In one corner of New Tenju was an avenue lined with several large theatres attracting the finest men and women in the city. Inside one of these theatres were three very special patrons. Azusa, Funaho, and Misaki had donned masks and seated themselves in one of the private balconies.
This Side Up? —a comedy starring the young warrior-king Jurai, the future first emperor, and his overbearing big sister Masaki. Before it premiered, most critics assumed its casual, flippant mockery of the old folklore would mean a quick death in proud and traditional New Tenju, but they were proven wrong long before tonight's performance, number 721.
Unfortunately, the Second Empress had fallen asleep, her head resting on Azusa's shoulder. He knew she'd been busy training Tenju's elite bodyguards all afternoon, but he insisted that all three of them would go to see This Side Up? together.
"Mhm… Ayeka, don't you like your blue hair anymore?" Misaki mumbled in her dream.
"Misaki…" Azusa whispered into her ear. "Misaki, wake up! This scene is funny!"
She woke up just in time for the next scene. In the grassy plains of the distant past, Jurai, still a young teenager, was napping on the grass in the shade of a gargantuan tree. Masaki rode up to him on horseback and dismounted, but when that didn't wake him, she took out her yari and poked the top of his foot.
"Ow!" Jurai cried out. "Masaki!? What was that for?"
"If I weren't your sister, I'd have gone for your belly!" Masaki told Jurai. "Honestly, how can you expect to lead our clan if you can't stay awake?"
"Mhm, leave me alone, sister! We can defeat our enemies tomorrow, but today, I just wanted to relax, and look at this big tree I found!"
Masaki looked up at the gargantuan tree. "I suppose it is a big tree. But it's just a regular tree."
"Do you know of any regular trees that are this big?" Jurai pressed.
"No, but I'm sure it's nothing special. Just an ordinary tree."
Jurai stood up and looked at Masaki suspiciously. "How can you say that? This tree is twenty times… no, two-hundred times the size of a regular tree! Yet, you say it's just a regular tree?"
"Certainly. There are plenty of things that are both large and normal. The great sea to the east is larger than any pond, yet it's still but water. The great mountains to the west are larger than any boulder, yet it's still but rock. And you, the great prince Jurai, are certainly a bigger idiot than any other person I know, yet you're still but my little brother!"
As Azusa expected, Misaki erupted into laughter at that line, along with much of the rest of the audience. However, as soon as she calmed down and the scene continued, she silently fell asleep on his shoulder again.
"I must say," Funaho whispered to Azusa. "That man acting as Jurai looks just like you when we first met. Don't you think so?"
"Come to think of it, the actor playing Masaki looks a lot like you," Azusa replied.
"Emperor… my Emperor…," a whisper came from behind them. Azusa shifted in his seat and looked at the man standing at the entrance to the balcony, awkwardly clutching a clipboard against his chest.
Yet another perfect date ruined by some troublesome bureaucrat.
"How dare you interrupt us so late at night, and in such an inappropriate venue?" Azusa growled at him. "Where's your shame?"
Now properly addressed, the man quickly walked right up to behind Azusa. "Apologies, my Emperor, but the Imperial Council needs your signature to approve a date for Shuzan Amaki's state funeral."
Azusa grunted. "Fine, just give it here already."
He quickly signed the paper in the underlined portion. "When you give this back to the council, you tell them that from now on, any last-minute signing will be done in the morning. By Tsunami, this will not happen again."
"Of course, Emperor. Enjoy your evening. Say, This Side Up? is one of my favorites, too! I brought my wife to see it last—"
"You pinhead… leave!" Azusa said, shooing him away with his hands.
In the briskness of the moment and the darkness of the audience seating, there was no possible way that Azusa could've read the contents of the paper he was signing, but he didn't care in the slightest. It's just more banal paperwork like always. He frankly didn't understand why they still bothered asking him. He would sign anything just to get it out of the way!
On stage, Masaki seemed to have an epiphany. "Oh, I get it! I know why you've been wandering off lately. What's her name?"
"Who's 'her'?" Jurai asked back, pretending to not know what she was talking about.
"Come on, you can tell your big sister! What's her name? Where did you meet her?"
"I've met nobody, Masaki! Quit teasing me!"
As Jurai said that, he backed away from her, only to trip on a large root sticking out of the ground. He fell backward into the tree, but he didn't collide with it, but went through it!
"Jurai? Hey, Jurai, where'd you go!? Jurai!?" Masaki pressed. She assumed he had pulled an illusion on her and was escaping back to his special someone. She quickly rushed to her horse and mounted up. "You're not getting away, little brother!"
As Masaki galloped off, the play's narrator casually clarified something.
And thus, the boy-king Jurai set upon his destiny as the boy-emperor Jurai, yet in all his years of life, he could never quite convince Princess Masaki that he didn't fall in love with a tree."
New Tenju's Shiratori Prison currently housed only one prisoner, a Seniwan man in orange fatigues. Pale, unkempt, and motionless, he sat on the floor of his cell.
He looked up at the calendar on the far wall. It was that day again. It had already been five years…
All eyes were on him. In the bright courtroom, he could see rows of Juraian military commanders staring at him with vile, contemptuous gazes. He had a lawyer—a royal family member from her fine garb—at his side, just to give the illusion that this trial was fair, but even she gave him a grim look.
In front of the chair he was seated in, three military judges looked down at him from their high seats. And now, the one in the middle spoke up.
"We of the special military tribunal find the defendant, General Chosan Fui, guilty of all charges."
"Lies!" Chosan roared. "It was an accident! It was the munitions depot! You know that! We all know—"
The tribunal cut him off. "We hereby sentence the defendant to life imprisonment…"
Episode 8
"…Without the Possibility of Parole"
His reminiscing was interrupted when he realized he had a visitor. Standing on the other side of the electrified door was a woman, a royal by her elegant pink and white dress.
"Ah, General Fui!" she said enthusiastically. "Looking full of energy as the day you were sentenced."
Chosan didn't react to Seto's presence.
"Don't you recognize me? It's your best friend, Seto Kamiki! I defended you at your trial, remember? I don't wish to brag, but I'm the reason you're still alive!"
Still no response.
"It's been a while, I know, but being a princess is surprisingly busy work! But I thought it was about time to see how you were doing," Seto continued. "I fought hard to put you in Shiratori and not anywhere worse, so I hope the accommodations have been to your liking."
Chosan finally got up and looked Seto in her eyes, his stare as cold as his voice.
"You should have let them kill me."
Seto hid her pout with her paper fan. "Oh, hush! I detest pessimism, it's the worst feeling a person can have! Don't you know the saying, 'good things happen to those who wait'? Well, you need wait no longer, General Fui. You're going home!"
Chosan's eyes couldn't widen enough to respond to Seto's words. "What!?"
Seto brought out a sheet of paper with a signature at the bottom. "The Emperor has decided to show you leniency. As of today, your sentence has been commuted. You're free to return to Seniwa, under our escort, of course."
Chosan shook his head. "No… no. You're lying. Just trying to break me, squeeze me like a fruit. No one can commute twenty-million counts of murder."
Seto leaned as close as she could without touching the door. "That was news from five years ago. Who cares about Fujinjou anymore? As I hear, Jurai has problems much closer to home, but where does that leave you? The way the Emperor and I see things, we may as well save a few Ryō and return you to Seniwa."
Seto walked in front of the console controlled the electrified door and deactivated it. When the door disappeared, Seto casually walked inside his cell and inspected it. "That is, unless you'd prefer rotting away in this detestable hovel of yours. My, aren't you embarrassed having to do your business out in the open like this?"
"I got used to it. But tell me, why are you doing this? Really, I mean. What are you getting out of this?"
Seto playfully hit Chosan on the top of his head with her fan. "Silly Seniwan. I'm just a princess who wants to do the right thing! Now, come along. Our ship is ready as soon as you are."
Chosan got up to follow Seto, but she suddenly went stiff and turned back around to him. "Honestly… you're not embarrassed?"
Chosan felt uncomfortable being outside. The sunny weather and fresh air were a nice change from his stale prison cell, but the expected sixth-sense feeling of being watched was strangely absent. As he walked behind Seto to an inconspicuous spaceship at a landing bay just outside New Tenju, he glanced a few times toward the maintenance crews running diagnostics on the ship's exterior, but they didn't seem to pay him much mind.
This wasn't right, he thought. The Emperor signed his release, yet everything felt very hush-hush. What even was the route they took to get here? He scarcely had time to sit down in an aircar, most of the journey was on foot right behind Lady Seto. Seto, however, simply hummed along as if nothing was out of the ordinary. She took out a paper fan from her clothing and began fanning herself.
"My, it's sweltering out here!" she complained.
He shuffled his feet quickly and stayed right behind the princess right up to the open ramp of the ship. Seto suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him.
"General Fui, as much as I would love to catch up after five years," she began, sarcasm evident in her tone. "Being a princess is surprisingly busy work. Please forgive me."
"Where's this ship taking me?" Chosan asked.
"Right up to the edge of Juraian space," she answered. "A Seniwan ship will pick you up and escort you the rest of the way back home."
Seto handed Chosan her fan. "Here, as a parting gift to remember me by. Use it whenever it gets too hot on Seniwa."
Chosan unassuredly took the fan into his own hands and looked at Seto. "The Emperor… he didn't really sign that paper, did he?"
Seto took another fan out of her cloth and hid her grin. "My, whatever could you be talking about? You wouldn't suggest that it was… oh, I shouldn't even bring it up! But we shouldn't keep the crew waiting. Go along now! And tell Premier Mishoto that I said hello, would you?"
