NOTE: I can't help myself. I keep getting ideas.

"Akira."

Akira Tomita turned to see his comrade beckoning him over to the vacant table in the corner. Two tankards frothing at the brim were waiting for them. He quick took his place opposite her. "I got your message. What is it?"

Shino Kuribayashi sported a look that worried him. Her eyes darted between the mixed population of patrons busying themselves in their cliques. All of whom did not even bother to bat an eye in their direction. Which was perfect.

"Is something going on?" Tomita pressed, eyeing the distress that betrayed her mien. Already, she was going through half her drink before she opened her mouth.

"You noticed something...different...about the captain?"

"Itami?"

"Yeah. Like, anything really...weird?"

Tomita scratched his stubble. She was going somewhere sensitive with this. "None that I recall. Why? Did something happen?"

"No, no. Not that. It's just that..." Kuribayashi darted her eyes back and forth. No eavesdroppers. Delilah and everyone else were busy attending to some drunken beast folk arguing over something trivial. She sighed. "I think he's...snapped."

She caught the way his face changed and she knew exactly that he was aware of it. He shook his head at her then turned away. "What did he do this time?"

Shino did not mean to rant but when she was done, she felt much lighter at the expense of the petrified reaction that remained cemented on Akira's face. "He could have shot me, you know?"

"Itami," he breathed as he buried his head in his hands. "What the hell..."

"Maybe you can talk some sense into him," Kuribayashi continued. "I don't want to bring this up to the brass. You know what they're going to do if they label him a head case."

Tomita leaned against the cushion lining the bench. His shoulders slumped, making Shino feel slightly guilty at how much stress she put him under. "You do know that we have to let Kurokawa in on this. "

"I know, I know. You think we should have a little squad meeting? Without the captain, of course."

"This feels so...underhanded."

Shino let out a stifled groan. "This is for his own good, damn it." Her chin dropped to her arms on the table. Talking about this was tiring but she had to get it of her chest. "I know I haven't been his best friend and all that but...I don't want to see him this way. This is not how a squad leader should act. Have you heard what they're planning for him? Can you try and get his head straight, at least?"

"I hear you." For the first time in a week, Tomita downed some Special Region ale. "Shino, I'll try. But I'm not making any promises. If things don't go the way they should go, then we have to report to the brass."

"I don't want to do that just yet," she replied.

Tomita peered at her. "Shino, look at me."

It took her awhile but when she did, she looked just as stressed as the General Hazama's staff.

"We can't hide this forever."

"You think I didn't know that?" she croaked.

Captain Akira Yanagida found his counterpart sitting on the bench, one of many lining the outdoor porch of the clinic, staring at the moon. The major-to-be did not seem to register his presence even after he set his crutch between them.

"If that was the sun, you'd burn your eyes out," he remarked.

Itami grunted. Another moment of silence followed. Yanagida stretched back with a loud grunt, noting that he was still ignored. It took another minute for him to receive a response. Even then, it came off as a bit too hostile for such a laid back individual. "Akira, what do you want?"

"We'll both be promoted soon. Congratulations."

"Thanks. What else?"

Yanagida tilted his head. Enough with beating around the bush. Itami's conduct during his most recent sorties confirmed the suspicions of the base's staff of physicians. Itami was a good man, he could not deny that. And he had to admit that he was challenged to meet his level after all the hard work he put into his job. However, he was beginning to consider the possible consequences of all that effort.

"I heard you just came out of an operation in Elbe," Akira began.

"Yeah. We did."

"How did it go?"

Itami slowly turned his head towards him and for a moment Yanagida could read something troublesome in those dry, weighted eyes. "Read the paperwork. It's all in there."

"There's more to it, I'm sure."

"Zolzal is amassing another army. We caught some of his agents in the AO trying to spur up some trouble. Need I tell you what you already know?"

It was scratching the surface and Yanagida knew it. If Itami wanted to, he would have lied straight to his face. In fact, he might right now. "What did you do to the agents?" He had to repeat his inquiry three times before he received another dry—and disturbing—reply.

