◂ ❚ ⊱✺⊰ ❚ ▸ @dotonborii || 平成元年
Barely a few months back into his re-enlistment, and they were already sticking him with the work they didn’t want to do. Kiku had been mistaken in thinking that he would be welcomed back with nothing but warmth, and while his ships were appreciative of his being reinstated into naval service, the human staff did not feel quite the same. There was a very subtle hostility towards him, as if he had some sort of privileges that they lacked when the opposite was true. Kiku didn’t want any special treatment, and he would have been perfectly fine having to go through the same trouble to regain his rank the proper way. It was probably Hikaru’s doing; perhaps he thought it would make Kiku happier to go back to something close to what he had before.
A kind gesture, for sure, but with unintended consequences.
That was how Kiku found himself in Osaka on business-- and also helplessly lost. The city had changed so much in the 44 years he was gone, and he was far too proud to ask for directions. He should not need to do such a thing-- and to further his frustration, Hikaru had confiscated his kiseru. Apparently, some time in his absence, smoking was banned in government buildings?
It had been one week and no amount of snacks could satisfy that urge, which he’d become all too dependent on during his heyday, when it mattered little what his manners were like and what the rules were. Kiku dragged his hands down his face and found somewhere to sit, weighing his options: wander around like a fool until he found the local JSDF correspondence office, or swallow his pride and ask for directions, equally as foolish for someone so full of himself as a former empire.
And as if that wasn’t enough, he was starving.
