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LOCATION: Kusari Border, Sigma-59, Niigata Starbase, Commercial Spire.
Kazu walked along the walkways of the food area, pondering how she managed to get into this specific situation. She had loaned her heirloom weapon, given by her father before she left for the Naval Forces, to a member of the 66th who hadn't given a name. One mission and two damage Corsair capitol ships later, he decided that he would exchange her gun for a date. The only thing she remembers about that man was his interesting hat, definitely not uniform standard. "Libertonian, if I were to guess". The sound of her voice startled two passerby who had mistaken her 190cm figure dressed in black for a shadow, so she decided to make her way to the ramen bar nearby.
As she waited, watching the bright star of this system subtly shimmer through the asteroid field around it, Kazu's mind drifted to the many questions she had making her way here. What did this man expect? How desperate could he be, to hold my own property hostage for a date? How much should I hurt him if he still doesn't give it back?
As these questions floated in her mind, she got lost in the calming blue hue of her surroundings, the shade of the upper parts of the spire locked in a struggle with the brilliant blaze of the star for power...
- "Remind me why I have to do this again?"
- "Because you always hoped to have a big tiddy KNF girlfriend who likes guns like the degenerate you are."
Yeah... Kojiro was really a huge retard.
Instant regret for telling him about that meeting with that Sub-Lieutenant girl, and also about the gun, seeing how insistent he was with fondling it. Pretty sure he would leg it with the money if he ever turned his back to him.
The man sighed before taking a puff from his cig. But yeah. He had like... Intel.
- "Still can't believe it, I tell her Niigata spire knowing we're like... Right by planet Honshu gravity well, you know... And the idiot goes right to Sigma 59. Couldn't have possibly meant NIIGATA SPIRE, GIFU DISTRICT, FRICKING PLANET HONSHU, could I? God damnit."
- "No need to yell like a little bitch, gaijin. So what are you waiting?"
- "The patrols path you told me you had and also the keys of your drone, that you told me you would hand to me, fish eye."
Kojiro raised his head to look at the man while still caressing the gun on his lap.
- "Hai hai hai... Soka soka. But it will cost you."
- "Remember that time in Tau 29?" the man blew some smoke at Kojiro face.
- "O.K no need to be rude now. Keys are right here. Will contact you once you're in space, Liberty-kun."
- "Kay. Cool." The man reached for the keys and turned around to step out.
- "Are you're sure you're going like this? In military spacesuit? Yeah, big boy?"
- "Who do you think you're talking with again?" said the man as he was about to step out.
- "With a man about to forget something very important..."
Kazu snapped out of her trance, took her transponder out and pinged her location in the spire to her date. Couldn't have him thinking she was back on Honshu. Hah, you can't even see the beautiful blue system through the atmosphere there.
The owner of the yatai she had chosen stepped over to her chair.
"You gon' order, young lady?".
"I'm waiting on someone. He thought he could keep me on a planet, and he was wrong.".
"Ehh? Oh, to be young and in love again.". The man laughed for a while after. "You take as much time as you need. I've got all day."
Kazu smiled and nodded... In love with the foreigner? Hah, as if. She wanted her gun back. That was it. Besides, the thought of her father's fiery red eyes staring down this man with utmost hatred if she were to bring him to her family left her with more worry for his well-being than her own. She looked down at the location ping on her transponder. She added "If you forget my gun you're in big trouble, lover-boy"...
As the bustling of the market spire lulled her into a trance again, she whispered to herself: "Hah. Gaijin indeed... I'm waiting on you, lover-boy"
An odd scent was filling the drone. It wasn't as bad as initially expected, though. I mean, nothing was getting in the way and you could even see through the cockpit glasses.
Making himself comfortable in the nice leather chairs of the cockpit - why leather armchairs in this wreck anyway? - he prepared himself for a long and boring trip.
Kojiro's maps could probably help going through GMG paramilitary patrols. Probably.
Though, he wasn't worried. He was just a Kusari citizen doing Kusarian things in the Sigmas, all was well. And it's not like these paramilitary men were competent anyway. The man remembered
The man remembered that Talk Ravioli guy from that GMG wing though. That was someone to not mess around with. But that was history.
It was time to jump to Okinawa system. The man sipped some tea as he was remembering the concerning reports about planet Miura; that slavery business going unchecked since at very least a decade. Very concerning.
Kazu suddenly sprung up from her seat, as her best idea yet rushed into her mind. This may have been started by some cocky foreigner with no respect, but that didn't mean that it was going to be entirely bad. He had said something about a bowl of noodles, but there was no way it was going to end there. She was going to have the best date ever, annoying gun thief or not. Better yet, he was going to be exhausted by the end, and hopefully learn his lesson.
"A win-win situation", she said to herself. "I'll be right back, Jii-san".
"Oh of course, take as long as you like. This old shop doesn't see that much traffic these days, and God forbid I get in the way of youngsters enjoying their youth to the fullest."
"Arigato!", she said, rushing down the eternally sunlit corridors of the city.
As she passed from one shop to the next, planing out a route, she giggled to herself at her ever-so-malicious plan to take revenge. First, the a small tour of this commercial section to see if he can catch a hint at the foreseeable future. Then, the nice little noodle place, which already smelled of open-flame sukiyaki. Then, to a pleasant stroll in the park-space of the biodomes. Then, to the upper commercial district for karaoke, and the gift shop nearby. She has had an amazing singing since her childhood, and couldn't wait to best the foreigner on yet another field of combat. She had seen his cigarettes, and viewed this as an easy win. The gift shop would also be simple, as there was no way this man could know that it's commonplace to get a girl a nice little trinket. Another win, already in the bag. Finally, to the bar, for a good drink. She was known among her friends for steadily drinking her way through an entire store of Umeshu, her favorite drink. She knew that the volume would go down with stronger drinks, but still within inconceivable amounts to him. She would easily impress him in this area as well. She would then take him to the starsphere at the top of the base, and there it would end, with the deep hues of the system shining all around. Not only would she utterly defeat this man in every way on this date, and let him be humiliated by his own realization that he understands nothing about the culture he has found himself in, nor about women in general, but she would also have some of the most fun she would ever have on a single night out. A sense of preceding triumph filled her as she plotted out her path.
Kazu returned to the shopkeeper, with a mischievous smile on her face. He looked at her and laughed.
"Oh, he's really in for it, isn't he?"
"More than you could ever guess"
He laughed again. "Well? Surely you're going to tell me about him."
"He's an annoying foreigner, who's holding my stuff ransom for the price of a date."
"Ahh, sounds desperate to me."
"Yes he is. And you want to know the best part?"
"Oh, do tell.", he said, serving a customer.
"He wasn't even embarrassed when I called him out on it!"
The two burst out laughing. "Ah, he sounds Libertonian to me. No sense of shame, no sense of fear."
The two chattered on for a while, varying topics as they went; The beauty of the Sigma systems, the habits of the Gas Miners Guild, Kusari politics, how the actions of the other houses effect their jobs. She eventually got around to the stories her father had told her from his days as a GMG pilot.
"Aha, I used to be a pilot myself. I went on many great adventures with some good friends. You know how all that ended? I got a strong willed wife. Ooh, she was not happy about my travels to deep space. Made me quit and do something she said I was better at. So now I cook noodles." As he hefted his large stomach for effect. "Eat noodles too!"
They continued their chatter for some time, waiting for Kazu's date to show up. Both of them were excited, not necessarily for the same reasons, but the anticipation for a single Libertonian man has likely not been this high for a long time.
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