Again with thanks to Grey Rook for his Beta Work.
It took me about half an hour to wash my face and change my clothes to something a bit more casual. Shizuka had called me and told me that this wasn't a formal event in the slightest, so casual was best.
When I'd gotten the teaching job Principal Yamada had given me an advance on my pay to get myself some clothes to wear for teaching, considering my Custodial work clothes and workout clothes weren't going to cut it, to put it mildly. While I'd braved the local clothes store, I'd gotten myself some jeans and t-shirts along with a jacket for the colder weather when it would eventually come.
Tonight, I'd worn a pair of loose-fitting jeans and a black t-shirt with nothing adorning it. I didn't bother with the grey, hooded jacket I'd also purchased, considering how warm the weather was getting. After that, I'd hopped on the local bus and rode over to the bar that Shizuka and her old classmates had rented for the evening. I watched the town roll by, occasionally taking notes on the layout of certain roads, locations of hills, bridges, buildings, where people seemed to be the most concentrated and where they weren't, all of these notes were jotted down in a small black notebook I had started using a few weeks ago when I'd realized just how long it had been since I had arrived here and had begun to really prepare for when Z-day arrived.
I had also begun gathering information about just where exactly Tokonosu WAS in relation to the rest of the country.
After a bit of work I'd finally figured out where Tokonosu was located. Tokonosu City was a part of the larger Nagoya metro-area one of the three great metropolitan concentrations of Honshu, the later was also the capital of Aichi Prefecture which consisted of the old provinces of Owari and Mikawa of Sengoku Jidai fame. Tokonosu had been the center of the holding of a Daimyo clan known as Takagi whom had built up the area as an homage to Osaka, including their castle which was a miniature of Osaka castle itself.
According to local history, the Takagi clan had originally been sworn to the Toyotomi's and had suffered during the defeat of Ishida Mitsunari at the battle of Sekigahara. They had, luckily, not been large enough to warrant destruction and had been allowed a reduced part of their ancestral holdings in Tokonosu where they had remained ever since. One Takagi ancestor had managed to visit Osaka castle and had convinced the Shogunate to allow them to mimic the larger castle. How he'd managed to do that was unfortunately lost in the mists of time, but folklore went that he challenged the incumbent Shogun's champion swordsman for the right and had won after a bout that had nearly killed both men.
The family had survived the Meiji restoration and had been awarded the title of Baron which they had held until the end of the Second World War and the occupation. The Takagi clan had been wrecked by the war financially and had ended up being forced to sell their family castle in the wake of the old land holdings being broken up.
They hadn't left Tokonosu though, continuing to serve the area for years. There were also rumors that the current head of the house, one Souichiro Takagi, had plans to purchase back his ancestral home from the government, though many considered claims like that idiotic, but the fact that they existed at all were a strong indicator of the waves Souichiro was making in the city.
I grimaced at the thought of meeting the man, from what I had remembered from the Manga and Anime the man was hardass through and through, and the fact that he was a right-wing nationalist party leader made me sweat a bit at the thought of actually meeting him after Z-day. Hopefully the man wouldn't outright kick me out... or his followers...well, I'd cross that bridge when it came up.
I was just coming to that resolution when I noticed that I was at my stop. I quickly got off of the bus and glanced at the address again along with the slightly gibberishy directions that Shizuka had apparently given me in my haze. Seriously, who writes smiley faces on directions... heh, even had a chibi picture of her face in the corner… she had talent with that…
Chuckling, I tucked the paper back into my pocket and went on my way. Glancing around at the towering buildings that made up this part of the city, watching the mass of people moving through its busy streets. A cold feeling entered the bottom of my stomach as I thought about how this was all going to disappear in less than a year's time. Thousands of these people were going to be dead very soon and most likely worse than that. It was a chilling thought. I wished that I could somehow stop this from happening or at least spare the people of this city, there were people here I considered friends. I shook my head, there's not a damn thing I could do to stop what was coming, merely use the tools I had to do the best I could. Beyond that, well, I was merely a man and couldn't hope to do beyond what a man could do, the rest was in God's hands.
