Omake Chapter: Mina, preserver of love.

1200hrs, 9 July 2011, York, England, United Kingdom.

"People in this world look at things mistakenly, and think that what they do not understand must be the void. This is not the true void. It is bewilderment." Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of the Five Rings.

"Be loving, and you will never want for love; be humble, and you will never want for guiding." Dinah Craik

"And this was where the some of the Viking material was located on the dig back in 1976," one of the prerecorded messages the narrator was speaking as the ride went around the ancient Viking village. Mina Aino was in the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, England, taking a trolley car around the excavation site. Her class was taking a field trip to visit York over the weekend, and it was a nice way to wrap up what they had been learning in history class as of late. The joys of public school, for those who could afford such an education.

Mina sat back in the trolley car and took a deep breath in…and almost threw up because they had just passed by one of the privies that people of the era…er…relieved themselves in.

"Nice one, Mina," one of her classmates, Chelsea Dunn said to her, laughing and covering her nose at the same time. She was a brunette, with a full figure and a personality just as chipper as Mina's, which made her the perfect match. She also went on and on about her sister being a police officer or something like that until it was pointed out that she was a "Police Community Support Officer," which was something completely different. That, and how it was the "police service" not the "police force." That was too aggressive.

"Go to hell," she shot back, in jest.

The theme-park-esque ride ended and all of the passengers got out of the trolley, stumbling back into the conveniently placed gift shop at the top of the stairs. Mina wondered how the hell they could get away with selling the huge swords, axe and knives in the gift shop, but it all came down to the same thing; more money for whoever ran this damn place. Whatever.

"Alright class," their teacher, Mr. Hollingsworth, said to them. He was near the exit of the store, about to go have a quick smoke. "Ten minutes in here and then meet outside the store."

"Mina, hey, look!" Chelsea nudged her in the direction of the cash register.

"Huh?"

The young man that Chelsea was directing Mina toward was just checking out with a purchase of some trinkets, followed by a gaggle of schoolgirls, all vying for his attention.

"That's Tommy Jenkins! He's really cute."

He was with short, cropped blonde hair that matched Mina's, muscular chest that would have made any fashion magazine sell like hotcakes, and a white smile that accentuated his blue eyes. The clerk at the desk, an older woman in her fifties, was swooning over him and gave him a fifty percent discount on his purchase.

He wasn't all that impressive to Mina though.

"What about him?" she said, dismissively. Those types of guys were all style and no substance. Being captain of the rugby team didn't make him any more special than the other pretty boys at her school.

"Well…he's just so handsome!"

"Yeah. Just like everyone else."

"Oh come on, Mina! I know your reputation." Chelsea gave a wink wink, nudge nudge, motion to Mina.

Mina simply just glared at Chelsea.

"That was only one time…"

Chelsea gave her a look right back. Mina sighed and gave up.

"Okay, maybe a couple more times…but really. I don't sleep around."

"See? Then why haven't you shacked up with Tommy then?"

"You seem awfully interested in him. Why don't YOU go and introduce yourself to him…"

"Well…you see…"

"Okay everyone!" Mr. Hollingsworth interrupted. "Time to get a move on!"

Grateful that the topic had now changed, Mina and Chelsea followed the gaggle of students out of the gift shop and toward the road, where they would meet the tour bus that would take them to yet another sight, York Minister.

Except that the tour buses weren't there, and since the Jorvik center was pretty much self-explanatory, the tour guides had decided not to come as well. Which meant that they had no idea how to get to the Abby…well, with smartphones, that could be easily remedied, but you try shepherding seventy teenage girls and boys through an unfamiliar town and see how well that goes.

"Okay everyone, just sit tight for a second…" Mr. Hollingsworth got out his mobile and dialed the tour guides. "What do you mean the Minister is closed? You still need to pick us up! Yes, I understand the union doesn't allow for more than a certain amount of hours for driving, but you don't need to take a break! Jesus…"

He covered the phone and shouted out to the gaggle of students gathered by the roadside.

"Hey! We're having a slight problem with the buses, so if you want to go into the gift shop again or wander around for a bit, then go right ahead. But don't wander too far off, please!"

He returned to yelling at the tour guides, who seemed to be in no rush for anything.

"Hey, Mina…" She turned to see Chelsea holding her stomach.

"What's wrong? " Mina asked. "Was it something you ate?"

"Nah…it's…my period."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"I'm going to pop into the chemists' over there." Chelsea gestured with her head toward a Boots chemist shop. "I'll be right back."

"Okay." Mina watched Chelsea scurry across the street to the chemists', leaving her alone on the sidewalk.

"Well, this is interesting," she sarcastically muttered to herself. She pulled out her mobile from her purse and checked to see if she had any SMSs from anybody…just her mum. Nothing too special, just the usual "how are you?", coupled with the response from Mina, "I'm fine mum, everything is alright here."

"What's that you're doing?"

Mina snapped her head up to see that boy again. This time, he was standing in front of her, smiling brilliantly.

"I'm…just checking my SMSs." Mina put the phone away in her purse and focused her attention on Tommy.