A man looking like a guard showed up to escort Chosan onto the ship. Chosan gave one last glance at Seto before reluctantly boarding the craft. The maintenance crews finished their diagnostics and quickly climbed aboard themselves. The ramp closed, and the ship flew into the air. From where Seto stood, the boxy ship disappeared within a few seconds.
Aboard, Chosan was led to a spacious yet spartan living room. The guards guided him over to a chair to sit in.
"As a security precaution, please stay in this room until your transfer. Don't worry, it'll only be a few days until we reach the border region. You'll be taken care of until then."
Chosan eyed the guard up and down and noticed his outfit wasn't the usual grey and white fatigues of Jurai's Royal Guard. They were black garbs with ornate banners sticking out from small metal poles in the back, and it suddenly occurred to him. "Wait, you… you're part of that mercenary company, the Eight Banners! I'd know, I hired you during the war!"
The guard grunted. "We're getting paid to keep you alive, General Fui, nothing more. Excuse us."
The guard left and walked past a group of maintenance crew chatting amongst themselves.
"Diagnostics on the aft thrusters seem fine enough. Don't know why the computer keeps saying it they're low on fluid," one of them said.
"For this hunk of rust, that's probably the least of our concerns," the other one said. Then he leaned in closer and started whispering. "But hey… what do you think about that guy we got? You know, that Seniwan?"
"I don't, and neither should you," his coworker whispered back. "That old bat is handing us the paper, and we're gonna take it, no questions asked."
"Maybe, maybe. Oh well, catch you around. I gotta sit on the throne if I can find it."
"Yep."
The worker took a different path than his friend and followed the ceiling signs to the nearest bathroom. It was empty save one of the toilet stalls. As he finished his business and washed his hands, he heard the flush from the stall and saw the door swing open. The man inside calmly stood up and walked toward the sink to wash his hands.
"Hey, that's some getup you have on" the worker started as he glanced at the strange man. "You're not with us, are you?"
"No. My name is Kagato."
Immediately, the maintenance worker started laughing. "Oh, that's a good one! But hey, you do kind of look like that guy in a way. Spitting image, in fact."
Kagato finished washing his hands and put a hand on the worker's shoulder. "I need to borrow your ID..."
"It's nice to see you, too."
To everyone's shock, Mitsuki had just entered the Superintendent's office unannounced, right as her second-class subordinate Amane Kaunaq was in the middle of ranting about her.
"About time you came back," Junichiro quipped.
"Mitsuki!" Kiyone called out to her. "You're alive!"
Mitsuki crumpled the canned coffee in her hand into a neat ball that she threw in the nearest trash can. "Well, obviously I'm… you thought I was dead? I was only gone for, what, three days?"
Amane scoffed. "I'd have preferred three years! Did you hear everything I just said? I'll repeat it if you want!"
Mitsuki took a second to process the situation in her head and realized what was going on. "Oh, I get what's happening. I was out for the count, and you thought my good-for-nothing second class was the next best thing, right?"
"Actually, we had no idea she was your wingman until just now," Junichiro said.
"Really? In that case, let me give you the rundown of what to expect with Ms. Renoir Runaway… wait, she did tell you about that, right?"
Junichiro shook his head.
Mitsuki grinned. "That's right. Amane here gave me the whole speech one day after we teamed up. She used to be a teen model on Renoir, but then she started having daddy issues and ran away from home. So now she's here, falling face-forward with a career in the Galaxy Police with nothing but lipstick, perfume, and ego to keep her steady. Isn't that just an incredible, inspiring story?"
"I didn't have daddy issues, I told you that!" Amane protested. "I never really wanted to be a model, so I just left as soon as I became an adult!"
"And I told you that you're a bad liar," Mitsuki shot back. "Why else would you just throw away everything you were given? It was either that, or you thought you could have it both ways. You know, make a little money in the GP, get famous on Jurai, and start doing modeling in New Tenju and elsewhere. Textbook opportunism!"
"That's uncalled for, Mitsuki," Kiyone said. "Amane is a capable officer, and she's proven that to us while you were gone. She just wanted a change in career."
"So she's gotten to you too with her words? Words, looks, and now, a bit of luck. That's all Amane has going for her!"
"I don't have to take that from you!" Amane said. "I've been your subordinate for a year, and I know that you're just jealous of me. You're afraid that I'll get promoted if you actually let me do anything other than clean your office."
"Oh, I almost forgot about that! Hey, I still have the maid outfit, so when you realize the error of your ways, which I'll leave a few sheets of paper for you to fill out, you can make it up to me by doing another dusting-off while I get back to my job. Deal?"
"Why, you!"
The communications officer had the ship's whole communications room to himself. It was the easiest job in the world, he thought. All he had to do was establish communications with the Seniwans in a day or so when the exchange has to be made. Yes, there was the mildest chance of random pirate attack this far out from Juraian space, but that's what those Eight Banners are for if it comes to that. In the meanwhile, he got paid to sit around, take it easy, and listen to his favorite music on his player.
"'Cause your emotions will overtake you. You look for heaven in her big, brown eyes, her big, brown eyes!" he hummed to himself. "But she's no angel, and she'll forsake—"
A sudden beeping noise interrupted his song. Kagato abruptly unlocked the door to the communications room and let himself inside. The officer stood up, grunting in annoyance, and pointed at him with one hand while awkwardly clutching his music player in the other.
"You're not Fui, are you?" the officer asked him. "They said you weren't supposed to leave your room."
"Am I not as famous as I think I am?" Kagato asked himself as he tossed away the ID card he borrowed. "No matter. I'm Kagato, and I need to make a call, so if you don't mind getting out the way…"
"Y-you!?" he cried, letting his music player drop to the floor. "How did you get on this ship!?"
"What a boring question. I need to use your equipment, so if you don't mind…?"
The communications officer stepped back and hastily reached for the gun and holster he'd been given by the mercenary guards, but just as he unsteadily raised the pistol, Kagato simply smacked it out of his hand. Then, he took another step toward the officer — too frightened to even move—and grabbed him by his head. Firmly clutching it like a ball, he slammed it into the metal control panel with a satisfying crunch, quieting the man's whimpers in an instant.
Kagato casually tossed the body to the corner of the room and sat down on the seat with the panel.
Airi had been content to let the bickering go on for a while in hopes that it would die down, but unfortunately, the opposite was happening,
Mitsuki shook her head. "You know, the rest of us are all here because we wanted to make something of our otherwise boring lives, but you? This is nothing but a fun distraction from your responsibilites back home. You're just kid wearing a badge for grown-ups!"
"Stop calling me a kid! I can do my job just as well as you can! Just admit it!"
"Maybe if you went back to daddy on Renoir and made up with him like a grown up would, I'd consider it. Because that's what adults do, they fix their issues. They don't just run away from their problems because they're too tough to deal with in a single day."
"Some might… might do that a bit better than others," Junichiro said to himself.
"You insensitive, un-feeling… kut'să !" Amane said. Kiyone immediately blushed at Amane's flowerful language, being the only one who understood how nasty that word was.
Airi didn't understand Renoiran, but she did know that it was time for her to step in and put an end to this pointless bickering. She put down her cup of tea and rose from her desk in a single, confident motion that caught everyone's attention.
"That's enough out of both of—"
A familiar, low humming noise stopped her, and Watari immediately went over to the desk to announce his findings.
"Ms. Fujikawa, a message. Hm, strange, there isn't a named sender. Who could it be?"
Reluctantly, he let the message play out on the large screen, and The number sequence 01001011 01100001 01100111 01100001 01110100 01101111 appeared. Ryoji read and mumbled the numbers to himself at lightning speed and made a discovery.
"Erm… that's binary for Kagato."
The binary sequence was replaced by another set of numbers, clearly navigation coordinates. Ryoji activated his holo-computer and began inputting the digits on his keyboard. "These coordinates are the location of a spaceship grade-maintenance station near Seniwan space."
"What's that guy doing now?" Junichiro asked. "Did he get bored killing people in Jurai City, so now he's going international?"
"Probably not that simple," Airi said. "But if he's the one who sent this message, what is doing so far from Jurai… and so close to Seniwa?"
"If we follow him, we can find out," Kiyone said. "If there was ever a chance we could arrest him alive, this is it. He's on a station in the middle of nowhere. If we pursue, there'd be no escape."
"Neither for him nor us," Ryoji said as he closed his holo-computer. "Whatever kind of exchange Kagato wants, I'm very uninterested. We have the coordinates, so we should just make sure he's actually on that station and blow it up. That should make our job in Jurai City easier."
"That should be the last option, not the first," Amane said. "We'd be killing an entire crew's worth of people."
Ryoji blinked once, his expression being markedly bored. "And Kagato along with them. I'm simply stating the fact that it'd be an efficient exchange."
Kiyone walked right in front of Airi's desk. "What's our mission, Ms. Fujikawa?"
Airi sat down and sipped tea as she pondered the question. She looked up and answered with blunt, simple words. "Go to that station. Asess if Kagato is there or not, and proceed accordingly. But do not enter Seniwan space under any circumstances. We still have sour relations with them."
'Understood," Kiyone said, turning to the others. "Everyone, let's go!"
"And one more thing," Airi said before they left. "Amane, Mitsuki, learn get along, or else… Understand?"
Mitsuki and Amane glazed at each other but could only give the correct answer in the swiftness of the moment. "Yes, Superintendent!"
She lead the rest of the squad out the door of the Superintendent's office toward the hangars where their ships were docked. But halfway there, as they walked past a cafeteria, Mihoshi had spotted them while stuffing her face full of sushi on a disposable plate she had with her.
"Pff-pff… oh, you guys!" she called out to them. "What's happening?"
