Picture Perfect

Eyes flitting, thumbs twiddling, the poor guy almost felt like a volatile chemical one ingredient away from meltdown. He kept waiting outside the door, looking down both ends of the street for his inevitable guest. Not here yet. Good, another deep breath.

If Mitsuko Kondō had a person to blame for this, it was squarely himself. He agreed to do this, and he was going to see it through even if it took a great deal of willpower to stay composed. Why was it so difficult to do this?, he thought. He had no issues hopping into a plane and taking it up for a ride, yet his nerves had never felt more wracked than ever before.

He checked and rechecked his own outlook. Clothes were ironed and pressed, hair maintained good form, shoes cleaned so thoroughly they had a light gleam on it, what else…oh right, posture! Straighten up, look welcoming, make sure to have a bright smile-

"Mitsuko-san!" A female voice nearly startled the daylights out of him. It was no doubt the person he'd been waiting for.

Strolling down the road in casual wear, it was her. Impossible to miss with that distinctive mass of black, wavy hair and cheery smile, Tomiko Teramoto.

She certainly wasn't the first person one would think of when asked about Chi-Ha-Tan's students. Those honors would probably go to either the popular Nishi, hotheaded Tamada, or prankster Hosomi. Even her spot on the Sensha-dō team wasn't all that remarkable, just a radio operator for one of the many Type 97s fielded during a match. When it came to Teramoto, she was just a girl that fit being "a background character". But in all honesty, without someone like her, how was Chi-Ha-Tan ever going to capture its most memorable moments in Sensha-dō?

With her elderly Kodak from the 1920s of course! Apparently, she didn't get the memo that the present era had moved on to more digital means of imagery. It didn't matter. Old photographs do have a sense of charm to them that digital images just can't quite replicate.

It wasn't always foolproof. Once, she even tried taking a "selfie" only to realize after post-processing that there was a reason modern phones have a front facing camera. Needless to say, that experiment wasn't tried again. The other issue was her teammates. Not so much their attitudes, but more so with how they treated Teramoto's stuff. Her camera wasn't exactly built like a Nokia cellphone, and it didn't come cheap. In fact it's fairly certain any replacement parts would be nigh impossible to buy these days. She was always nervous about that: losing her passion project to incompetence-especially Ikeda.

Anyways, it was time for Mitsuko. No more checking himself.

"Good afternoon, Teramoto-san," he greeted warmly, getting his hand on the door behind him. "Right this way, please."

"Thank you," she replied in her kind, stately manner.

He followed her in, but not before taking a huge breath. He did in fact rehearse those lines and went through the motions several times for a good hour before this. It wasn't just because he rarely did what he was about to do, save for his family and a select few people. It also just so happened that the very person he was accompanying had this very strange effect on him whenever they were talking to each other. It happened the past few times, but Mitsuko couldn't deny it felt like his heart was doing cartwheels. What was it with Teramoto?

Well, the first of a million hurdles cleared. The show goes on. Once the door was shut, he did what any good host did for their guest: give her time to take in the sight. If Mitsuko was good at one thing-other than flying-it was his immaculate assortment of was all themed for the turn of the 20th century: apparel, technology of the period, and scripture in protective casing to name a few. It wasn't even the fullest of what he had to offer. This was just what he could cram into two large suitcases with the rest having to stay back home in Kure. Regardless, it was more than enough to impress whomever. If he wanted to be a future private collector, he was off to a healthy start.

As for Teramoto, she was just in on listening to whatever he was saying, pointing things out and asking questions about "What's this?", "What is that?", or "Oh, that thing has numbers on it-". The point being that it was admittedly getting a bit boring. In time, Mitsuko was finally getting to some of the last things he had in stock.

Mitsuko was certainly expecting a mundane ending to it all. "And over here we have a-"

"You have one of these?" He was cut abruptly. She was eying at something that caught her instant attention. She rushed to it with eyes gushing in delight. "This is so cool, I've always wanted one of these!"

Obviously, he was confused at first. What was the fuss about? Then he saw what she did and he got a jolt to the brain remembering it. A wood box with a cylindrical metal tube sticking out of it, and all mounted on a tripod. It was that thing. For her, her ecstasy level was off the charts. Of all the camera types she could fawn over owning, this was a Daguerreotype. She so wanted to put her hands on it, but Mitsuko wasn't seeing it that way. His mind was going hysterical. Was she going to run off with it!?