"Let's just say that they wouldn't be a problem anymore."

"Captain Itami, do not tell me that you breached—"

"General Hazama approved it. I was the only JSDF operative in the area and even then nobody knew that. It worked in everyone's favor in the end."

Yanagida furrowed his brow. "You went in alone? You didn't even bring your squad?"

"They were not needed."

"And Rory? Lelei? Did they volunteer?"

"They did. But they're not here right now."

"How could the general give such an order?" Akira snapped. "You're too valuable to be a deniable asset! We had better teams on hand for that kind of wet work. You're not invincible, captain! I don't want to mark you as a casualty—"

Itami met the surprise on his face with a glare that froze the blood in his veins. "You think I care at this point?"

Yanagida slumped back against the wall. He steadied his breathing and, just like the man beside him, stared up at the crescent moon. Itami has changed over the past couple years. He was beginning to wonder whether or not his laissez-faire behavior was a facade to conceal whoever really was inside him. The otaku was becoming a front for something more serious.

Then he remembered. He picked up his crutch and limped away. He would have to look into Itami's medical records. His mother was a confirmed head-case but he had to dig deeper. Action needed to be done else they would end up with a problem that could spiral out of control if not contained.

"How's Combat Group Four?" Itami suddenly asked.

Yanagida stopped mid-stride. "They're all in good shape. The only casualty was a stubbed toe."

"Guess the pirates didn't put up much of a fight."

"They were docked. Our men did well. The Blue Sea is safe for now."

"Seems like handled your side of the ops well, don't you think?"

An exasperated sigh. "We're both career officers and field operatives, Youji. I don't just stay at the base all the time sorting through logistics."

An empty chuckle. "Do the dead bother you?"

"I've gotten used to it." He threw him a glance and saw nothing but a face hidden in the shadow of his own messy hair. "The both of us have."

The clinic in the red light district had closed for the day. However, light still shown through the blinds. The residents thought nothing of it; the JSDF had their ways of keeping order where and when needed so it was probably some sort of meeting between officers, right? Who could not ignore the group of green people that filtered through the door shortly before the working day was done?

Inside, Kurokawa lifted her head from her clipboard and nodded. Most of the pages had every box checked, every blank filled. "He is showing the signs."

The rest of those present took a moment to register the thought. Their beloved commanding officer is officially loosing it. Kurokawa studied how solemn everyone was. It felt like a funeral.

"That's just my assessment," she continued as she glanced at the outpost's commander Major Nyuutabaru who appeared more controlled than apathetic to the unfolding diagnosis. "I could be wrong."

"Point taken," acquiesced Sergeant Major Souichirou Kuwahara, the direct subordinate to the captain of the JSDF's Third Recon Unit. "There's no denying what he's been up to recently."

"Does the captain not trust us anymore?" asked a hurt Takeo Kurata.

"Doesn't he?" Kuribayashi butted. "He pointed a loaded gun at my face! He could have shot me!"

Tomita sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Blank stares, random fits of anxiety, dark humor. Has he always been like this? Why now?"

Furuta shook his head. "Even asking Rory is getting nowhere. Lelei had just been summoned back to Rondel and wouldn't be staying there for another week or two. And Tuka...she's busying herself with helping around town. Feeling a little down, though. Can't see why, having been ordered to stay at base."

"Did you read the reports?" Shino pressed. "I don't think Rory's the cause of most of the casualties in those missions."

"It's hard to believe that she isn't," snarked Kurokawa.

"And the captain?" Kurata added. "He keeps going solo. Even without Rory tagging along."

There was a long silence before Kuribayashi, Kurata, Tomita, and Hitoshi were chorusing their worry to a silent Nyuutabaru that the revered Captain Youji Itami had developed a severe case of PTSD. Or worse.

ORIGINALLY DRAFTED: March 11, 2017

LAST EDITED/UPDATED: March 17, 2017

INITIALLY UPLOADED: March 11, 2017

NOTE: I need to stop. I have other fics to write.