It was a sunny afternoon in Takahagi business sector in planet Honshu. Near the exit of the mass transit station that served the area waited a young lady, dressed in corporate attire of the Kishiro keiretsu interplanetary commerce division. She was enjoying the warm breeze when she spotted the person she was waiting for exiting the station. Waving to get his attention, she approached the man dressed in a casual manner.
“You finally managed to come. It's been awhile, Katsuo-niisan.” said Mizuki Shimoe to his brother.
“Ah, hey. Good thing you came to wait for me, I'm not sure I could find my way to you anyway Mizuki. Did I make you wait much?” Replied, looking relieved to find her so fast.
“Iie, I was just organizing some things before coming, so I didn't waited that long. I asked for the tenchou to keep some seats for us at the izakaya, but probably it wouldn't be a problem at this time anyway. Shall we go?”
“Ok, then lead the way. I'm not much in the mood to be wandering around today.”
They started walking a few blocks, heading to some streets filled with traditional restaurants and izakaya (pubs).
“So, how have been things going at your new job?” asked Katsuo, while looking at the interesting aspects of that new part of the city.
“It's going well, at least my section always has some work to do, and the boss is not too harsh. Some other sections are not faring too well. The economic activity has reduced the activity of the research department here in Honshu, and I've heard the colleagues at Shinagawa are seeing reduced profits from the the optical chip's productions and sales.”
They finally entered in a izakaya called Sakuragawa. The boss was expecting Mizuki and directed them to a semi-private section of the room. They seated down on the pillows surrounding the short table and the tenchou brought two rheinbeers.
“I usually ask for rheinbeer, it's a good stuff to drink from time to time. Have you ever tried it before, Katsuo-niisan?”
“Well, I prefer sake , but I guess we can start with these.” said the brother, pouring the beer on a glass and trying it.
“So, you told me that you got transferred to the main operations group. How is it, are they all big boys with too many medals and more flight hours than a veteran deep space merchant captain?” said Mizuki in a joking tone.
Katsuo smirked a little, the taste of the beer setting him in tune with the mood of his sister. “I don't know about the medals, but we sure add a lot of flight hours to our service sheet. There are some women there that could very easily take on 4 or 5 of the guys on the Myoko squadron.” he says while reading the description on the bottle. “Ah, Ikou-san sends her regards.” he adds.
“Ah, Ikou-san. Shes the one who entered service at the same time as you over there right? Is she still I the Myoko?”
“Yes, I heard she was raised to Nitto Kaii a few weeks ago. I also received a promotion about the same time, to Itto Kaii.”
“Eh, I'm surprised. I thought it would take some more time for you to reach that level. Could it be that you were that good and hide it from me?” she said with a mild surprised look.
“Not really. I have just been doing well, and they needed to reorganize the lower ranks roster recently.”
“Is that why you you received a leave? You said it was difficult to come visit me.”
“That was not entirely true, although it makes it somewhat easier now, at least until I'm not assigned a wing to command. About the break, the reason is that my last mission put me out for a few days with an injury, and the commander gave me the rest of the week off duty.”
“Was it bad?”
“A little, but I'm better now. It was where that....”
They kept talking about their most recent experiences, the things they saw, and news from their home in Junyo.
“Ah, niisan. Did you know that Hiraku-niisan went back home?” Mizuki said at some point.
“Eh? He's back? I thought he had went to Bretonia and found something to do there. I haven't heard form him for a few years already.”
“Apparently he did managed to go to Bretonia, but couldn't find many clues about what happened to the fleet dad was in. Our uncle says that Hiraku-niisan has heard that the remnants of the our forces were in Bretonian space for quite a while, but have left the region heading north, to the Taus. Apparently they haven't stopped fighting against the gallians.”
“Is that so? So there are still some who survived...” Katsuo was apprehensive. On one hand, there was still a chance that their father had survived the war and was amongst the exiles of the new emperor. On the other hand, he was concerned that the exiles could return soon and pose an even bigger threat than the Blood Dragons have ever been to the safety of his republic.
“Nee Mizuki, about our brother. Did he really go back home? I thought he had been the one who said he didn't want to have anything with the business back home in the first place. Why is he back?”
“I'm not sure. Our mother said some of our neighbors had contacted him while he was away, and that something piqued his interest back to Shikoku.” Mizuki leans closer and continues with a concerned expression. “Uncle said that it could be Hogosha business, Junyo regionalists... or something worse.
For now, it seems he has asked to our uncle to allow him work on the space transports. I hear they go collecting alien organisms in the Sigmas or something.”
“I see. Man, I really need to make a visit back home as well then. I haven't visited our mother in months.”
“I'm sure she would be happy to see you go to her, instead of forcing her to go see you at a hospital or something.”
“You sound like you thinking I'm put myself into danger all the time. You know I'm not like that.”
“I only know you're not very good at getting jokes.” Mizuki said
“That wasn't a good joke in anyway.”
“I'll try some better ones next time.”
They exited the izakaya, and it was already nighttime. They headed back to the mass transit station. On the nearby buildings, several advertisements and logos indicated a strong presence of Kishiro companies in the business district based there.
“I guess you'll take that line. The place where you live is far?” Katsuo asked, searching for the line that would take him back to the space port and the naval base.
“A few stations away. It only takes half an hour, but it's a distance 5 times bigger than our hometown, or something like that.”
“That would take awhile to walk.
Well, I guess we go our different ways here. Tell me anything if you stop by New Tokyo, or at the Myoko. Perhaps we can arrange something again.”
“Hai, you too as well. Be sure to to go visit the people back home. I'm sure Hiraku-niisan would like to hear from you.” she replied with a smile.
A warm night had fallen in Honshu, and the siblings of the Shimoe family went to their separate ways, back to their different lives.