May 19, 2019

Instead of holding a training drill, the volunteers held an open house at Station 151 and at the old Uranohoshi campus as part of a nationwide effort to recruit more volunteer firefighters. Kanan and You were among the 14 volunteers from Station 151 who attended, with others coming from the other stations. You worked the kitchen for the first 2 hours before being rotated outside.

As part of an impromptu demonstration, Kanan and You took their medical and bunker gear out to the apron of the firehouse. As a crowd composed mostly of little kids gathered around them, Kanan began addressing the crowd. "So, answer this. How long do you think it takes a firefighter to put this gear on?"

One small boy in the front raised his hand and answered, "A long time, like 3 minutes."

"I say a minute," a little girl also answered.

"2 minutes," another boy answered.

"It is indeed 2 minutes," You said to the crowd. "We have to be able to go from our street clothes to fully packed up and on air in 2 minutes. As for our gear we wear on the ambulance, we are expected to put that on in a minute." She then took her shoes off. "Now, who wants to see Firefighter Watanabe and Firefighter Matsuura put their gear on?" The kids all cheered. "Good answer!"

They both then quickly slipped their feet into their boots as they put their hoods on before pulling their pants up by the straps. They then quickly zipped them up before putting their coats on and zipping them up. Once that was done, they then both grabbed air packs they had laid next to their gear and swung them around to put them on before clipping in the waist strap and tightening that and the shoulder straps. Once that was done, they quickly put their SCBA masks on and tightened the straps before grabbing their helmet and putting that on. Then, they connected the long tube on their masks to an air regulator on their waist strap before turning the SCBA on, allowing both to breathe pack air. Finally, they tightened their helmets and put their gloves on.

"That took about a minute and 42 seconds," Hoshi Sando replied as he stopped a timer on his phone. "Good job."

Some of the kids balked at seeing Kanan and You in their full gear ensemble. Others ran up to them and gave them hi-fives. Kanan said to one little girl, "Hi there!"

"Hi Miss Fireman," the girl innocently called her. "I wonder, can you sing in that mask?"

Kanan was somewhat surprised, but decided to take it on. "Of course I can." She then laughed. "Hey, You-chan, this girl asked us to sing." She then turned to her. "What do you want us to sing?"

"HAPPY PARTY TRAIN," the girl said. "It's my favorite song."

"Mine too," Kanan replied. She actually did consider the song to be her favorite out of all of Aqours' music, and she remembered the entirety of the song. She then closed her eyes and began, surprising You, who then joined in with her. "Omoi o nosete HAPPY HAPPY TRAIN to go! Ashita ga yonderu bokutachi o!"

Suddenly, as they began to sing the next line, they stopped as they heard five more voices near them join in. As they both looked up, Kanan and You saw that Chika, Hanamaru, Ruby, Yoshiko, and Riko were all singing. "Kitai de kagayaku hitomi nara mieru yo! Tooi eki de kitto nanika ga matteru ne!" As they finished the chorus, all of the little kids clapped and cheered.

You said to them, "Hey! Good job! You almost gave me and Kanan heart attacks when you joined in."

Chika then laughed. "I thought I'd stop down with the gang. How's it going?"

"Good," You replied. "A girl asked Kanan to sing HAPPY PARTY TRAIN in her mask." She then took her helmet off before unclipping her mask tube from the regulator and taking her mask off. "We were showing the little kids how we looked with our full gear on."

"You look like a special little demon with it on," Yoshiko replied in her lower Yohane voice. "Like you are prepared to take on the fallen angel's greatest enemies in the field of battle."


Later on, as You and Kanan were putting stuff away in boxes in an old athletic shed as the day wound down, Chika walked up to them and asked them, "Hey, uh, You-chan, Kanan-chan, can I show you something?"

You turned around and asked her, "What's up?" She noticed that Chika was hiding something behind her.

She then pulled out a small packet. "I... I filled out an application after I heard that Ruby was joining." She then showed You and Kanan the application to join the fire department as a volunteer. "You-chan, I'm tired of wondering what goes on when you leave for calls and being worried. I want to get up and go with you."

"I see," You replied as she looked it over. "Chika-chan, you do understand that this is a dangerous job, even if you are just an auxiliary volunteer. Those 52 names on the Firefighters' Memorial in Downtown Numazu prove it."

"I know about that," she adamantly replied. "I love Uchiura too much to just stand by when something happens. I want to be part of the solution just like you and Kanan."

Kanan chimed in, saying, "I'd take her. We need all the people we can get. Sure, we went from 32 to 36 assuming Ruby and those 3 new applicants from today that live in Station 151's area get in, but we could use a 36th person. Remember, my dad always talks about when we had 45 guys here and we were getting our entire station off the floor in just 9 minutes as opposed to 15. Plus, Ruby-chan wants to go interior like us. We only got 18 interiors. Assuming Chika-chan does too, we'll be up to 20 for the first time since my Dad was in."

"I get it," You replied as she took Chika's application. "I was just a little worried, that's all." Chika's eyes beamed with joy.


May 21, 2019

Kanan laughed as Toshiki told her a story about a time where he had walked in on a couple at the firehouse on what was known as "The Couch," a couch dating from the late 1980s that was infamous in the firehouse for being used by many of the firefighters as a place to have sex with their wives or girlfriends when no one else was around a while ago before women entered the fire service in larger numbers. "So then I see him and his girlfriend walk out as they're adjusting their clothes, and he tells me, "When you get a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, I don't judge, you'll understand." His girlfriend was pretty hot, too. After they walked out, I was just dying of laughter."