"Name's Tommy Jenkins. Nice to meet you." He held out his hand for Mina to shake.

"Mina. Mina Aino." She returned the favor.

"So…" he looked at her, with those brilliant blue eyes. "You're not from here, are you?"

"No, I'm from Japan."

He stared at her hair, an obvious contradiction in her origins. "Why do you have blonde hair then?"

"Well…it's a long story, and…"

"Hey guys, what's up?"

Another one of his mates came running up, probably after buying some more shit from the gift shop.

"Oh hi there. Mina, this is Mike."

"Nice to meet you."

"We were just talking about where Mina is from."

"Uh-huh. So, where are you from?"

"Japan…" Mina didn't exactly want to repeat herself, but the conversation seemed to be amicable.

"Hey…you're Japanese too? That's awesome, I'm half-Japanese myself."

That got her attention. "What…?"

"Yeah, my last name is Otanaru!"

"What a coincidence then," Mina said to him. "How did you get here?"

"Well, my dad works for the ICPO…"

"The what?"

"ICPO. Interpol."

"So he goes around and arrests people."

Mike shook his head at that. "Nah. They don't have that sort of power. He's a local liaison with the Met, and it's a pretty sweet job at that. Right now, we're looking for this one girl, named "V" or something like that, and she's been…"

He stopped in midsentence.

"Uh…I probably shouldn't be talking about cases, so if you would kindly ignore that…"

Mina rolled her eyes at the reference. "Mike, this isn't Bioshock."

"Dammit. I had to try." He smiled awkwardly, but it was a genuine smile. It wasn't as brilliant as Tommy's, but this one was more humble and kind. The other smile was to impress and dazzle, this one was just to show kindness and maybe a little bit of embarrassments. Speaking of which…where did that guy go anyway?

"I dunno," was the response from Mike. "He does that sometimes, but he'll be back."

From a nearby alleyway, Chelsea was watching the two of them converse naturally and happily. A tap on the shoulder caused her to turn around; it was Tommy, a little bit winded from trying to stay hidden and get away from those two at the same time quickly, but he had accomplished his mission.

"Nice one," Chelsea said, giving Tommy a tenner. "I always knew that those two would be a good match." Tommy pocketed the banknote and pulled out a pack of smokes.

"Care for one?" he said, offering the pack to Chelsea.

She shook her head. "Nah. I would take it, but then my mum would pick it up in a second."

"The scent?"

"No, the habit again. She quit awhile ago, so…"

"Ah." Tom shrugged and lit up, puffing away at the Benson cigarette.

"It's too bad really," he said after a little bit, watching Mike and Mina babble happily away."

Chelsea gave him a confused look. She wasn't going to like where this was going. "Wait…what?"

"She's leaving. I heard from one of my dad's friends; they're transferring back to the Japanese branch of the company soon."

"Oh." Chelsea looked down, dejected. " But she's never told me about that…"

"Probably doesn't want to upset you."

"I know…it's just that…we've become good friends, you know?"

Tommy just shrugged. He didn't have much of an answer for her, but that's just how life was.

It was nearly an hour before the buses came back again. Mr. Hollingsworth was furious then, yelling at the tour guides and bus drivers for their tardiness and having smoked about three packs of cigarettes in nervousness. The tour guides finally gave up and handed him a twenty pound note to go buy more cigarettes.

"Well, everyone," Mr. Hollingsworth said over the bus PA system, finally happy that he had more cigarettes, "We're heading back to the hostel soon, then back to London for us tomorrow. I'm terribly sorry about not being able to see York Minister, but oh well I guess."

Mina was sitting next to Chelsea, going over the conversation she had just had with Mike. He was certainly a nice guy…but from the conversation, he had outright told her that he had a girlfriend in Russia that would be transferring in next semester.

She sighed loudly.

"What's wrong, Mina?" Chelsea nudged. "Wasn't Mike good enough?"

"Yeah…yeah he was. But he's got a girlfriend already."

How the hell did that part slip by?! Chelsea thought to herself. Dammit, she was going to have a talk with Tommy about this when they got back to London.

"Oh…that's too bad. Say…"

"Hmm?" was the distracted response from Mina. She was still going over the conversation in her head.

"Are you moving back to Japan…?"

Mina opened her mouth for a second, unable to find the words to say to her.

"Yeah. I'm moving back to Japan." She looked down in her seat.

"Why didn't you tell me?! We've been friends for a year now!"

"Look, I didn't want to worry you…"

"Well, now you've got me really worried! Jesus, Mina…"

There was a very uncomfortable silence as the two of them tried to come up with something to say.

"Mina…don't go."

"I don't have much of a choice in the matter. I'm sorry."

Chelsea broke down in tears, much to the embarrassment and sadness of Mina. There wasn't much else she could do, other than…

Mina hugged the poor girl sobbing away in the seat next to her. It wasn't exactly an odd sight, but it was something that they needed to do, as friends. They stayed that way for the entire trip.

She moved away a couple of months later, back to Japan.