Before anyone could answer, Amane recognized Mihoshi's voice and gave a gleeful cry of surprise. "Mihoshi!?"
Mihoshi responded in kind. "Amane?"
Immediately, the two women ran up to each other, with Amane giving Mihoshi a huge hug while Mihoshi awkwardly held onto her sushi plate. "Oh, Mihoshi, it's so good to see you again!" Amane said.
"Yeah, you too! I had no idea you became a Galaxy Police officer."
"I'm a second-class, but I just joined SIFO. They never mentioned you were on this team, too!"
Kiyone gave a restrained ahem, enough for Amane to let go of Mihoshi to they could face her.
"Mihoshi, what are you doing out of bed?" Kiyone asked.
Mihoshi pointed at her sushi with her chopsticks. "Well, I was hungry, so I just put my uniform on and went out to get something. Nobody said anything to me, so I guess it's fine. Hey, where are you all going?"
"We're on a mission taking us near Seniwan space. We think Kagato is leading us there. Not sure why, though."
"Ooh! That sounds like fun! Let me finish lunch and I'll come along too!"
Kiyone shook her head. "No chance. You're not fit for missions yet. You'll have to wait until you have your surgery."
"Hold on, surgery?" Amane asked out loud as she turned to Mihoshi. "What happened to you!?"
"Nothing, really, I just my right lung," Mihoshi said. "It's not that bad once you get used to it."
"How did you lose your right—"
Junichiro stepped in and took something out of his newly-issued control cube. It was a VHS with an attached piece of tape labeled "Of the People, By the People, For the People".
"Just give this a watch and you'll get caught up," he told her as he handed it to Amane.
Mitsuki pointed accusingly at Junichiro. "Hey, wou're not supposed to have that!"
"Why not? They were giving them out for free at shooting. Don't you remember? Well, anyway, it's alright, Mihoshi. Just sit tight and let Detective Yoritomo here handle everything."
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Amane mumbled as she stared at the VHS tape. She had no idea how to operate it, but she decided she'll store it on Hikaeme, just in case she knew what to do with it.
"But I'm a part of this team!" Mihoshi said with excitement. "I have a duty to serve, an obligation! Yes, I'm injured, but I'm part of the elite! The best of the best! Something like a single lung isn't going to stop me!"
She took the two last pieces of sushi with her chopsticks and ate them at the same time, tossing away the disposable plate into the nearest bin with perfect accuracy.
"I won't take no for—" her sentence abruptly stopped as an uncertain look appeared on her face. Suddenly, she gagged and desperately grabbed at her throat! Everyone gasped at the sight, but Mitsuki was the first one to respond, as if on instinct.
"Oh Tsunami, not again!"
Immediately, she tightly grabbed Mihoshi from behind and dragged her over to the bin. With two hands over her stomach, Mitsuki pressed hard against Mihoshi's stomach a few times until the half-chewed sushi was spat into the bin.
"How many times have I told you, bubblehead? Chew, then talk!"
"Sorry, I forgot," Mihoshi said innocently. "But anyway, I want to go on the mission with you!"
Amane deftly shooed got in between Mihoshi and Mitsuki and put her hands on her old friend. "I'm sorry, but Kiyone is right. Just stay here, and we can catch up later, okay?"
Mihoshi looked low to the ground, She looked disappointed, but nodded, forced to accept the reality of the situation. "Okay."
Kiyone was the first to start walking again, followed by the others, but Mihoshi's head perked up with a brilliant idea on her mind, and she skipped over to Kiyone.
"Wait Kiyone, please take this," Mihoshi said to her. Her hands reached for her red hair ribbon. With a single pull, it came undone, and her golden hair fell to its full length, reaching down just below her back.
"Your ribbon? What for?" Kiyone asked.
"I can't come with you, but… maybe having a part of me might give you a little bit of luck. Please, just take it. You can give it back when you're done!"
Kiyone could see the determined look on Mihoshi's face and how serious she was about it, ridiculous as she might consider it. She reluctantly took the ribbon in her hands and tried it on herself. She bunched all of her teal hair together behind her head and tied it into a ponytail… or, that's at least what she thought she had done, but a quick look at the others—and especially the almost-laughing grin on Mitsuki's face—told her that she hadn't done it right.
"Here, let me try," Amane said. She stepped forward and accomplished what she couldn't.
"Wow, you look good in that!" Mihoshi said when Amane finished. "Maybe you should keep it. I can always buy another one."
"I'll give this back to you," Kiyone said. "And… thanks."
As she nodded to her friend and took a step forward, she inexplicably failed to put one foot ahead of the other. She tripped and fell chest-first on the floor, and Mitsuki immediately began laughing incoherently.
"Yeah, I'll be giving it back for sure." Kiyone got up and started walking again. As Mihoshi was left alone in the hall, she was tapped on the shoulder by someone behind her.
"You look well," Airi told her. "So you want to go on a mission?"
"Uh, sure! What kind?"
"From the reports you sent while on Earth, you seem to know Princess Sasami, correct?"
"That's right! Sasami and I are best friends!"
"And as I hear, Sasami is one of the best cooks in the Royal Family. You're going to teach me everything she's taught you. No negotiations!"
Kiyone kept instinctively touching Mihoshi's hair ribbon as she led SIFO to the hangar bays. She's a grown adult with normal motor functions, so how could she trip on nothing? It couldn't have been the ribbon, right? That just doesn't make sense.
"As a precaution in case that cargo ship has defenses we're not aware of, we'll be taking two ships, Yagami and Hikaeme ," sKiyone said out loud. "Ryoji and Junichiro, you're with me on Yagami. Mitsuki and Amane, you're on—"
"Woah, woah, don't even finish that sentence," Mitsuki interrupted. "I'd rather take Sensai alone than get on Hikaeme with Amane."
"What, you don't want to catch up with your subordinate? Amane taunted. "I thought you said it's nice to see you again."
"The only thing worse than your childishness is your inability to pick up on sarcasm."
"Oh, would you shut up already—"
Kiyone stomped her boot on the floor and turned around. "This is exactly why I want you two to be on the same ship. You're both in SIFO now, but if you want to stay, you're two are going to learn to get along with each other."
Mitsuki scoffed. "Easy for you to say. You're not the that's been shackled to this second-class sap for a year and counting. If you were in my shoes, I'm sure you'd have torn your hair out by now."
Kiyone let out a sigh. "Look, I can understand being… unsatisfied with partners, but we're all a team now, and the only way we can be successful is if we can work together well, and if that means employing the neo-academy style to get that done, that's fine by me."
"Neo-academy style? Please, don't joke like that. You'd never hit me!"
Kiyone rushed forward with such incredible speed that Mitsuki had no time to react, and she slapped the overconfident detective sergeant across the cheek. The neo-academy style specifies that the opponent has to be "slapped silly", but judging by the shocked look on Mitsuki's face, it seemed to Kiyone that just one did the trick.
"Ouch!" Junichiro commented. "Now that's straightening out as I know!"
"Do you want to keep arguing?" Kiyone asked Mitsuki.
Mitsuki rubbed her injured cheek and reluctantly nodded. "Fine, I get it. I guess Hikaeme will be glad to see me again, right Amane?"
"Just don't say anything that'll get you thrown out of the airlock," Amane answered.
Kiyone raised her hand threateningly toward Amane. "This goes for you too, Amane. Keep the insults to yourself."
"Ficada insulta?" Amane asked in Renoiran.
"Sa. Ficada insulta," Kiyone answered. "This only works if you both put some effort in."
Amane sighed. "Okay, I understand. I'll try if she does."
Junichiro quickened his pace to get right behind Kiyone and whisper in her ear. "Are you sure this is going to work?"
Kiyone whispered back. "I'll slap them as many times as it takes until it does."
"Huh. I hope so."
The group parted ways to reach their designated ships. Upon their entry into Hikaeme, Amane led Mitsuki to the bridge, where Hikaeme herself warmly greeted her pilot.
"Back so soon, Amane! Did you actually want to go shopping in New Tenju?" she asked with her usual charm. But her tone was not so chipper when she saw the guest Amane had brought with her. "Oh, you…."
"Yeah, me," Mitsuki said. "It's been a while."
"Quite," Hikaeme said. "How is Sensai doing these days?"
"Fine. He does exactly what he's told without a word, unlike some."
Amane stepped in. "We're on another mission, Hikaeme . We're following the Yagami ."
Aboard the Yagami, Ryoji was disheartened to find there were only two seats on the bridge without any spares, and being the last person inside, Kiyone and Junichiro had already taken up the spots. The grumbles behind her clued her into the problem, and she immediately took out her control cube to find anything she could to help him. All she could find was a spare zaisu chair she had from Earth.
"Sorry," Kiyone said, clutching the futon in her hands. "You can go to Hikaeme , if you want."
"It'll do," he said as he took the zaisu. from Kiyone "Tsukushi and Kaunaq are likely doing well enough without me."
The zaisu was made for sitting on the floor in front of a warm kotatsu table. As such, it had no legs, and Kiyone couldn't help but wince at the awkward sight of the already-short Ryoji sitting down on the floor of the bridge without the faintest idea of what was happening above him.
Opening his holo-computer, Ryoji began his calculations. "Ignoring the accommodations or lack thereof, with the coordinates that Kagato gave us, we should reach their destination within a few hours at maximum speed. Assuming of course, the ship doesn't move."
"Well obviously the ship ought to be moving right now," Junichiro asserted. "What a joke. Soon as we get there, they'll already be long gone!"
Kiyone busied herself with activating the Yagami as she spoke. "I have a feeling Kagato has already accounted for that."