"Wow," Kanan replied before she drank some water. "You know, apparently, there's a good chance I was made in the firehouse, though not in the couch."

"No way," Toshiki said in disbelief. "Did... Did your parents actually do that?"

"Well, of course." It did feel weird for her to be talking about her own parents engaging in such behavior. "My dad and my mom started having sex here before they were married. You see, I was born on my parents' first wedding anniversary, and about 9 months before, they began doing it here for the first time since they were married, so... Yeah..." She then laughed slightly. "There's a reaaaly good chance I was conceived here. Apparently, on their first time, a paid firefighter accidentally walked in, but he just gave them a thumbs-up in approval and walked out to let them continue."

"No fucking way," he replied as he tried to contain his laughter. "That's fucking weird. I guess you can say you were literally made for the fire service, eh?" They both then cackled in laughter. As they calmed down, he said to her, "Say, would you ever do anything like that?"

"If I had someone to do it with, maybe," Kanan told him as she yawned. "Have you?"

"No," Toshiki replied as she blushed slightly. "I haven't. I mean, I guess I would..."

Kanan then smiled before she got up and said, "Really? You don't gave a girlfriend? I'm surprised."

"Yep. Haven't had one since high school, and we never did anything involving sex." He then shrugged. "We just never got to that poi-"

He then immediately stopped himself in his tracks when Kanan took her shirt off, revealing a sports bra underneath. She then said, "Heh, I see."

"Uhhh... Kanan-kun, what are you doing?" Toshiki felt himself blush harder as she laughed.

"You know, I've been wondering whether you were taken since I got in here," she told him as she took his hand and guided him to standing up. "Listen, if you don't wanna do anything, that's fine. Just say no, and I'll stop, and we'll never mention this again."

"I mean," Toshiki stammered out. "You... You do have a nice body, Kanan-kun..." He admired her body, which was well-built and even a little muscular, indicating her strength, as she brushed her hair back with her hand. "Are you... Are you really sure about this?"

"Of course," Kanan told him as she motioned to go to the firehouse rec room upstairs as she showed him a condom from her pants pocket. "Wanna take this upstairs? The paid guys won't notice us in the back rec room while they're in the front.

Toshiki then sighed before he smiled and said, "Hell yeah."


Several hours later, around 10 PM, Kanan and Mari were talking over Skype to each other. "Anyways, I got some interesting news, Mari-chan."

"Oh," Mari replied, interested. "What is it? Did something molto buono happen recently? She then giggled at her use of Italian. "I'm telling you, my Italian is impeccable now. I had some issues at first, but now, I'm almost like a native speaker."

"Good, good," Kanan replied as she smiled. "Well, me and this guy at the firehouse are dating now."

Suddenly, Mari's expression changed from genuine general happiness to feigned happiness. "Ah, I see. Did this just happen?"

"Yep," Kanan replied, not noticing her mood. "We talked with each other, and one thing led to another, and we kinda sorta had sex at the firehouse." She then laughed. "Yeah... Don't worry, I had a condom and whatnot. We were fine."

"That's very nice," Mari replied as she pretended to yawn and wiped her eyes. "Well, I had only very early morning classes, and I stayed up most of the night, so I'm probably gonna go get some more sleep."

"Okay, bye-bye, Mari-chan!"

"Bye-bye, Kanan-chan!" Mari then disconnected. She then stopped faking happiness and frowned.

Her room mate, who walked in right after, noticed this. She asked in Italian, "Hey, Mari, are you alright?"

"No," Mari replied as she wiped her eyes of tears. "I... I just... My heart just got broken."

"Broken? By a boy back home?" Sofia was immediately concerned. "Didn't you have a one-night stand with a guy here last year?"

"Not a boy back home," Mari replied. "Another girl... And yes, I did, but I was going to try to tell my friend how I felt when I got home, but now..." She then began to cry. "I guess that's not happening..."

Sofia was taken aback by Mari's confession. "You... You're a lesbian? But what about Marco last year?"

"I'm not a lesbian, Sofia... I like boys and girls, and Marco was just a one-time thing..." She then tried to hold back her tears. "Kanan... I've loved Kanan as far more than just a friend since high school, but never told her. I expected myself to have the occasional one night stand here in Italy, but after I graduated, I was going to stay open for her and tell her how I feel." She then hugged her room mate. "Now I know Kanan doesn't love me back..." She then sobbed into her friend's chest.

"Mari," Sofia told her as she returned the hug. "It's okay... Let it all out..."


Back in Japan, as soon as Kanan clicked out of Skype, her pager rang, slightly startling her. "Ah, motherfucker!"

"Numazu City Fire Alarm for Station 156, Station 151, and the District 15 Fire Chief, respond to a Fire Alarm Activation at [ADDRESS REMOVED], the [CONVENIENCE STORE NAME REMOVED], for a general fire alarm in the building called in by the alarm company. Police will also be responding for a burglar alarm activation as well. Repeating for Station 156, Station 151, and the District 15 Fire Chief, respond to a Fire Alarm Activation at [ADDRESS REMOVED], the [CONVENIENCE STORE NAME REMOVED], for a general fire alarm in the building called in by the alarm company. Police will also be responding for a burglar alarm activation as well. Time is 2210 hours, Dispatcher 89."

Kanan quickly got up, grabbed her pager and cellphone, and ran out of the house as she thought to herself, "Just another night as a firefighter, Kanan..."