This is a passion work. So, I would really appreciate it if you leave behind a review when you're done reading.
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CH30: ARRIVAL IN OKINAWA
Okinawa, Japan
The island of Okinawa is one of the islands that make up the archipelago known as the Nation of Japan. The Island is famously home to America's naval military bases in the Indo-Pacific region. During the second world war, Okinawa was the site of fierce battle which spread to involve the general population. The war caused great harm to the natives of Okinawa and their culture. In the aftermath of the Hiroshima nuclear bombing, the empire of Japan surrendered thereby bringing the war to a close, and Okinawa was ceded to the Americans. The Americans went on to build their bases all over the Island. On the 15th of May 1972, Okinawa reverted to Japan. However, due to the heavy influence of the Americans, the history and outlook of the island were already far different from that of the rest of the Japanese mainland.
After a long, almost seventeen hours flight, Kola and Korede Balogun arrived at the Naha Airport, Okinawa. The duo disembarked the plane and made their way through customs. They were currently waiting outside of the airport for Kola's friend to come and pick them.
Korede was wearing a white inner T-shirt with a sky blue, sleeve-folded, unbuttoned long-sleeved shirt on top, black trousers, and black sneakers. On the other hand, Kola was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt on a black pair of jeans trouser with black shoes. Korede was stretching his legs while complaining to his brother who was just standing there as straight as ever.
"If you couldn't have booked first class, at least you should have booked business class. Damn! The plane was tight as hell, my legs are so sore."
"Do you know how much plane tickets cost? You should be happy we are here at all, not to be complaining." Kola retorts
"Come on. You are a Colonel for crying out loud. Not to mention a commander. Do you expect me to believe you couldn't afford better tickets? You're just being a cheapskate."
This time Kola didn't respond. After doing some stretches, Korede's legs regained their feeling and he stood straight. At his side was a single travel luggage bag. Kola was not carrying anything as only Korede was likely to stay. Kola intended to buy a change of clothes at a store if necessary. Whether Korede was accepted or not, he planned to return to Nigeria within two days.
[Rather than complain, I think you should feel lucky. With a Childe like you on board, I wouldn't have been surprised if the plane was hijacked.]
'What does me being on the plane have to do with the plane being hijacked?'
[You're the Childe of Time. You're currently undergoing your trial. As such, many unreasonable events will happen around you for you to solve. Better be ready.]
'I thought you said being a Childe was a good thing. Why do I get the feeling I'm cursed?'
[Hahaha. There's a price for everything.]
Korede couldn't tell if the Symbiote was joking or not. He eventually decided not to care. What could he do anyway? Refuse to be a Childe? How would he do that? He doesn't even know how he became one in the first place. He decided to ignore the Symbiote and look around his new environment.
Korede noticed something and gave Kola a nudge. "Is it just me or are we attracting people's attention?" Korede asks.
Kola chuckles and replied, "You know the answer to that, so why ask?" Korede shrugged and continued to look around.
Korede quickly noticed why they're attracting attention. They are too tall. The average height of Okinawans was around 160cm. However, Kola stood at 187cm while Korede stood at 195cm. For some reason, Korede grew three extra centimetres while he was in a coma. Adding on to their muscular physique, they looked like giants. Though tall people were not that rare due to the presence of the Americans on the island, it is still rare to find someone at the brothers' height. After finding this out, Korede showed a wry smile on his face as he shrugged. There was nothing he can do but stand there.
The two didn't wait for long, however, as a saloon car pulled up in front of them and a woman got out, smiling at them. She walked up to them and shared a hug with Kola.
"It's good to finally see you again." The woman said as they hugged.
"It's good to see you too" Kola greeted back.
The two separate and the woman turned to Korede and stretched out her hand for a handshake, "You must be the little brother I've so much heard about. I'm Miyako Hanzo."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Korede Balogun." Korede said as he accepted the handshake.
The woman nodded and turned to Kola, "I must say, I thought you were tall. I can't believe your brother is even taller. It was so easy to spot you guys in the crowd."
Kola laughed and said to Korede, "Don't let her sunshine behaviour fool you. She's one of the bravest women and strongest soldiers I know."
The woman laughs and taps Kola's arm, "Aww stop it. You're making me blush. If I didn't know you're married, I'd think you're trying to hit on me. Come on let's get going. We'll reminisce later."
Korede is a little surprised. This is his first time seeing his brother with a close female friend outside of his wife, not to mention complimenting her like that. He examined the woman as they get into the car. Miyako Hanzo stood at around 172cm. She had shoulder-length hair and a slim figure. Though he couldn't accurately tell because she's Asian, Korede guessed her age to be between the early to mid-thirties. All in all, she can be described as an Asian beauty. She currently has on a sleeve-folded denim shirt on a cream trouser with black flat sandals which somehow gave her a nice charm.
Miyako got into the driver's seat, Kola took the passenger seat and Korede sat at the back. Once everyone was in the car, Miyako drove off. On a side note, the steering wheel of cars in Japan is on the right-hand side.
It had been twenty minutes into the drive and the two in front of him had been conversing non-stop. Korede couldn't help but get curious about their relationship.
"Just curious. How do you two know each other?" Korede asked.
"There's the curiosity I've heard so much about. Do you want to tell him or should I?" Miyako asked Kola.
The latter smiled and said, "Go for it."