The refueling station was a lonely place at a glance, being built on the surface of an asteroid in a tiny cluster near the loose border region between Jurai and Seniwa. As the ship was docked there, workers were busy with various tools performing basic diagnostics and refueling.
Inside the ship, two curious guards stood in the now-empty communications room. The officer had left without a trace.
"That's why I think it's weird," one of them said. "He seemed perfectly fine when we got off Jurai, but now he's gone. He couldn't have changed his mind, could he?"
"He must've. Guess he felt he was getting in too deep with the job. His loss, really," his comrade replied. He then noticed a pair of headphones connected to a music player and the gun nearby. "Wow, what a nice guy. Gave the gun back and even left his music stuff for us!"
A certain maintenance worker was busying himself with eyeing some numbers inside the ship's engine room, alone amongst various valves and levers and meters, when Kagato suddenly approached him from behind.
"You again!? Oh, you scared me!" he said joyfully as the Tokimi mark glowed brightly on his forehead. "Need something?"
"I need to buy time for someone to catch up with us," Kagato said. "How can I delay this ship's departure?"
"Oh, there's plenty of ways to do that!" the worker answered. "You can kill everyone on the ship, for one. You can't fly a ship this big without a crew! Or, you could destroy the station. You can't fly this big ship without proper maintenance! Or—"
"Can I break anything inside here?" Kagato interrupted. "I prefer subtlety, if possible."
"You do, huh? Wait, I know! You can crack the fuel line connecting the tank to the ignition chamber powering the engines. Here, I'll show you."
He led Kagato into another room inside the engine department and pointed to a few large pipes on the wall connecting to the locked-off ignition chamber.
"All you have to do is break these pipes, and we won't be able to use the engines. It'll probably take us a few hours to have it fixed. Perfect, ain't it?"
"Yes," Kagato said. He approached the pipes and grabbed them in a bunch with both his hands. He breathed in and squeezed, and the metal gave way and crumbled under the pressure. Alarms began beeping as bright blue liquid fuel began leaking out of the pipes and onto the floor of the room.
"Wow, what a mess!" the maintenance worker said. "Say, how'd you do that with your hands? I mean, you're pretty strong, y'know?"
"Please, take your time in fixing this," Kagato said. With a snap of his fingers, the mark on the worker's head vanished, and so had Kagato.
A few seconds later, a trio of other maintenance workers rushed into the room and were shocked at the damaged pipes on the wall.
"What the hell happened here!?" one of them asked.
The maintenance worker blinked his eyes and looked at his co-workers, confused, but he too panicked upon realizing they were standing in a pool of fuel. "I-I-I don't know, man! I was just running the diagnostics and this came up out of nowhere! Hey, look, guys, start fixin' this, okay? I'll go tell the captain what happened."
Kiyone was pleased to see her prediction was correct. Yagami and Hikaeme happened upon the station described in the coordinates they were given, and they saw an ordinary-looking grey cargo ship docked on one of the landing pads. They were a good-enough distance from the station to not be noticed, but the advanced optics equipped on GP ships meant they could still see them.
"Well, there's the ship, but what now?" Junichiro asked. "Just go in and arrest everyone?"
"Ms. Fujikawa didn't specify when we should board their ship. Kagato said that they're headed to Seniwan space, and I for one am interested in seeing what's going to happen. I'm sure that's what Kagato is thinking."
Behind them, holographic projections of Mitsuki and Amane on Hikaeme appeared.
"How are we supposed to see what happens without being on the ship, Kiyone?" Amane asked. "We'll have to get inside, one way or another."
"Go ahead," Mitsuki told her. "Being such a charmer and all, you'll have no trouble making friends there."
"Why not you?" Amane asked, annoyed. "It might be dangerous, and since I'm so incompetent at my job, I'd probably just get killed, right?"
"You say that like I should be concerned."
Kiyone crackled her knuckles as loud as she could, and the threatening pose she made immediately got Mitsuki and Amane's attention. "Someone will need to go. Preferably, someone who can sneak inside without being noticed. Someone inconspicuous, invisible almost. I can't do that."
"Nope," Mitsuki said.
"It wouldn't go as well as you'd think," Amane said.
"Honestly, I'm still not used to walking around Headquarters," Junichiro said. "I tell you, if I go on that ship, I'll get lost in two minutes."
The team pondered their predicament without a word, but their silence was interrupted by the smell and slurping of noodles. As Ryoji innocently ate his instant lunch while sitting down on the zaisu in the middle of everyone else, he was not thrilled when he noticed everyone suddenly staring at him.
"Lieutenant," Kiyone began.
"No," Ryoji said bluntly. "I don't want to."
"Come on, you scaredy-cat, just do it," Mitsuki told him, arms crossed.
"How many times do I have to say it? I'm an intelligence officer, not a field officer. I'm not trained to sneak around like a spy."
"But think about it: you're so small and all, and nobody really pays attention to you as it is, so I think you're our guy," Junichiro said.
"Well, I think you're wrong," Ryoji countered, pointing at him with his chopsticks.
"Ryoji…" Amane said as she walked closer to him. "You shouldn't doubt your abilities so much. Sure, you might not have been trained exactly like us, but you're a Galaxy Police officer just as we are. I know you can persevere if you just put your mind to it, and if you do, we'll all be thankful for it."
Ryoji could feel the pressure building up from all sides, and finally, he cracked. "Okay. I'll do it, but if I get captured, you'll have to explain to Fujikawa how you all thought it was a great idea."
Kiyone smiled. "Thank you, Ryoji."
The preparation for Ryoji's infiltration took up the next twenty minutes. The Omni-printers on the Yagami were put to work fabricating ordinary-looking sailors' fatigues in Ryoji's size, as well as a disposable astronaut suit to be worn over it. As soon as Ryoji was dressed up, Kiyone led him to a large, cylindrical room, with a small pod inserted on a magnetic rail that was aimed at a closed hatch. The Yagami had pivoted in place and its port side was facing the station.
"This escape pod has enough propulsion to get you to the station's outer hull," she began. "You'll have to exit the pod, enter the station from outside, and then sneak aboard the ship before it departs. And once you're inside that ship, we'll have no way of contacting you until you access the communication equipment."
"Correct. All of which is exactly what I'm trained and experienced with doing," Ryoji said flatly.
Ryoji's sarcasm was not lost on Kiyone, who got closer to him and looked him in the eyes, something he found uncomfortable. "Like we said, you're the best person we have to do this. You can sneak aboard, and you know your way with technology. As soon as we know what is happening with Seniwa, we'll board the ship ourselves. Any more questions, Lieutenant?"
"No. I understand the mission perfectly. I'll see what I can do."
Kiyone nodded and let go of him. She opened the escape pod for Ryoji to enter. "Good luck."
The pod's doors closed, and Kiyone operated a computer on the wall of the chamber to begin the launch. When the pod's engines ignited and the hatch to space opened, the rail activated and slingshotted the pod clear of the Yagami and out into open space.
The target was right in front of him. Most of the station's structure was built inside the asteroid, and there was a rectangular ship with a dock that jutted out into space that let ships enter and exit. As the pod approached the station, Ryoji turned off the engines and let the pod drift toward the asteroid, hopefully appearing as simply an idle rock to anyone looking in that direction.
The pod shook with a slight clunk as it made contact with the asteroid. Ryoji checked his spacesuit one last time, and, seeing that it was sealed properly, got up to depressurize the pod and open the doors. He floated into space, careful to orient himself in the direction of the asteroid, and used the jetpack fitted to his spacesuit to drift towards its surface. He found where rock and metal met, and going a little further, he found exactly what he needed, a maintenance hatch that led to the inside of the station.
He turned and pulled a lever that opened the small hatch, and he let himself inside and closed the entrance behind him. Thankfully, there was nobody else in this miscellaneous part of the station, nor was there anyone around to notice him enter the pressurized section of the station and discard the spacesuit. Now, donning grey fatigues and a hat to cover most of his head, he speed-walked around the station, following the signs to the dock at the center where the cargo ship was. Now, there were plenty of workers around him, but the most attention Ryoji got was a few idle stares.
He found the cargo ship, and just in time, too; he noticed a lot of people starting to board the vessel as it was presumably ready to launch. He quickened his pace as he approached the ramp leading into the ship. As he was the last to enter, nobody else noticed as he let himself inside.
Aboard the Yagami and Hikaeme, they could see the cargo ship exit the station. Yagami himself appeared from the roof of the bridge.
"No contact so far from Lieutenant Ishizuka. Perhaps we should wait?" He suggested.
Kiyone shook her head. "He must not have had enough time yet to establish communications. Let's follow them from a distance."
As on the space station, the crew of the cargo ship didn't pay much mind to Ryoji as he calmly walked through the halls. As he followed the signs on the ceiling, he eventually made his way to the communication room. Nobody else was nearby, but in case someone was inside, he remembered to bring along his pistol with him. Sure, he's never used one, but there'd be no way they would know that. However, just as he was about to reach for it and head inside, a security guard approached him.
"Hey! Who're you?" he growled.
All the confidence drained out of Ryoji's body and he quivered in place. "Um… I-I… I'm the new guy!"
"New guy?" the guard repeated.
"Y-y-yeah! New guy! The captain needed a new guy for communications!"
The guard took a careful look at Ryoji and glanced at the door they were standing next to. "Oh, right! Communications! The last one just up and left without a word, you believe that? Well, go on in, we left the door unlocked for you."
Ryoji licked his lips and shrugged. "Right."
He entered the room and closed the door behind him. Immediately, his eyes scanned the room and found the seat where all the communication instruments were. Having operated equipment exactly like this on Headquarters, he knew exactly how to use it to contact the Yagami and Hikaeme. Since there was no camera in his room and he was the only one monitoring communications, he could be sure that nobody else would notice him using the ship to communicate on an open frequency.