"Wait!" he squealed. Thank goodness she stopped. "I-It's really fragile…and it doesn't work."

Daguerreotypes didn't come cheap. These things hadn't been popular since the Victorian era, so several decades of nonuse. And who knew how many, if not all, parts inside were missing. Scavengers, people unknowingly discarding parts in short supply, souvenir hunters, you name it. Time can do a real number to anything. Plus nobody these days manufactured the fancy silver-lined copper sheets necessary to fuse an image on, and even if there was it'd cost a fortune for just a handful.

"It's not functional?" she asked, but clearly not concerned.

He shook his head sadly. "No."

That should've been the end of that, except this was a camera they were on about. One of the two wasn't going to let it off that easy. "I can fix it."

"You can?"

"Yeah! I have an entire little workshop to fix up my camera equipment and-oh, I think you would enjoy seeing it." She pondered for a few more seconds until her plan came to mind. "How about instead of letting it sit here, I could take it and restore it?"

His eyes widened. "Take it? I'm not sure…"

"Please? I'll have it working good as new."

"I-uh…" He had to think for a moment, already partly mortified. How could he just take her up on the offer? That thing was priceless to him! You don't just give rare antiques away like a charity. Just these artifacts he collected had taken a good chunk of his life.

It hurt to have his mind and heart in a feud with each other over an inanimate object.

He briefly looked back at Teramoto with her hopeful eyes, and then back at the Daguerreotype. What good was it collecting dust? It may be old and tedious to operate, but it could still have its niche uses. Plus, who was asking for it? This was Teramoto for crying out loud. He may have a passion for historical preservation, but it just wasn't the same passion that Teramoto had. He knew of her vested interest and knowhow in this specific technology. She wasn't an artifact or a background character. She was an exceptional person with ambition and a proud example of Chi-Ha-Tan's best. Mitsuko was not going to let her down. Make her day, he finally agreed with himself.

He took one deep breath before his deliberation. "Teramoto, it's yours."

Silence for a moment, almost as if she couldn't believe it herself. "Really?"

"All I ask is that you put it to good use, okay?"

She wasn't dreaming. He really just said "It's yours". Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, and in the most Chi-Ha-Tan tradition possible she charged. Mitsuko braced, but it was no match for the bone-crushing hug he got.

"Thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed joyously.

He didn't say anything at first. Probably something to do with the fact the air was being choked out from his lungs. "T-Teramoto," he finally wheezed.

Teramoto pulled back quickly. "Oh, sorry. I just get so excited over this stuff and-" she stopped, probably not helped by the redness in her cheeks.

After a few seconds, Mitsuko finally had some air circulating back in his lungs, "Let me give you a hand at least."

A few moments later, one prized Daguerreotype securely held in Teramoto's arms. She was like a gleeful little kid out of a candy store, and why not? An old, somewhat junky object was her priceless treasure now. All that was left now was a matter of saying farewells.

"Thank you for inviting me here today. It was amazing," she said warmly. She was about to leave until another thought struck her. "Let me call you later to arrange a meetup, and then we'll be even."

No competition on his response. "Yeah…I'd like that."

"See you around, Mitsuko-san." With a kindly bow and wave, she was off with a skip in her walk.

Mitsuko had to admit it wasn't a bad loss. Something told him she was going to take exceptional care of it.

The millisecond the door shut, he let out a huge breath he didn't even know he was holding. Thank goodness that's over, he thought-no, that's not the right thought. Think better than that. Then again, how else was Mitsuko supposed to comprehend what just happened? It was supposed to be just a simple showing around, and it ended with a better-than-good deal. She even hugged him! That alone had to count for something given his heart was still on critical overload. And now she was more than happy to follow up in the future? If this was how it was going to be, things were looking up.

Best. Day. Ever.

He fainted on the spot.

AN: Hello readers! Yes, this was originally intended to be published on Valentine's Day itself, but personal delays got in the way as usual. Anyways, have this from me before I get the next chapter of Boys und Flugzeug out.