I was shaken out of my musings when I heard a female voice shouting my name. "TOM! Hey! Tom! Over here!"
I looked around and spotted Shizuka waving at me from about 30 feet up the sidewalk I'd come. She was wearing the same outfit I'd seen her in earlier that day and looking DAMN good in it. Next to her in a pair of black slacks and a white shirt with an unbuttoned black shirt was a tanned woman with purple hair, though unlike Saeko's this one's hair was had a more reddish tint to it. She was wearing a pair of dark shades and a slightly exasperated look on her face as she watched her friend's antics.
Ah so this must be the famous Rika Minami I'd heard so much about from Shizuka… also the one with a small armory... useful to have, I must say. Well, my dad always said that win a girl's friends and you win the girl... wait what?
I was shaken out of my thoughts when Shizuka actually hugged me in public, eliciting the ire of everything with a Y chromosome within a two mile radius... not that I even thought about that when it happened.
"Oh I'm so glad you came Tom, I was worried you might have changed your mind."
"W-wouldn't have missed it for the world Shizuka." I managed to wheeze out.
Shizuka stepped back, a smile still on her face. "Oh, where are my manners? Tom, this is my roommate and best friend since college, Rika Minami. Rika-chan, this is Tom Brody,he's the new teacher at the school I work at."
"A pleasure to meet you, Minami-san." I said with a polite bow. I think I was getting the hang of the catch-all gesture.
"Ah, so you're the one Shizuka's been bending my ear about for the past month." Rika quipped, a smirk on her pretty face.
"Rika-chan!" Shizuka squawked, a blush on her face.
I could feel my face heating up as well. "Well, I hope it's been all good things. She's mentioned you before as well, law enforcement, right?"
"That's right. First Squadron chief for the prefecture and SAT sniper, so you'd better not ever tick me off, mister." She said with a smile.
"No fear of that, Minami-san, I like my innards where they are, thank you very much." I said with a chuckle, though I knew damn well that she could blow my head off with easeif the need ever arose.
That set her laughing again. "Ha, you didn't mention he had a sense of humor, Shizuka. Though you were right and he does fill in a shirt nicely."
"Rika-chan, I never said that." Shizuka all but shouted back.
I wisely kept my mouth shut, no way no how was I going to enter that minefield.
"Oh Shizuka, you know I was just teasing you, you're so easy to get riled up sometimes." Rika smirked.
I coughed and said; "Well, ladies, shall we move on while some of us still have our dignity?"
That got another laugh and the three of us went on our way. The two women leading the way while I followed a step behind.
The bar they'd mentioned was only a few blocks further up the street. It wasn't the most expensive looking place but it seemed inviting, and I could smell something cooking as well as other voices beginning to enjoy themselves.
"This the place?" I asked. When they nodded I stepped aside and gestured with my hand. "Ladies first, then." I said with a smile.
"Oh, thank you." Shizuka said and giggled while Rika said; "What a gentleman." Some slight humor in her voice.
"Just what I was taught, Ma'am." I replied... an American Southern accent added to Japanese... sounded kinda funny… but I wasn't about to break character as they both smiled again and I followed after them, thinking that this might be pretty fun.
*****************
This was not fun. Well, actually, to be fair the evening HAD been pretty fun. Shizuka and Rika's classmates had been a bit surprised to see a burly American Gaijin walk into the bar behind the two women. But when Shizuka explained why I'd been invited and had introduced me they'd been pretty quick to welcome me.
The rest of the evening was spent with the former classmates reminiscing about classes, classmates, professors and college shenanigans. Not being an Alumni of their Alma Mater I'd listened to the conversations around me. Well, that was the plan but the others were curious about the Gaijin that had acted as ballast and occasionally brought me into the conversation, asking about my home, why I'd come to Japan, my work and how I knew Shizuka.
I managed to deflect anything that might raise more questions about my place here and I was able to focus their attention on my sudden promotion partially as a snub at Mr. Shido.
"That whole family's rotten to the core." One drunken male Alumni had said. "His father's a crooked politician, his mother was a lush, I've heard his bastard brother's just as bad and seems to be set up to replace him considering he's already an intern for his father's group. And I can't imagine Shido's all that happy about being replaced and he's got all those young people to vent and manipulate. S'not right, not right at all."