"Amateurs," Ryoji commented.
The communication Kiyone and the others were waiting for came through.
"Makibi, Tsukushi, Kaunaq, Yoritomo, I've infiltrated the ship and have control of communications."
"Good work, Lieutenant,' Kiyone said. "Have you learned anything?"
"Um… no. Nothing. I'm simply informing you that I'm alive. Because… I didn't… you shouldn't have to worry unnecessarily. I'm going to infiltrate the ship's security and hopefully find out more information. Out."
While walking around, he noticed that cameras were installed in the halls. They were uncharacteristically new-looking as if someone had installed them on this otherwise old ship. Cameras might be easy to install, but he doubted there was a central security room to control the cameras from. More likely, the main computer in the bridge was remotely controlling the cameras.
"That makes things easier," Ryoji told himself as he pulled out a cord from his holo-computer gauntlet and connected it to the nearest compatible opening. Going to the bridge was suicidal and not something he's trained for, but since the communication room had a network connection to the bridge, it was a simple matter of installing state-of-the-art Galaxy Police "highjacker" software onto the AI. It would only take a few minutes to overwhelm its firewall, and he could simply assume responsibility for controlling the cameras from it.
"Hey, new guy!" the guard from earlier came back, letting himself into the door.
Ryoji immediately took off his holo-computer and darted over to the door, keeping the guard's attention on him and not the hacking behind him.
"Y-you need something?" he asked quickly.
"I just wanted to tell you that we have some free food cooking in the cafeteria if you're hungry. Believe it or not, the food synthesizer works just fine on this hunk of rust. "
"No, no. I'm fine. Not hungry."
"You sure? If you could just smell it, you'd dig in even if you weren't—"
"Yes, yes, I'm sure you're very correct about the quality of the food, but right now I'd rather be working alone in this room. Alone, as in one person!" he said insistently, raising his index finger for effect.
"Working? All you're supposed to do is just contact the Seniwans when we get to the border. You're not—"
"I'm very, very, very busy right now!" Ryoji interrupted again. "So if you don't mind, let me just do my work, and I'll let you gorge yourself on processed calories. Is that a satisfying agreement?"
"Well, suit yourself, I guess, but just in case you change your mind—"
"Yes, very good, thank you very much, and good-BYE!" Ryoji finished as he pressed the button to close the door again. He turned around and slumped against the door in exhaustion.
"Weirdo," he could hear through the door.
Ryoji had decided. This would be the first and last time he would ever do solo field operations for SIFO. But before he can voice his complaint, he had to finish the job. He got up and skipped back toward his equipment, where he found his highjacker software had done its magic and he now had effective control over the security system.
"So I'm just saying, they need to bring back intermissions!" Junichiro said excitedly. "Flicks these days run three hours, four hours! I tell you, I went to a movie a few months ago and I had to bring a bottle into the theatre because I knew I wouldn't be able to hold it in!"
"Ever hear the phrase 'too much information'?" Mitsuki asked from Hikaeme. Beside her, Amane hummed in agreement as she ran a comb through her short hair.
Junichiro shrugged. "If there's one thing I hope the People's Will does besides whipping the JCPD into shape, it's bringing back the intermission. It's a matter of public health!"
Ryoji reported in again. "Makibi, Tsukushi, Kau… this is getting redundant. I have access to the ship's security camera. Transmitting the feed to Yagami and Hikaeme ."
The screen switched to a display of a series of live camera feeds from inside the cargo ship. The first one was of the bridge, with its captain and crew, then the cafeteria, then the hall right outside one of the bathrooms, where two guards were idly standing around.
"Those aren't Juraian Royal Guards, are they?" Amane asked.
"I believe those are members of the Eight Banners, a mercenary organization," Yagami stated. "According to statistics, most of them are former Seniwan and Juraian military personnel, and a few are former Galaxy Police officers."
"Oh, so they're a bunch of washouts," Mitsuki said.
"They're scum," Junichiro said with disgust. "They're the absolute worst."
"How would you know?"
Junichiro glanced toward Mitsuki. "Eight years ago, a body was found raped and thrown in one of the back alleys of Fukaba Ward. I was assigned to track the perpetrators with Kayabuki. Witnesses said that they saw a couple of men with banners sticking out from the back of their clothes running away from the crime scene. We picked up the traces and caught up to them."
"And?"
"Let's just say… that case was the one time I was ever glad to be part of the JCPD. I made sure they could never do such a thing again."
The focus turned back to the camera feed. Next up was a room with a single man sitting inside.
"Wait a minute, Lieutenant," Kiyone said. "Go back. That room with the Seniwan man."
Ryoji silently did as he was told and went back to the room with the one man in it. With more time to look, they found out he was a Seniwan man, presumably the only one on the ship.
"He's a Seniwan, so what?" Mitsuki asked.
Junichiro studied the Seniwan for a moment. "Orange fatigues, alone in a room, resisting the urge to talk to himself... I think this guy's a prisoner."
Kiyone hummed in agreement and called out for assistance. "Yagami, can you identify the Seniwan man in this room?"
Yagami sprouted into view again. "I have profile entries for approximately one billion people, including 20 million Seniwans. One moment. Identity confirmed. This man is Chosan Fui, aged fifty-one. He's the former general of the Seniwan Sixth Ground Army. His last command was on the planet Eiko-VI leading forces at the Siege of Fujinjou five years ago. "
"Fujinjou?" Kiyone asked. "You mean where all those Juraian civilians died?"
"Correct," Yagami answered. "A massive explosion resulted in the deaths of twenty-million, one-hundred and eighty-five thousand, nine hundred and five people. General Fui was captured by Juraian agents shortly afterward and was taken to planet Jurai, where he was found guilty of genocide by military tribunal. He is supposed to be serving a life sentence without parole."
"Supposed to be," Mitsuki repeated. "So someone let him out deliberately."
"They're probably going to trade the guy in for something in return from the Seniwans," Junichiro continued. "Tsunami only knows for what, though. The guy's a damn monster, what he did five years ago!"
"We're going to find out exactly what's being traded," Kiyone said. "But where is Kagato? Are we sure he's still on the ship, Lieutenant?"
No response. Kiyone repeated herself after five seconds. "Lieutenant? Ryoji!"
"What? Sorry, I wasn't listening," he said innocently. "Sorry."
"Can your cameras find Kagato?"
"Theoretically, yes, but I don't see him anywhere. Most likely, he's hiding until the Seniwans arrive."
Suddenly, Ryoji heard a beeping sound from the communication equipment, he read the signature of the frequency hailing the ship, and from training, he recognized it as Seniwan. He answered the call, but he immediately realized that he had no idea what he was supposed to say and shrieked as soon as he pressed the button.
It was only a few seconds later that he realized that he didn't need to do anything, after all. Once he pressed the button, he could hear through the hijacked camera footage of the bridge that the captain and the Seniwans were conversing.
What a fool he was, Ryoji thought to himself. Obviously, he was only ever going to operate the equipment. Even if he were on the bridge itself, he wouldn't have had to do anything. Just then, however, the whole ship shook ever so slightly.
Yagami announced what Ryoji was feeling. "A Seniwan frigate-class ship has dropped out of warp right next to the cargo ship and is preparing to dock with it."
"You want to go in now?" Mitsuki asked Kiyone.
"I don't want to risk an incident between the Galaxy Police and Seniwa. The Lieutenant can see what's happening inside for us. As soon as their business is done, we'll pull the ship over and confiscate whatever they have."
"You're letting that war criminal get back home?" Amane asked. "You can't let that happen!"
Junichiro shrugged. "Not much choice in the matter now."
Aboard the ship, the clanking of boots grew louder and louder until the door to the bridge opened. A squad of Seniwan soldiers, dressed in blue naval uniforms and brandishing white service blasters. The squad quickly entered the room and split into two halves covering the doorway. The soft jingle of medals signaled the entry of the man the soldiers were escorting. He was dressed in a more formal officer's wear, and his gaze upon the ship's captain was nothing but contemptuous.
"You're late," he said coldly.
The captain, his eyes mostly concealed behind a large pair of silver glasses, stood up to greet the delegation. "Apologies. We had some minor technical difficulties on the way here. But never mind that, let's get this over with." He turned behind him.
"Get Fui."
"Who's that officer?" Kiyone asked.
"Checking… Shi Yu-Ha," Yagami answered. "Admiral of the Seniwan Second Fleet. He's a very high-ranking person in both the military and civil administration."
"Do you think Mihoshi knows this person?" Amane asked.
"Mihoshi could probably tell you what kind of food he eats for breakfast," Kiyone answered. "When it comes to her homeworld, there's little she doesn't know."
Yagami perked his head in attention. "We're receiving communications from headquarters. Due to the extreme distance, it's audio-only."
To nobody's surprise, it was Mihoshi.
"Since you asked. Mr. Yu-Ha likes eating fish for every meal! You'd think he'd get tired of it, but when I asked him, he says he tries out different sauces to keep up the variety."
"Wait, how long have you been listening to our conversation?" Kiyone asked her.
"Um… I don't know. I was just fumbling around with Sensai's communication equipment and I started monitoring your comms.
"Hey, get off my ship!" Mitsuki yelled. "Nobody's allowed in there but me! How'd you get inside in the first place?"
"Well, Airi was busy selling all the food that I cooked for her, and I wanted to know how you were doing on your mission. Sensai just opened the door for me when I asked. He's such a nice AI!"
Mitsuki hit her head on the panel of the Hikaeme 's dashboard. "I need to reprogram that piece of junk again."
