Tsubame sighed over her desk, arms outstretched as the computer screen went to black for the last time that week.

Finally.

She glanced at her watch, which was kind enough to return the look with the time: 8:37 pm. Almost reluctant to move, Tsubame dragged herself out of her chair, gathered her things, and stumbled out of the office.

The streets of Tokyo were lit, both literally and metaphorically, with the warm glow of human activity. But it wasn't the lights, the night market stalls, or the crowd which attracted her attention. In fact, what Tsubame couldn't quite take her eyes off of was a tap dancer, dancing to some accordion music from a friend. She stopped in the street as the small, serendipitous symphony conducted itself. It took an old friend's voice to startle her out of her vacant stare. She tensed up in fear for a half second-before she realized it was her co-worker calling.

"Tsuporiiiiiiiiiiiin!"

She turned to face the redhead waving to her, and, coincidentally, where most of the light was coming from. The girl in question finally managed to work her way through the crowd and catch up to her. "Oh good, I thought it was you, Tsuporin."

"Oh, Takebe-san."

Saori took one look at her face and scowled. "You look exhausted. That can't be good for you! Come with me, I know just the place!"

Well, perhaps it would help. And since it was Friday, there wasn't really a downside, so there couldn't be any harm. Not that she had a choice with her friend dragging her there anyway.

Tsubame let out a sigh she had seemingly been holding back for the whole week as she set down the large glass, careful not to slam it. The warm light of the bar bounced off the beige wood everywhere and surrounded her, always inviting her to relax. And relax she did.

Saori relaxed as well and added, "Man, today was a lot of work! Third day in a row it's been like this, too. I haven't gone on a date with Hirohito in a week!"

Tsubame chuckled, respectfully amused at her coworker's priorities. "How is Iwata-san, anyways?"

Saori smiled from ear to ear. "He's doing well, recently got a promotion actually!"

"Hey, good for him! Tell him I said 'congratulations'." Tsubame commented.

"I will, thank you."

The redhead was going to continue gushing about her boyfriend when the bartender turned the TV volume up.

"Here in Lagos, Germany has just defeated Japan to claim the first seed in Group G of the World Cup Qualifiers, leaving Japan to face Brazil in the first round of the playoffs in Jakarta. I'm Takenaka Hoshi, and you're watching Shooting Star." The reporter concluded whatever speech she was giving before, and the video feed gave way to a pair of short men shaking hands, one German and one Japanese. The first had short, cropped, gray-ish brown hair. Below him stood the words, "Kittel Anton – Commander of Germany's Sentouki-do Team", and below that, in smaller letters, "Me 262". Shaking hands with him was someone she actually knew of, Mizushima Hiroto, commander of Japan's sentouki-do team, and a Ki-84 pilot. Hiroto had become a sensation in Japan and was a shoe-in for the leadership role.

And behind him was an old friend.

Saori didn't quite hear it but instead asked, "Have you been keeping up with the World Cup?"

"Unfortunately not as much as I'd like to. Only got to watch some of the games. You know how it is."

"Same here. Not that Japan's usually a powerhouse in international sensha-do anyways. Miporin and her sister are working on that, but Britain apparently still beat us this year. But it looks like the sentouki-do team is doing well, at least!"

"Oh yeah, Japan looks pretty set in the tournament this year. Well, our opponents in Lagos were Denmark and Peru, so getting past the qualifiers is almost a given, but still. Nothing against them, of course, but they're not really known to be powerhouses in the sport."

"Who is a powerhouse usually?"

"Well, it's mostly the obvious ones, the same from sensha-do, but there's always a surprise. And it's not always who you expect either! Sweden, Argentina, even Israel makes a break for it every now and then."

Saori leaned back into her chair. "Ehhhh, sentouki-do sure is something else."

Tsubame let spill a slightly devious smile. "Well, it has its… ups and downs."

"I should ask them to cut you off for saying that."

"Please don't, it's been a long week and I need this."

A/N: Yeah, I know it's a bit soon for me to write any, "future DoO" stories, but I wanted to get this out with both the World Cup and GuP's 10-year anniversary fic. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving if you're here in the States and a good rest of your day.

Special credit to DrWenzel and Lex the Mystic for their cooperation in letting me use their OCs for this. They've been great supporters of DoO and I of their works. Check out Boys und Flugzeug the fic while you wait for Boys und Flugzeug the manga to be made. You won't regret it.