VI: Meet Your Transporter
A loud crash on the first floor roused everyone out of their bed; they got dressed quickly and rushed downstairs. Sachiko held her gun tightly in her hand as she took the lead, they moved quietly down the steps and cautiously down the hall. Yumi and Sei stayed in the middle, while Yoko stayed in the back with her own gun in her hands checking over her shoulder every so often so make sure there's nothing suspicious going on.
Everyone gaped at the sight, a girl looking to be just a teenager with shoulder length raven hair holding a cup of tea in one hand while blocking a grown man's attacks with her other hand. "How rude," she said sipping her tea and caught the man's fist easily. Letting out a sigh, she set the empty cup down and tossed the man against the wall next to a pile of unconscious bodies.
"Learn your place, you overgrown idiot." "Captain Nijou, please try not to wreck the place…" Rei said nervously as she was also there but didn't do anything to stop the chaos. "And Yoshino-san is not a morning person?" the young captain asked calmly. "Well, you know her…" Rei trailed off when she noticed the others out of the corner of her eyes.
"Ah, I see that the ruckus woke you," Rei said standing up glad for the change of subject. You think? Everyone inwardly asked the same sarcastic question, though none actually say it out loud. "Ya think?" Sei asked with a raised brow, so maybe everyone but Sei. "Don't be so harsh, Sei-sama…" Rei laughed when she saw a smirk on Sei's face.
"Anyway, Yoshino went out to the mainland around three this morning for fresh food supplies. Here's the money for the trip she asked of you last night over the line, and they are the cargoes." Rei said with a serious face. "I guess that I'm getting the rest when they made it there," Nijou Noriko said pocketing the card.
The girl stood about as tall as Yumi, dressing in a black uniform and even her gloves are black saving for the crest of a white rose on the back of her hands. The crests were about the size of a quarter, no larger than that so it tended to go by unnoticed quite easily. The girl looked strong and commanding, she exudes a calming and serious aura about her as she eyed the other four with stern gaze.
"My name is Nijou Noriko, and I will be transporting you from here to the coast of Japan. If one of you so much as to cross me, I will personally feed you to the sharks. Furthermore, I am not here to babysit you, so if one of you even made it to Japan I expect my payment. Are we clear?" she said in a calm voice though not so friendly. "I am your only transportation from here to Japan or anywhere over the sea, but I have my rules and if you don't like it then figure out your way there on your own." Noriko finished picking up a black naval hat and placed it on her head. It completed her image of a commanding captain of the sea, like a naval admiral of a far away country that preferred its military people to be dressing in black.
Everyone had breakfast after they got packed for the trip; Yumi was still a bit nervous about it. "Don't worry; Noriko is a really nice girl under all that toughness." Rei leaned over and whispered to a slightly high-strung Yumi. Because Yumi's eyes were downcast during that moment, she noticed that Rei herself had a vintage Japanese yellow rose pendant on a silver necklace around her neck. Her eyes glued to the object even after Rei moved away from her.
Yoko being as keen as always took notice of Yumi's curious look and held her mirth. "Rei, I think you might want to explain to our little guest of the crest you and Noriko have," Yoko said keeping her voice even without hinting her amusement at the shocking look on Yumi's face. Sei chuckled as she stole a piece of tempura from Yumi's bowl, and Sachiko was tempted to hit the woman's hand with her chopsticks but refrained from doing so. Rei nodded her head but said nothing; breakfast was finished in complete silence.
"Let's make this a long story short since you guys have to be leaving soon," Rei started once breakfast was over and everyone got a cup of tea. "Most of us here are Lillian Military Academy's alumni, though some of us graduated before others." Rei noted as none of them really graduated of the same year. "But while that was true, most of us here was a member of the elite group known as the Yamayuri, hence the crest that we all bare on us in one way or another. Though many of us parted ways once we're done with school, some of us decided to be out on our own and formed an alliance with each others. Taking from the same context, we called ourselves the Three Roses." Rei explained nodding over at Yoko, who in turn nodded in agreement to the explanation.
"Though we never really called ourselves such, we just know each other through our crest." Rei continued as she touched her necklace. "Yoshino and I are from the Yellow Rose, while Noriko and one other are from the White Rose, and the Red Rose…" Rei trailed off without ever finishing it. "Oh look at the time," she checked her watched and shooed the four women out the back door to the dock just a few yards away.
Rude as it may be, Rei had no intention of revealing the name of the Red Rose members. Besides, the members of the Red Rose had always been allusive and high profile as they seemed to be acting as the head of the alliance. After all, it was long ago that this alliance was formed, but they each established their own business rather well in the worst place possible.
"Captain Nijou, give my regard to Toudou-sensei if you see her." Rei smiled brightly at Noriko. "Will do," Noriko replied giving a tip of her hat as a confirmation regard to Rei before she boarded the large submarine. Yumi could only marvel at its size, not that she'd ever seen a submarine before.
Notes: Yosh! Uh… each chapter is only around a little over 1,000 words in length, so there's no actual short chapter. Asides, I haven't really put a lot of Yumi/Sachiko moments in these chapters, due to my brain trying to give info on the concept of things first. Once that's done, many characters will be faded out as those two become the focus of my attention (if I have any). Enjoy!