Another Battle For the Wolf – The Return
Thank the gods for the telegraph lines. When we put into Kobe, I was able to disembark long enough to send a short message to Tokio to tell her that the ship carrying me home will dock in Yokohama harbor on October 26th. Sending her a message, letting her know the date of my return, was what she asked for, and a courtesy that I was more than happy to grant her. Knowing my wife, she will not only be at the dock to greet me, she'll arrive in town at least a day early, just in case this crate manages to make better time than the captain of the vessel thinks.
I have no doubt that she'll book a hotel room for the evening of my arrival, telling me it would be too tiring for us to take the last train of the day back to Tokyo. I'll let her think that if she wishes, but I know her little game. She just doesn't want to delay our reunion celebration any longer than need be, and I have to agree with her about that. It's been five long months since I last saw her.
Chances are I wouldn't be able to leave Yokohama right away, regardless. Even though I was working for the central government on this assignment, I was still attached to a police unit with all its inherent paperwork. Gads, no one needs to dig a hole to bury a corpse in this country; all they need to do is find a precinct station, any would do, and ask for a pile of unnecessary forms and reports. They'd get more than enough of that stuff to bury any number of dead.
So it's very likely that I'll have to stick around Yokohama for a day or two. I'm pleased my family will be here to keep me company. That way I can finish what I need to finish without being distracted by thoughts of how soon I could get out of Yokohama and get back home to Tokyo to see them. Although I'll act indifferent to anyone but her, I am glad that Tokio plans to be in town when I return. I have to admit that my wife often knows what I need before I know myself. However, that is a thought that I will never voice aloud to anyone, least of all her; she is smug enough as it is about certain things.
Will Tsutomu even recognize me? I've been gone for five months, and he was only five months old when I left on this assignment. The irony of this does not escape me. I've missed half of his short life. When I left, he was trying to push himself up from the floor, and now he is crawling. Tokio mentioned it in her letter to me. He's probably even pulling himself up to stand by grabbing onto one of the low tables or even a clothing chest in one of the bedrooms. I'll bet his first word won't be 'pa-pa', either. As much as I hate to miss some of the milestones in my son's young life, I have to make sure that Japan will be a safe place for him and his contemporaries in the future even if it means I have to spend long periods of time away from home now. In my mind the trade-off is worth it.
This war certainly ended on a differently than the Boshin War. I was on the losing side of that one. Instead of returning home triumphantly, as I am doing now, I was carted off to Echigo as a prisoner of war, along with my comrades, before eventually being pardoned by the Meiji government and released to exile in Tonami. Being exiled in Tonami was akin to a death sentence, but somehow many of us managed to survive.
I have to admit that it feels much better to return as the victor, rather than one of the defeated with a price on my head. I've always forced myself not to think about what the state of the country would be like today if the Bakufu had won the war. There is no sense in spending time and energy pondering something that can never be changed. It would only be an exercise in frustration and futility. I have a good life now, one much better than even my imagination granted me. I suppose that I have but one other person besides myself to thank for that, and one of these days, I might even let her know.
Author's Notes:
The contingent from the Tokyo Police Department that fought in the Seinan War returned from Kyushu to Tokyo on October 28, 1877. This little piece has them returning to Yokohama on October 26, which would give them a couple of days there before returning to Tokyo. (It suits my fictional view of things.)
There should really be another chapter before this one, but since I've got this one done, I decided to post it. Perhaps in the future, if I can think of something else to write, I'll rearrange the chapters and insert something else before this one. Thanks for reading!