While I agreed, it seemed more than a little tactless to say so in public and said as much. The man merely shrugged and stuck to his words.
The conversation thankfully shifted to other trains of thought, or so I thought. Another female classmate was looking between me and Shizuka, before settling on me and saying; "So, are the two of you an item? Is that why Shizuka-chan here decided to invite you?"
"N-no nothing like that at all. We're just friends and co-workers is all." I managed to splutter out.
Shizuka was red as a beet as well, though if that was the booze or the conversation I couldn't judge.
The friend shrugged. "Well if you're not, then could I borrow him?" She teased Shizuka with a smile. "Younger, a foreigner, AND he seems to take care of himself. Me likey."
I promptly choked and nearly drowned myself on the coke I'd been drinking, ROB did NOT prepare me for this new predicament!
While I was trying to breathe and restart my brain, Shizuka beat me to the punch with an answer, sort of. The pretty woman had been sitting next to me for most of the evening, I guess because she was my unofficial sponsor for this get together, which meant she was easily able to lean deeply into me and giggle softly; "Tom-san'sss... not like that…"And with that she seemed to fall asleep with her head on my shoulder. That set the rest of the party howling.
I weakly joined them. "Alright, I guess Marikawa-san's had enough for tonight. Hey Miss Mina...mi?" I looked around for the tanned purplette but she was nowhere to be seen.
"Um, where is she?" I asked, a bit nervous.
"She left over an hour ago, something about a situation down at the station. She said that you might need to take Shizuka-san home." A still somewhat-sober voice called out.
"What?" I said, a bit stunned.
A few minutes later I managed to get the young woman up on her feet and towards the door.
The rest of the evening was NOT what I'd called fun. First, Shizuka was too far gone to tell me her damn address, then when I found her phone and tried to call Rika the woman either wouldn't or couldn't answer her phone.
Then I learned that the buses had stopped running and the area didn't have a Taxi service, which meant I had to half walk half drag a giggly Shizuka Marikawa several miles to my place to hold her over at least until she sobered. It didn't help matters that she practically clung to me the entire way and mentioned at least twice that we looked like a couple.
Then about half a mile from my place it started to rain. "GOD DAMMIT WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO THROW AT ME?!" I had half roared.
"Thatz not nicee Tom." Shizuka had muttered.
Finally, after what had felt like an eternity, I managed to drag my companion up my stairs and into my apartment. "Finally made it I HATE summer rains!" I muttered.
I then tried to towel myself off as best I could after handing Shizuka one as well. Once we'd dried our hair I'd handed her a pair of my shorts and a t-shirt. "You'll get sick if you stay in that wet outfit, so I guess you can borrow some of mine while we dry out yours, probably won't fit right." I muttered.
Shizuka thanked me, then began to lift her wet top. "Wait! Not here! I have a bathroom, you can change there!" I managed to choke out.
Shizuka had tilted her head then said "Okay" before walking into the bathroom. Taking advantage of the privacy I'd quickly changed my own clothes before pulling out some blankets and an extra pillow. Even if she'd sobered up enough that I wasn't fearing for her life, I wasn't about to let her out into that rainstorm, not this late.
I had finished setting out another sleeping spot when Shizuka had walked out of my bathroom, the shirt and pants not fitting her radically differing body shape, but damn me if she didn't look good in it.
"Alright, Shizuka, you can sleep here on my futon, I'll take this blanket over here." Once she showed that she understood that, I made sure she was settled down and had the blanket over her before bedding down myself. Shizuka was already snoring faintly when I finally managed to lay down and drift off myself.
The next morning, I woke up with an odd sensation next to me. I didn't recognize it in my sleepy haze but it felt nice. I blinked a few times and managed to turn my head to see to my mild horror that Shizuka had gotten out of her futon and had gotten under my blanket with me, and not only that, she'd managed to wrap both arms around my chest like I was a giant stuffed animal... ah, so that's what those two things were, pressing into my side.
As I watched that sleeping beauty next to me, one word escaped my lips. "Fuck."
"Language, Tom-kun."