something, isn't it?"

Takao blankly nodded, just barely comprehending what her lover had said.

Seeing that she wasn't in the mood for conversation, Hiroshi gently placed his hands on her shoulders and joined her in silence.

After a few moments, Takao turned her head around towards Hiroshi, still starry eyed, "The world hidden beneath our battlefield is so beautiful…"

Hiroshi shot her a brief smile. "The ocean is indeed beautiful," he leaned closer to her and whispered into her ear, "but not as beautiful as you."

Takao's eyes widened, but having nothing to say in response, she simply leaned backwards into Hiroshi, letting her actions speak for herself.

Meanwhile, Hiroshi had moved his hands from Takao's shoulders, and began slowly guiding them down towards her own hands. Noticing this, Takao opened up her grip to accept Hiroshi's hands, and gently locked her fingers with his.

With nothing more to say, the two resumed watching the fish within the tank in a peaceful silence.


Some time later, the couple had moved on towards an exhibit that showcased fish and fauna typically found in the West Pacific. The entire exhibit was built around a single, gigantic tank, from which visitors could walk around in order to get completely different views, from kelp forests to open water, alongside the various creatures that inhabited these environments.

Hiroshi and Takao now stood in front of an open water section of the exhibit – the fish were more subtle in their coloring than the reef fish in the previous exhibit, and true to the term 'open water', the atmosphere was sparse, with clear water for as far as the eye could see, while sparse rocks and plants dotted the sand at the bottom of the tank.

"They're so different from the fish from earlier, yet – " Takao began to comment before abruptly stopping.

"Hm?" Hiroshi asked, unaware of what was going on with Takao as he continued to look into the tank.

Seconds passed, and Takao remained speechless.

"What's wrong, Takao-chan?" Hiroshi asked as he concernedly turned his head towards her.

He had expected Takao had just lost her train of thought, but that guess was completely off the mark. She stood like a statue as her entire body shook with fear as tears began to well in her eyes.

"Takao-chan," Hiroshi gently grabbed her by the shoulders and nudged her. "What happened?"

But again, no voiced response came. Instead, she shakily raised her index finger and pointed into the depths of the tank.

Hiroshi mentally traced the air from Takao's finger into the tank. There was nothing out of the ordinary – just fish, rocks, and sand... He kept scanning the area until he saw it – a decorative shipwreck.

While the wreck appeared to represent some sort of vessel from the age of sail, completely unrelated to the warships of the Second World War aside from the single commonality of being a ship, it was nonetheless a reminder of what had become of the original Takao, and a possibility of what could happen to the girl who bore that vessel's legacy on the battlefield.

Takao's thoughts filled with dread, and her initial tears had now turned into full on sobbing. Whispering and muttering could be heard from the people surrounding the couple. While Takao knew she was making a scene, she couldn't calm herself down, as the thoughts of losing the people she loved combined themselves with the memories of the Takao during the waning stages of the Pacific War.

She grabbed Hiroshi's tight, wrapping her arms around his body as if he were a life preserver, and buried her face in his chest, "I don't want to become like that! A lonely wreck on the bottom of the ocean, never able to see you, my sisters, or my friends ever again…"

Takao's words caused Hiroshi to briefly consider such a scenario. Visions of a mortally wounded Takao flashed in his head – one in which she had taken torpedo hits from a Siren submarine, another in which she was swarmed by bombers, each one ending with her demise, and he could do nothing to save her. Then, came the aftermath and her funeral…

Everyone on the base was donned in black and angrily surrounded him.

'I should have never trusted Takao to you," a sobbing Atago echoed in his head.

"Why did I ever make the mistake of thinking you were truly competent," Ooyodo's voice now said with a distinct coldness.

"Choukai really did believe that you would protect Takao-nee," Choukai sniffled as she leaned onto Maya.

"Pathetic," Maya scoffed.

"Could you really call yourself Takao's lover if you couldn't save her?" Saratoga scowled, not even looking at him, while North Carolina could be seen glaring at him from behind her.

Now Hiroshi was almost on the verge of tears. It was almost as if Takao's death had really occurred, and he was to blame. He couldn't bear imagining that any further, and thankfully, the sounds of Takao's own sobbing and the feeling of her clinging onto him quickly pulled him back into reality.

He returned her embrace, holding Takao even tighter than she was holding him, looking her right in the eyes and whispered, "I promise that I will never let that happen to you."

With that, Hiroshi leaned forward, drawing Takao into a quick, but passionate kiss, reminding them both that they were safe and in the present. Takao's body almost immediately loosened up, and her shaking ceased, while Hiroshi's what-if scenarios in the back of his mind dissolved away.

Normally, Takao, and to a lesser extent, Hiroshi, tried to refrain from such public displays of affection, but given the heavy emotional atmosphere, there wasn't much thought of restraint in the heads of either of them at the moment - all the couple wanted right now were each other, and they couldn't care less for what any onlookers had to say.

Seconds later, withdrew from their embrace and took a half step back such that he could take a clearer look at Takao. Her bangs were sloppy, and clumps of hair obscured her now reddened eyes. She sniffled as she swept her bangs to the side, before moving her hands back to rub on her eyes.