"Well, if you meet Mr. Yu-Ha, tell him I said hi!" Mihoshi continued. Oh, but if he asks, I'm not coming back to Seniwa, ever. I mean it. Bye!"
"General Fui," Yu-Ha said to his comrade. "Good to see you again."
Chosan gasped when he saw his comrade in uniform. "Yu-Ha? Yu-Ha!" sensing the guards' grip on his shoulders loosening, he burst free from their hold and ran over to Yu-Ha, only the trip on himself from excitement. He got onto his knees and desperately gripped Yu-Ha's legs, like a little boy begging his father for attention.
"You believe me, don't you!? It was an accident, it was a complete accident! The Juraians didn't say anything about the munitions depot under the city. If I had known, I would've stopped the assault! I was just following my orders from Mishoto, we all were! I didn't do anything wrong! Y-you believe me, right? Right!?"
Yu-Ha helped Chosan to his feet. "Of course I believe you. Everyone on Seniwa knows you're innocent."
Chosan took a deep breath of relief. "So… these fives years, I was always exonerated for what happened. I'm so… so relieved!"
"I'm sure you can celebrate all you want back home, but would you please give us something in return?" the captain asked.
A man standing next to Yu-Ha handed him a black briefcase he was holding. Yu-Ha took it for himself and handed it to the captain. Immediately, the captain moved his hands for the button to open it, but Yu-Ha stopped him with words.
"Don't. There's no need for you to know what's inside. Just give the case to Lady Seto, if you know what's good for you."
"I see. Fine. Our business here is done."
Yu-Ha nodded. "If you'll excuse us…"
He put an arm around Chosan's shoulder and escorted him out of the bridge, the soldiers following in turn. Chosan had an exciting jump to each step as they passed through the docking tube and entered the Seniwa ship.
"In case you were wondering, your family is doing fine. We've been paying them your salary," Yu-Ha told him, as he reached into his uniform and pulled something out. "Here, this was taken a few months ago."
Chosan let out a sigh of happiness. It was a photo of his wife and son in the company of a few family friends. A feeling of pride filled him as he looked upon his son, having grown from a small, bookish boy to a strong, fine young man in the five years of his absence. How much did he have to catch up on, he wondered.
"Oh, yes! I'm glad to hear that. And I'm sure Teishang will be alight with festivities as soon as I'm back. I can already imagine the great speech I'll be giving to the people! My, I'm just so excited that I'm back to work. Sixth Groud Army has been sorely lacking without me, haven't they?"
"Not exactly," Yu-Ha answered with some hesitation. "Mishoto promoted Minami Kuramitsu to your position after the war ended."
"Minami?" Chosan repeated with some surprise. "Understandable considering my absence, but I never thought him much of a leader, more of a hands-on worker—a bureaucrat, really. Once we're home, I'm sure Mishoto will see that Sixth Ground Army is mine to command. There's no one else more qualified for the duty."
"No. Mishoto has already made up his mind about you," Yu-Ha said. "You're not going back to Sixth Ground Army."
Chosan grunted. "What will it be then? A position at Teishang Military Academy? I confess, after all these years, I'm a bit nostalgic for those days."
Yu-Ha walked in front of Chosan and stopped him in his tracks. "Chosan, Mishoto has decided that you are to be executed as soon as we return home."
Chosan's mouth went agape from his words. "What? Come now, what kind of welcoming party is that? Even after five years, you've yet to develop a sense of humor."
"And you've yet to realize the incalculable damage you've done to the Seniwan military by allowing yourself to be captured alive. Who knows how many secrets you've given up to Jurai. Mishoto believes you've made the next war that much harder."
"That's absurd! I never said a word to the Juraians, you must believe me!"
Yu-Ha bit his lip and glanced at the soldiers and their stone-cold expressions behind him. He sighed.
"I do believe you, Chosan, but you must understand that, well… Sixth Ground Army is experiencing morale issues— the men simply don't respect Minami as much as his predecessor, and once you've returned to Seniwa, that will only get worse. So, Mishoto thought the best way to help him was to make an example out of you."
Chosan was silent, his throat too choked with dread to utter a sound from the revelation. He was never exonerated. From the moment he was captured, he stopped being a soldier and became a disposable tool, first used by the enemy, and now, by his own country.
"I'm sorry, I really am," Yu-Ha said. "If it were up to me, I'd shoot you here and now to spare you the pain of being paraded around Teishang like a caged animal."
"It is up to you," Chosan said finally. "You're my friend, aren't you?"
Yu-Ha made a single whimper of a laugh and nodded. "I suppose so."
Immediately, he walked back to the nearest soldier and snatched the service blaster out of his hands, aiming the weapon directly at Chosan's chest.
Without anything left to do, Chosan reluctantly took out the paper fan Seto gave him and hid his executioner, his friend, from view.
"Tell my family I love them, and tell Mishoto… Lady Seto says hello."
After a minute, the Seniwan warship detached from theirs and departed back for their homeworld. The captain put the suitcase right next to his feet for safe-keeping. "Our business here is finished. Full-speed back to New Tenju."
"Aye sir. Wait, something's here!"
"Huh? What is—"
Before the captain could finish, two Galaxy Police ships suddenly sped into view and were hailing them. Even if he didn't want to speak, Ryoji had decided for him, and now he was facing Kiyone on Yagami and Mitsuki and Amane on Hikaeme.
"This is the Galaxy Police," Kiyone announced. I am Detective First-Class Kiyone Makibi. Under GP Protocol 1286-14, we reserve the right to identify any ships that fail to automatically register in our ship database. Who are you?"
The captain gave a fake cough. "We uh…we're delivering cargo to, erm … Renoir, but I guess we had some engine troubles and are drifting for the moment. We're fine, though. Nothing to worry about."
"You're not transporting cargo to Renoir," Amane said.
"Huh? Oh Really? How would you know?" he asked with confidence.
"Because I lived there, and you've been going the complete opposite direction to Renoir for a whole day," Amane answered.
"Idiot," Mitsuki chimed in.
"You know, I've interrogated kids with better alibis than this bozo," Junichiro said to Kiyone. "Let's just board, arrest them all, find Kagato, and call it day."
Kiyone shook her head. "They haven't violated interstellar law yet, so we can't do anything more than questioning them. We have to do this right way."
"Alright, then let's make them break the law. Just fabricate some synthetic spice garbage or whatever and plant it on the ship. Easy bust."
"As if it wasn't obvious enough you're a JCPD officer," Mitsuki chimed in.
While SIFO conversed among themselves, the captain motioned for his first officer to him to whisper.
"We can't let them have this case!" he told him.
"What should we do?"
"Fire a flare on my command, and go full speed into Seniwan space."
"We can't do that!"
"It's the only way! Seto will deal with the politics, but we can't fail her!"
Kiyone continued speaking to the others. "There is only so much we can hide from Ms. Fujikawa. We can't break GP law no matter what—"
She was interrupted by a blinding light that engulfed their view of the bridge. Once it cleared, they saw that the cargo ship had forcibly cut communications and was speeding toward Seniwan space.
"If they enter Seniwan space, we cannot follow," Yagami informed Kiyone.
Kiyone pointed toward the rear of the ship. "Type-21 missile. Target the engines and fire!"
"Affirmative."
A hole opened on one side of the Yagami, where a large missile shot out at great speed directly for the cargo ship's engines. It reached its target in less than thirty seconds and penetrated the ship's hull in the narrow space between the two engines. A large fireball erupted from the detonation, immediately powering down the engines and sending debris barreling through space.
"It appears the ship is incapable of propulsion," Yagami announced.
"Activate tractor beams and slow them to a halt," Kiyone ordered.
"So much for doing things the right way!" Junichiro said jokingly. "You probably killed anyone working back there."
Kiyone sighed. "Given the stakes of the mission, I had no choice."
"Good, because those Eight Banners are gonna give us the wringing now if we're going to board that ship. Not that I'd mind."
"They're just mercenaries, it's not like they really care about what happens," Mitsuki asserted. "We should just threaten to vaporize that hunk of rust and they'll surrender!"
"That's not going to work," Kiyone said. "They probably think we're after the case, not Kagato. We'll have to do this the hard way. We're going to board that ship, find Kagato, and arrest anyone else aboard"
"And rescue Ryoji," Amane added.
"That's a secondary objective, Amane," Mitsuki said. "The case comes first; we can always get another four-eyes."
"For your information, I'm perfectly capable of rescuing myself," Ryoji said through his communications. "Just don't shoot another missile before that."
"They're probably going to wait for us to enter from one side. How many airlock entrances are on that ship, Yagami ?"
"Five. I recommend docking on opposite ends of the ship."
"Understood," Kiyone turned to the holographic Mitsuki and Amane. "We'll take the port side, you take starboard. That way we can comb the ship faster and find Kagato."
"If those mercenaries want to shoot us, splitting up is a really bad idea," Mitsuki said.
"I thought you said they were a bunch of washouts?" Amane said.
"They are, but even morons can shoot a gun, I'd know," she answered, flexing her eyebrows in her direction.
"You are really pushing it…."
"Not. Now," Kiyone said authoritatively. "Let's get this mission finished first."
Aboard the ship, the captain and his crew were followed by their guards as they rushed the vessel's escape pods.
"Almost there!" the captain said enthusiastically. "Once we're in the pods, we're shooting out into Seniwan space. Then we're good!"
One of the doors that lead to the room with the pods mysteriously wouldn't open automatically. The captain hastily tried to operate the console next to the door, but he noticed it was strangely crushed open and bricked. Gritting his teeth, he smashed it with both his hands.