Miyako nodded, "We met on a peacekeeping tour in Mozambique. I was part of Japan's Self Defence Force(SDF) peacekeeping troops and your brother was part of the Nigerian delegation(1). We were assigned to the same patrol convoy. One day on a routine patrol, our convoy came upon a village about to be raided by hostiles. We received orders to defend the village while waiting for reinforcements. Our convoy of twenty soldiers against about fifty hostiles, while defending civilians. Odds were against us but what could we do? Orders are orders. Believing reinforcements would soon arrive, we fought for more than two hours before we were finally able to repel them. Reinforcements never came and the convoy lost seven men. Three were injured with various injuries and were effectively out of action. During the firefight, your brother and I saved each other's lives about two to three times each. That's how we became aware of each other.
During the clean-up, we found out that the hostile group we repelled was trying to recruit youths from the village to join their cause but the village head spoke out against them. That's why the village was attacked. It was to make an example out of the head. The villagers begged us to help protect them but the Commanding Officer(C.O) on the scene felt our job was done. If we left, the village would be attacked again. We all knew it but the C.O wouldn't allow us to attack the hostile camp citing our low ammunition and the fact that peacekeepers aren't exactly allow to go on the offensive(2). The only compromise he made was to allow us to stay the night in the village. If the hostiles don't attack the village again, we'll move on from the village."
It was at this point Kola interrupted, "So what does our fearless heroine here do? She found a villager who knew the location of the enemy camp and snuck out that night. Having nothing but a rifle, low on ammo, and a sword on her back.
"Hey, are you the one to tell the story, or am I?" Miyako said to Kola giving him an eye roll. Kola laughed and made a 'carry on' gesture with his hands. So Miyako continued, "In hindsight, that was a stupid decision. Though I think someone here also had the same idea."
"For the millionth time, I joined only because I saw you making a big mistake. I couldn't let someone who saved my life during the day go throw her life away without doing anything now, could I?" Kola interjected from the side
Miyako ignored Kola and went on with her narration, " As we were about to leave, Kola here caught up to us and asked what we were doing. After telling him my plan, he joined me in my 'suicide' mission. It was a good thing we decided to attack the camp. It wasn't far from the village at all. Just a thirty minutes walk. They could've attacked the village at any time after we left.
So, using the element of surprise and stealth, we were able to kill more than half of them before we were discovered. With the explosives and traps we planted beforehand as well as the guns and ammunition we took from those we killed earlier, we were able to finish off the rest and return to the village before the C.O knew anything. Since then, we became friends. Even after we finished our tour, we kept in touch."
"I'll never forget the image I saw that day. It's the first time I'd ever seen someone fight using a sword in a gunfight and it was eerily beautiful." Kola said reminiscently.
"Yeah. When I decided to join the SDF, my grandfather insisted I learn some swordsmanship saying that a gun could run out of ammo but a well-cared-for sword will always remain sharp." Miyako commented. Korede realised something from her words.
"That means the swordsmanship master we are meeting is your grandfather?" He asked.
"Yes," Miyako confirmed. "However, just because he's my grandfather doesn't mean he'll agree to take you as his student. He's rather eccentric so you must not only be respectful but also take everything as a test. He can decide to take or not to take you for any number of weird reasons." She advised. Korede nodded his head, taking her words to heart.
After more than one hour, they finally arrived at Nago city. Due to American influence on Okinawa, some street names and signs are in English. Nago city is on the northern part of the island. Compared to the southern parts, the northern part of Okinawa was sparsely populated and less urbanised making it easy to find more greenery and natural beauty. The car continued on, almost reaching the city limits bordering on the Yanbaru Nature reserve, before turning onto a nice quiet property. Behind the property was a part of the Yanbaru Nature Reserve meaning the air was naturally fresh and the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. Especially so to concrete jungle dwellers like Korede and Kola.
On the property was a vintage traditional Japanese courtyard. From the gate entrance, one could see three buildings connected in an 'n' shape with a bamboo fountain in the middle. The buildings were built with brick, clay, stones, and bamboo in the traditional style.
The three get out of the car and made their way to the door of the building on the right. The door was a sliding paper door. Miyako led the brothers past the door. She brought out three indoor slippers from a cabinet to the side and asked the brothers to change their footwear. After doing so, she led them through the veranda to an annex building at the back of the main house. Korede discovered that the annex was a dojo.
Inside the dojo, at the far end, a short slim old man was sitting with his back facing a rack of two Japanese swords. In front of him was a tea table with a tea kettle and cup. A sitting pillow was placed in front of the table while two sitting pillows are placed to the side of the room. As they entered the dojo, Korede unconsciously sized up the old man. The man looked to be in his seventies to eighties. He was garbed in traditional male kimono. He had long shoulder-length grey hair neatly tied behind his head, a bushy moustache that joins perfectly with a long goatee-like beard just about exposing his lips.
Though the man was old, he gave off such a strong pressure while sitting there sipping his tea that nobody needed to inform Korede of his identity. Indeed this old man is the Swordsmanship master they'd come to meet.
Hattori Hanzo! (3)
[A.N: Please, don't forget to leave a review of the work to encourage me. Your opinion really matters to me.]
AUTHOR'S NOTE/RAMBLINGS
1 Apparently because of the agreement signed to end WWII, Japan is not allowed to have a standing military. It can only have a defence force to protect its territory from external threats. Meaning, they can't attack others but can defend themselves. Hence their 'military' being called Self Defence Force(SDF).
P. S The only time they operate outside of their country is for the UN peacekeeping Corps.
2 UN peacekeepers don't take part in the warfighting. Their job is to enforce ceasefire agreements, protect civilians, help build and protect primary facilities for civilians and the likes.
3 As I have never actually been to Okinawa, most of the things I wrote about the island are what I found during my research. They may not necessarily be true.
[A.N: Please, don't forget to leave a review of the work to encourage me. Your opinion really matters to me.]