"I- I'm really sorry," she whimpered. "I just saw that shipwreck, and…"

He shook his head before drawing her closer again, "It's alright-"

Before Hiroshi could say any more, a belligerent voice was heard from behind the couple, "Hey, you're one of those ships-turned-human or whatever they call them…"

Hiroshi instantly turned around and snapped back at the source of the voice, a man around his age, "Yeah, she is. What's it to you?"

"Your 'girlfriend' isn't even a real person! You know that it's just a weapon right? Come on now, that whole display just made it obvious!"

Hiroshi could feel his stomach knotting, and he glanced to the side and saw Takao clenching her hands into fists. Why were there people out there who still saw shipgirls, or kanmusu, as merely weapons? When the Japanese government became the first entity to figure out how to manifest the power of the cubes all those years ago, coining the term 'kanmusu', it was crystal clear that the system absolutely needed people! What was so hard to understand about that?

"I am not a weapon," Takao said with a forced, calm tone, barely able to contain her anger. She may be able to resonate with those seemingly magical cubes, but she was still a flesh-and-blood human just like everyone else! There had been a point in time where she really did think she was only a weapon, but she had turned away from that path long ago thanks to her sisters, friends, and Hiroshi.

"I'm a person, just like you!"

"Like hell I'll believe that!" The man angrily said as he began to move towards Takao with clear hostile intent.

In the blink of an eye, Takao darted forward and delivered a clean blow to the man's chest, sending him back half a meter onto his back.

Several onlookers began muttering amongst themselves, to which Hiroshi sighed at. He had planned for today to be a relaxing date for him and Takao, but apparently the powers that be had other plans for them…


As expected, the scuffle, if it could even be called that, between Takao and the anti-kanmusu man had resulted in authorities being called in to investigate.

For the past thirty minutes, Takao and Hiroshi had been sitting in a spare office within the aquarium, explaining their case to a detective and one of the members of the aquarium's security staff.

"From what I've seen from the cameras and witness reports, I believe that it is crystal clear that this was self-defense. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience, Mr. and Mrs. Nakajima," the detective said with a tip of his hat. "That would be all. I believe we can handle the rest ourselves. Have an excellent day."

"Mrs. Nakajima…" Takao whispered as she and Hiroshi exited the office and made their way back to the public area of the aquarium.

"That has a nice ring to it, huh?" Hiroshi grinned as he poked Takao with his elbow. "Nakajima Takao…"

"It sounds a bit weird…"

"Well maybe you'd like me to pick up your original surname instead?" Hiroshi asked jokingly. But the instant those words came out of his mouth, he was suddenly curious – what even was Takao's original name before she became a kanmusu?

"Say, Takao-chan, what even was your original surname? You don't have to answer if you don't feel like it."

"It's okay. The atmosphere was never right for the question until just now, anyways" she confirmed.

The two walked in silence for a few seconds before Takao spoke up again, this time, with her answer, "Honestly, I don't even remember. The four of us were discovered to have cube compatibility at such a young age, so I don't recall very much about my life before that. We all agreed that we wouldn't look into our family files until after the war ends, so who knows when we'll find that out?"

"I'm sorry that it has to be like that," was all Hiroshi could muster. He didn't know what it was like to be a kanmusu, but hearing about the experiences they went through to get to where they were now was always touching for him, especially if it was one of the rare occasions when the person sharing the stories was Takao.

"It's alright," she shook her head while giving him a gentle smile. "If I never became a kanmusu, then I would have never met you, and I wouldn't trade that for anything."

After a moment, she continued. "I don't think I'll take up my original name when that time comes, though, so neither should you take it up. I've been just 'Takao' for so long, and besides, I think that 'Nakajima Takao' is starting to grow on me," she said cheekily.


The rest of the couple's time at the aquarium was uneventful, as they rushed through the rest of the exhibits after their hold up with the detective since Hiroshi had more planned for the day than just the aquarium.

Hiroshi and Takao walked arm-in-arm back towards their rental car, where they would drop off the large clownfish plush that they bought as a keepsake, as well as some other knickknacks they had purchased as gifts for friends before heading off to find somewhere to eat lunch.

"That was really fun," Takao said, still looking directly ahead.

"I'm glad that I was able to experience that with you," Hiroshi replied.

"I think I want one," Takao abruptly said before he could say anything more. She was now facing toward him, and her eyes now had a similar sparkle to when she was staring at the coral reef fish from earlier.

He returned Takao's gaze and asked for confirmation, "An aquarium?"

She nodded twice enthusiastically.

"I see… I'll ask Akashi sometime tomorrow if she can help us set one up, then." Hiroshi said, thinking of the pink-haired mechanic girl who could make seemingly anything she put her mind to it. "We'll have to take care of the fish and plants though, you know. It'll be tough work."

"I will accept all challenges that come my way with all my might. With you by my side, Hiroshi, we will not fail!" Takao proclaimed proudly to Hiroshi as she got carried away.

"Takao-chan," he chuckled, "They're just fish, not some villain in a manga or something."