"Damn! Fine, we'll just blow it open!" he said as he turned around to the Eight Banners, but he noticed a man at the end of the hallway they were in. Immediately, the mercenaries noticed his gaze and drew their guns at the mysterious man.
"The case… for your lives," Kagato said simply. "Now."
"No chance! Lady Seto wants it! We're giving it to her," the captain said defiantly. "I don't care who you are, but you're way in over your head if you're trying to mess with us!"
Kagato clenched his right hand into a first, conjuring pure-dark energy, so completely black that it was truly an absence of color, and shaped itself into a long sword. He let out a growl.
"Unacceptable."
SIFO boarded and quickly reached the loudly-beeping bridge, where Ryoji had already arrived himself and was looking over the ship's diagnostics.
"I think they were going towards the escape pods," he said. However, before letting any of them pursue, he directed them toward one of the panels on the bridge which was showing a flashing red label. "Only… that missile you hit us with destroyed the engine's power balances. The reactor is going to meltdown and destroy this ship.
"How much time is there?" Kiyone asked.
Ryoji shrugged. "I'm not a ship engineer, but my guess would be about ten minutes, so let's just get out of here!"
"Not without Kagato."
"Forget Kagato! He'll be vaporized with everything else!"
"I doubt that. We need to find him. Show us which way the crew went."
They drew their guns as they ran toward the growing sounds of shots and screaming echoing through the halls. They reached their destination, where they barely missed one of the Eight Banners being thrown against a nearby wall with enough force to dent it. No one bothered checking his vitals; from a glance, it was clear he would not be getting back up.
Kagato stood in the middle of the hall, behind him were several bodies of the crew and Eight Banners. Some had their torsos badly gashed and sliced through; others had hands and arms cleanly severed; and for a couple, their heads were missing.
"Freeze!" Kiyone yelled as they all aimed their pistols. She could hear Amane breathing heavily, probably overwhelmed at seeing Kagato for the first time.
"We finally meet again," Kagato said casually. "I'm truly humbled that you all came so far to see me."
Kiyone swallowed hard. She couldn't believe she was this close to Kagato. Seeing him up close like this was bewildering. Who was this Kagato, this incredible walking contradiction; well-dressed and well-spoken, yet a merciless, bloodthirsty, monster of a creature. Someone like him wasn't born, he had to have been created. But by who, and why?
"Ah yes, and you are the new member of this little team," Kagato said to Amane. "How do you like it so far?"
Amane took a deep breath and mumbled to herself. "You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford one, the Galaxy Police will—"
"He's obviously not here to surrender," Junichiro interrupted her. "This is part of his game."
"Correct," Kagato said. "I wanted to give you a gift." He picked up the case from off the ground, prying it from the dead captain's cold hands. "Here. I wanted to make sure this fell into your hands."
Confused and uneasy about his presence, SIFO gave Kagato no response.
"Well, aren't you going to take it?" Kagato asked. "What's wrong? Take it, I don't want it! You should have it!" Kagato said, insistence clear in his voice.
Mitsuki leaned forward and whispered into Kiyone's ear. "Come on. We don't have time. Let's just shoot him already."
"Do you want to end up like those Eight Banners?" Kiyone asked.
As they argued, Ryoji unexpectedly walked forward without a word and took the case from Kagato. Neither man said anything, and Ryoji walked back to the others.
Kagato smiled. "The time of destiny quickly approaches. With the spark set in Jurai City, you will all find yourselves facing hard decisions, but hopefully, that chip will help you make them."
"What are you talking about?" Kiyone asked. "What's going to happen in Jurai City?"
"Destiny, I said! Jurai's fate will hang in the balance, and the rules we all abide by will no longer apply. But unlock the secrets inside that case, and you need not despair. You will know exactly what you must do. You will learn who your real enemy is."
"Okay, you know what? This mish-mash philosophy isn't my forte, pal," Junichiro said. "All I know is that I have a bone to pick with you after what you did to Keiko!"
"You still care about that woman?" Kagato asked him. "I should ask, have you mentioned your real relationship with her to your comrades yet?"
"What the hell are you talking about!?"
Kagato chuckled. "I should tell you, I can see emotions like colors. All of yours, right now. Yellow is happy, blue is sad, red is angry, green is confused, pink is flustered, and so on. You, Mr. Yoritomo, are pink!"
"That's a lie, and you damn well know it!"
"Now you're red. You're hiding something, and you don't want to admit it! Let me guess for you: an innocent, little affair with Mrs. Kawabata, and a couple of nights spent while your good friend Hayao was away for work. Then… shame, and a pledge to never speak of such things again."
"You bastard!" Junichiro roared as he prepared to pull the trigger on his gun, but Kagato was too fast for him. He snapped his fingers, and Junichiro's gun harmlessly fell out of his hands as he fell through a black hole in spacetime.
"Old man!" Mitsuki yelled out.
"Don't worry about him," Kagato said. "Like you, he just needs a dry set of clothes. Now, our time here has come to an end. Remember, destiny hangs in the balance. Do not falter!"
Suddenly the whole ship rumbled violently. Pressure on the right side wall of the hall built up and exploded into flames and shrapnel, completely engulfing Kagato from view.
"Is he dead?" Amane asked.
"Definitely not!" Kiyone said. "Let's get out of here!"
They raced across the halls to the and sprinted across them to board their ships again, but along the way, Ryoji tripped and fell with the case.
"Ah! My foot!" he yelled out.
Kiyone had no hesitation as she stopped in her tracks and quickly grabbed and hoisted the small lieutenant in her arms. While Mitsuki and Amane made their way to the Hikaeme, Kiyone sprinted through the docking connection back onto the Yagami, and Kiyone positively leaped into the bridge and barked out her order.
"Full speed, get us out of here!"
"Affirmative!"
Both ships put their engines into overdrive and activated boosters to accelerate away from the cargo ship as fast as they could. It was just in time, as the engine section detonated and blow the ship into chunks of metal hurtling in all directions.
Kiyone took deep, hoarse breaths and sat slowly down in her seat to let her adrenaline slowly drain out of her body.
"Um, could you let me go, Makibi?" Ryoji asked uncertainly. Kiyone didn't have the chance to notice that she was still holding onto him, and carefully set him down on the seat parallel to hers.
"Everything considered, I believe we accomplished our mission parameters as specified by Fujikawa," he said.
"She didn't mention blowing up the ship," Kiyone replied between pants.
"She didn't say it wasn't allowed."
The day-long journey back to Headquarters ended unceremoniously, and SIFO once again went to Airi's office. This time, they found her, Mihoshi, and even Watari enjoying lunch at Airi's desk.
"And then," Mihoshi started. "That little cabbit of hers took a bite out of my gun, and I was so flabbergasted by it that I passed out!"
"She ate metal polymer? There's still so much we don't know about those two," Airi said as she glanced at SIFO entering her office. "You're back! Or…" she sighed. "Where is Mr. Yoritomo?"
"The old man's not… dead. Kagato said so. I'm sure he's fine."
Airi's intrigue was piqued. "So you did meet him. Where is he? I instructed you to bring him here, if possible."
"Ms. Fujikawa, believe me when I say that capturing him was simply not possible," Kiyone said. "But we did learn something very important."
"What?"
"The ship we were tracking was sent by Lady Seto in order to make a trade with the Seniwans, they traded in a Seniwan General named Chosan Fui in exchange for this case," she said as she brought out the case from inside her control cube. "Or specifically whatever's inside it. Kagato gave it to us when we boarded the ship. We haven't looked yet."
"What happened to the ship?"
"Kagato killed everyone, and the ship was blown up."
Airi had a pause before responding. "This is more than I was hoping for, but let's see what's inside."
Mihoshi got up with her bowl of rice and let Kiyone plop the case down on the open space of Airi's desk. As everyone crowded around to witness the moment, Kiyone unlocked the two latches on the case and opened it. Inside was a tiny, silverly chip with a databus on one end.
"Ooh, it's shiny!" Mihoshi said with astonishment.
"You've got to be kidding me," Mitsuki asked, suddenly snatching the chip for herself. "We risked our lives for a stupid data drive?"
"Let's find out what on the drive, then we can judge it," Airi suggested, calmly taking the chip into her own hands. "I'll let you have the honor, Lieutenant."
"Sure," Ryoji said nonchalantly as he took the chip. He plugged the chip into a connector on his arm-bound holo-computer and wirelessly connected it to the wall-sized display of the wall behind Airi's desk.
"It's a video, about three minutes long," Ryoji said.
The video began and showed a Seniwan man inside what appeared to be a small spacecraft. His helmet with its cracked visor lay to his side, and his pilot's uniform was stained with blood that was slowly pouring out of his mouth.
"It's from the war," Airi said.
"Is this on?" the pilot asked himself. "Okay. I'm good. This log is dated eleven, fifteen, year 10909. My name is Sun-Yi Sian. I am an Ensign employed in the Seniwan Naval Aeronautics corps, assigned to the 2nd Seniwan Fleet under the command of Admiral Shi Yu-Ha. I'm currently operating a Minjie-class scouting craft, and my mission is to find traces of any Juraian naval positions and relay them back to central fleet command."
"As I'm recording this, the Seniwan Combined Fleet has completed an orderly withdrawal from Jurai's Eiko system following a battle with what appears to be Jurai's Royal Tree ships. During the combat, my craft was damaged by a point defense laser of one of these ships and rendered my engines inoperable, leaving me unable to exit the system. Thankfully, the automatic repair system will be able to fix the damages eventually, and my ship was small enough to evade detection from the Juraian sensors."
"Whether or not the wars's over, well, that's for Premier Mishoto to decide, but the reason I am recording this log is that I have something that will prove very… very interesting to whomever views this when I'm rescued. After our fleet withdrew from the system, I saw something very alarming. There were a total of ten tree ships in that battle, and soon after the battle ended, eight of those immediately exited the system—probably back to planet Jurai— while two remained for an unknown reason. Then, one of the ships fired upon the other from behind, appearing to completely disable it."
"What?" Airi and Kiyone asked themselves in unison.
"I repeat, one of the Royal Ships attacked another one," Sun-Yi continued. "The attacking ship then quickly exited from the system, and approximately two minutes later, the damaged ship was completely destroyed by an internal explosion. I have footage of this exchange from the cameras installed on my craft. This is my proof."
The video feed is cut to a camera on the front of the scouting craft. Just as the pilot said, eight of the Juraian Royal Ships left the system, and one of the remaining ships destroyed the other.
"I'm aware that these tree ships are unique to each person royal family member, but I couldn't tell you who attacked who. That'll be for someone else to figure out. But this is what I wanted to show. I believe it had to be shown."
Sun-Yi took a deep breath, clearly exhausted from his earlier ordeal. "Well, that's it I guess. I'll be sure to give this to my superior when I get recused. Now, I just really need… need to take a nap." His hand reached for the camera, and the video immediately ended.
Airi sat down on her desk, her presence commanding the attention of everyone else in the room. "Prince Taisho—The Emperor's younger brother—was the first member of the Royal Family to die in battle in ten thousand years. When they announced his death, they said he died heroically, putting himself in the front rank of fire so his family members could attack from a safe distance. That's what they said after the war ended."
Mihoshi was the first to speak. "I know it's not doctored, but I just can't believe it! Why would the Royal Family kill one of their own?"
"Because he was different," Mitsuki spoke up. "Taisho broke all the rules about what to say in public. He called them corrupt, out-of-touch, even."
"You knew him personally?" Kiyone asked.
"I wish, but no. Right before the war started, I remember he gave a huge speech in Kanzaki talking about all of that, back when I was still in high school. I was one of the volunteers that helped set everything up for him."
"So this was a reprisal," Amane said. "They lured him away from planet Jurai and silenced him. But why did Lady Seto want this information?"
"I don't know much about Lady Seto, but I'm a politician, so my instinct tells me that this is an attempt to get leverage somehow," Airi said. "People like us always try to think ahead, especially when there's have an agenda we want done. As for what Seto's agenda is… that's for us to guess at."
"But wait a minute," Mihoshi said. "Airi told me about what you guys did while I was in the infirmary. Moto Terumori said that Kagato wanted revenge against the Royal Family, and now we know that Prince Taisho was murdered by them."
"What are you saying?" Kiyone asked.
"I'm just saying, just listen to me: what if Taisho and Kagato are the same person?"
"That's not possible," Mitsuki told her. "Prince Taisho died! We all saw his ship blow up! Nobody can come back from the dead! No one!"
"There's no point speculating until we learn more about Kagato," Kiyone said. "But what are we going to do with this information?"
"We obviously can't let this disk leak to the public," Airi said. "It's in nobody's interest to create even more unrest on Jurai than there already is."
While she spoke, Ryoji had stepped back from the others a few paces and soon grabbed his forehead, groaning. He cleared his head and backed away a few more paces, and began typing on his holo-computer.
"On the other hand, Lady Seto doesn't know that we've confiscated this disk, and we have no obligation to inform or give it to her. So I think the best option would be to keep pretending that Prince Tashio died a noble death in battle, and that'll be the end of… Ryoji, what are you doing?"
She had noticed that he was working on his computer while she was speaking, and we saw through his holographic computer screen that he was on 4Channel, and he was dragging a video file into a space for publishing.
As she and everyone else realized, Ryoji was uploading the video to the Juraian Hypernet!
"Are you crazy!?" Mitsuki yelled at him. "You're gonna start a—" she stopped as he and everyone else noticed Tokimi's mark on his forehead.
"Ryoji, what happened to you?" Kiyone asked. "Why are you doing that?"
Ryoji jumped up at their questions. "Master Kagato demands the truth! I will follow his word! The people must know! Everyone must know that they did!"
"Lieutenant Ryoji!" Mihoshi cried out. "Please stop this! You don't know what you're doing!"
"I'm following my master's orders!" Ryoji repeated. "When the people learn, they'll have the will to resist the invaders! Jurai City will fight for its freedom!"
Mihoshi took a step forward. "What invaders!? Please, Lieutenant, just calm down and explain it to—"
Ryoji cut Mihoshi's sentence short as he drew his pistol and aimed it at her. "Don't try and stop me! One more step and I'll kill you! I mean it!"
Immediately, Amane and Mitsuki drew their guns toward Ryoji, and Airi reached under her desk and pressed a small red button right next to one of the side cabinets, but Kiyone had already sprung into action.
She had learned to keep a secondary weapon on her after her scuffle with Motō Terumori. She pulled out a yo-yo equipped with an extra-long string—perfect for non-lethal attacks— but Ryoji had already shifted his gun toward her direction and fired!
The bolt of plasma missed Kiyone's face by mere centimeters, and she barely dodged two more shots to her torso before she swung her yo-yo at Ryoji. Her weapon hit dead on his gun, knocking it out of her hands and making him shriek with surprise.
Kiyone sprinted toward him and tackled him to the ground, ripping the holo-computer clean off his arm. She drew her gun and shot the computer once, tearing through and disabling the machine.
The next moment, security from outside the Superintendent's office piled into the room with guns drawn. "Superintendent!" one of them called out to her.
"I'm fine!" Airi said. "We're all fine, thanks to Kiyone here."
Kiyone saw that the Tokimi mark on Ryoji's head had already disappeared, and he was now only in an unresponsive stupor. She grabbed him and stood him up to hand to the security detail.
"He's no threat right now, but put him in the brig as a percation until Ms. Fujikawa says otherwise."
"Yes, Ma'am," one of them answered as he grabbed Ryoji's gun from off the floor. Mihoshi addressed Airi.
"Permission to follow them? I just want to make sure the Lieutenant is okay. Please?"
Airi hummed in approval. "Go ahead."
As the Lieutenant was escorted away with Mihoshi in tow. Kiyone reached for and felt Mihoshi's ribbon, still in her hair since she gave it to her. Ryoji wasn't a trained shooter, but Kiyone dodging his shots three times in a row from a short distance was undoubtedly a stroke of impossibly good luck. But that couldn't have been the ribbon, could it?
"Let me guess, Kagato targeted Ryoji on the ship?" Airi asked her.
Kiyone nodded. "We sent him ahead of us to access the communications. It must've happened before we boarded."
Airi nodded. "Well, I'm glad nobody got hurt, but what about the video? Did he upload it to the hypernet?"
Kiyone shrugged and raised her eyebrows unassured. "I destroyed the computer, but I don't know if I did it in time."
"There's only way to find out. Watari, if you would."
Cowering behind one of the ottomans in the background, the elderly gentleman finally got up and cleared his throat. "Yes, right away, Madam."
He walked over to Airi's desk computer and accessed 4Channel. At the top of the page was a categorized list of most recent video uploads, and from the thumbnail of the wounded Seniwan pilot, they knew that Kiyone had been too late.
"We can delete that video before people see it, can't we?" Amane asked.
"Not from that computer," Mitsuki said, shaking her head. "We can report it for content, but that'll take too long. Of course, we could've accessed Ryoji's account from his computer and deleted it that way," she stopped to snicker. "But someone …."
Kiyone gave Mitsuki the meanest glance she could imagine possible and walked up to her, giving her another round of the neo-academy style. This time, however, Mitsuki took the slap with pride and keep snickering.
Preview of Next Program:
Airi: "Jurai City is in chaos, and Lady Seto has made her move. The army has swept in, and they're hunting down the city's leadership.
Kiyone: "He must've known this would happen, but we won't let him have his way. Our mission is to rescue President Yukino and Prime Minister Eijima. If they die, the city will descend into full-scale war."
Mitsuki: "The next episode of Galaxy Police Complex: 'Operation: Heiwa' (平和). We better bust out those combat suits again, because this is unquestionably going to be an action-packed episode!"
Author's Note: "Phew!"
This was a hard episode to write for many reasons, most of them being my fault.
Given the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, some may be tempted to believe that the background story of what happened during the war between Jurai and Seniwa is a reference to that, but it actually isn't. It's just that I've taken so long writing this episode that the world's events have up and left me behind the times. C'est la vie, I suppose.
Episode six had a focus on Mihoshi, and episode seven obviously focused on Amane, so this time, I thought I would focus on Ryoji, the little Lieutenant who, as it turns out, can get a lot done if he puts his mind to it. But I don't think he'll be ready for operations for a little while. Don't worry though, SIFO won't be underhanded next episode. In fact, they might even get some unexpected help...
I also wanted to give more attention to Jurai's Royal Family. The opening scene with Azusa, Funaho, and Misaki seeing a play was probably the most entertaining part of the episode to write, mostly because of the play itself.
Trivia time!
The prison outside New Tenju that Chosan Fui was held in is named after a certain Yoshie Shiratori, who infamously escaped from four different prisons between 1936 and 1947.
The mercenary group guardian Chosan Fui, the Eight Banners, is named after the military and administrative units used during China's Qing Dynasty.
Originally, Mitsuki was going to be the one that was teleported, making it the second time in a row for a laugh, but I thought going with Junichiro was more interesting by having Kagato play mental games with him. His ability to read emotions like colors is a reference to the manga Oh My Goddess! where the main character Belldandy can do exactly that. Now, can Kagato actually read people's minds like colors, or is he just a really good guesser? I haven't decided yet!