"I am aware of that." She blushed and looked down slightly as her mind processed the corniness of her previous statement. She continued in a whisper, "But I still think that we can do anything as long as we're together…"

"Of course," Hiroshi pulled Takao a bit closer to him and tilted his head to face her, "If we're together, anything is possible."


After wandering around for a bit, the two decided to have their lunch at a small café. They sat in the outdoor seating area, enjoying the cool, lazy breeze that perfectly balanced out the sun bearing down on them.

"Itadakimasu," they bowed their heads and said in unison before beginning to eat.

Just after Takao had taken the first bite out of her pasta, she put her fork down onto the plate, "Ne, Hiroshi?"

"Hm?" He replied as he took a second bite out of his burger.

"I'm really sorry about what happened at the aquarium earlier…"

"Hitting that guy?" Hiroshi responded as he swallowed and put the burger back down onto his plate. "It's fine. It was a bit inconvenient, but it is what it is. I know I've told you this before, but I'm really glad that you don't think of yourself as only a weapon anymore."

"Thank you," she replied. "But I meant when I got overwhelmed by my cube. If I was stronger, then that wouldn't have happened. Such a shameful incident would never happen to Atago."

Hiroshi sighed. While Takao had gotten over the problem of her self-image, she still needlessly compared herself to Atago, something that she had developed after being bested by her twin in everything for countless years.

"You don't know that, Takao," Hiroshi said, dropping the '-chan' honorific to let her know he was being completely serious.

"Yes I do-" she tried to counter, before being cut off by Hiroshi.

"Takao, I don't care if you think Atago is better than you. That doesn't change my feelings for you. I'll always be there for you, especially in your times of need."

"I..." She began to say, but stopped once she saw Hiroshi narrow his eyes at her. "I'm sorry again, Hiroshi. I'll try to work on my Atago complex..."

"Good," he smiled as he picked up his burger again. "Let's hurry up before the food gets cold. We still have a lot to do today!"


As Takao and Hiroshi wandered around the streets of the city following their lunch, Hiroshi was scanning every building in his vicinity – he wanted to buy a meaningful, practical gift for Takao.

Suddenly, he spotted exactly the type of store that would have something of interest – a stationery shop. Takao enjoyed calligraphy and, as his personal assistant, was always writing down things, so perhaps a new, fancy pen would be a useful gift that she would use regularly.

As expected, Takao did not hesitate even for a second when Hiroshi proposed the idea of stopping by and looking at the stationery shop. Shopping for items in-person was essentially non-existent for personnel of an island naval base, so this was a rare opportunity to be able to see and physically inspect the pens, paper, and other materials was quite the novelty to her.

The smell of stacks upon stacks of paper slammed into their noses as they entered the shop, immediately reminding the two of their own office back at the base.

"I wonder how Ooyodo is doing right now?" Takao asked as images of the Admiral's Office flashed through her mind alongside her friend that was now sitting in the big chair now that the Admiral was off-site.

"She's probably trying to micromanage everything going on," Hiroshi answered, trying his best not to incur any suspicion from Takao, who was still quite oblivious of today's occasion. Like every good lie, there was some truth in Hiroshi's statement. Ooyodo was known to be a huge micromanager, but today, she wasn't in charge of just the base, but also with the planning of tonight's party. She was without a doubt trying to micromanage the people involved with the party in order to make it more memorable and enjoyable for Takao.

Takao stifled a brief giggle, "That definitely sounds like something she would do."

The two were now standing in front of a large display case, which held a wide variety of pens. Bingo – just what Hiroshi was looking for.

"Would you like that one, Takao-chan?" Hiroshi pointed at a fancy-looking brush pen. It was slender, with a solid black body and gold highlights. "You're always using traditional brushes when you do calligraphy, so why not try a modern brush pen? You can even use it for work!"

"Isn't that a bit expensive for just a pen, though?" Takao said, eyeing the price tag – a hefty 500 US dollars. However, Hiroshi wasn't listening, as he was currently signaling a salesman to bring out the pen for purchase.

"Thank you, Hiroshi." Takao said as they exited the shop, bag in hand. "Still, why did you buy this pen? I'll admit it looks very pretty and that I'll use it often, but we have plenty of pens back on the base."

Hiroshi simply smiled at her as he told another half-lie, or rather the truth to keep her unaware of the date.

"It's to remember the occasion. When you write or do calligraphy with that pen in the future, we'll always be able to remember our date today. We don't get to go out like this all the time, you know?"

"I suppose you're right," Takao said, content with Hiroshi's answer. "I hope we can find the time to take trips like this, then."

The rest of Hiroshi and Takao's day was spent travelling along a carefully plotted route created by Hiroshi that he theorized would let them see the most landmarks in the city as possible. Without a doubt, many new pictures would be added to some shelf or corner within the couple's quarters when they returned to the base.

When the two had finally showed up back at the airport late into the afternoon, Saratoga heard a heavy sigh of relief as they sat down in their seats on the plane, as there had been little time for rest during their little adventure. It was a thrilling thing to be exhausted from having fun, rather than from combat for once.