Fantasy Stellar ARMOR Satellizer (Ranix Aurus & Admiral19)

[Ranix Aurus]

Shouji opened his eyes as he listened to her ramblings. That wasn't a good thing to happen, because he was using them to stare at her as if he was looking at a crazed ape in a zoo. When she was finally done, he scoffed, and then turned sideways so he would face her with his back.

"You're noisy," he muttered.

In the front row, Akira and Hotaru were twisting their bodies to glare daggers at Shouji's direction, to the annoyance of the passengers beside them. They couldn't hear what the two were talking about, but knowing that it was Shouji, he wouldn't be spewing out anything good anyway. Maybe they should knock him unconscious so he wouldn't disturb Kanae...

"Welcome aboard, ladies and gentlemen. We're expected to be in the air in approximately five minutes..."

The passengers were starting to get ready for departure. As the crowds were drowning their voices, Shouji started to mumble, seemingly to himself.

"...Instant ramen. The one that Director used to make..."

He still remembered those times in the middle of the night, when he was unable to fall asleep from nightmares. He would sneak out of his room and made his way to the kitchen. The orphanage director would be there, boiling water to make instant ramen. He had caught her during the act one time, and since then, she would make a portion for him too to bribe little Shouji from telling other people.

 

[Admiral19]

Kanae thought for a moment. If there was anything she's learned from a few months of being in college, instant ramen was an instant comfort...which might have said a little about Shouji's life. It could mean nothing, of course; a lot of people, her included, simply liked instant ramen. But..."Director", hm...?

"I tell you what, then." Kanae's smile grew wide. "Dad said he gave a medallion to someone in New York, so that's where we're heading first. When we land, I'll talk to him about all of us going out for dinner at this pizza place I went to when I was studying. Let me tell you, nothing gets people together like good food!"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Shouji finally turned around to face Kanae, but his face was... complicated. He looked annoyed, a bit angry, but most of all simply exasperated.

"Are you a fool?" He said. "Do you think we're going in a field trip? The medallions hold tremendous power, and their existence will cause great changes to the world. We have no time to play house. Tch," he clicked his tongue. "Must be nice to have power..."

 

[Admiral19]

Kanae scowled. "I'm offering because I wanna get to know you, Shouji. We're gonna be stuck with each other for a few days at least, so why don't we enjoy ourselves while we're there? And besides that, what does my power have to do with this?" Shouji always seemed to bring in things that weren't relevant in the slightest. "Nice to have power"... She wasn't doing this because she could force him to do it, she was doing this out of kindness, goddammit!

"Look, if you don't want to go, I won't make you." She gave a dismissive wave. "I'm just saying that I'd like to clear the air. I don't want to be going around with Akira and Hotaru glaring daggers at you constantly."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"I don't care," he replied perfunctorily before turning around once again. She was doing pointless thing. He knew that the Tanakas weren't fond of him, and for good reason, considering what he had done to everyone, especially Hotaru. He wasn't interested in making friends.

"...I'm used to being hated, anyway."

His last sentence were spoken in a soft voice, as if he was pouting.

 

[Admiral19]

"You shouldn't be."

Kanae's voice became serious. "Sure, you've done some horrible stuff. Akira and Hotaru aren't ready to forgive you for it yet, and neither am I. But if you're used to people looking down on you, if you're used to people hating you, even if you probably didn't do anything wrong..."

She thought about Hotaru. She was used to being alone, used to no one wanting to be around her. Kanae didn't know everything about Hotaru, but she knew enough to say that Hotaru wasn't a bad person. She hadn't done anything to be used to being alone, as far as Kanae knew.

"...That's not okay. Nobody should be used to people not liking them if they can help it."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Please enjoy your flight with --- Airline."

The flight attendant's announcement came as their plane began its ascent. The passengers felt a brief sense of weightlessness before readjusting themselves to the flight. The hubbub quickly died down as people settled into their seats for the journey.

"What do you know?" Shouji murmured. "You don't know anything about me. You weren't there."

 

[Admiral19]

"No, I wasn't there." Kanae wasn't going to quit, her determination rising as the plane did. "I don't know a damn thing about you, and frankly, you don't have to tell me a damn thing. But I knew someone who was used to being pushed aside as well. I decided to reach out to her because she deserved to be treated better than she was."

The announcement that the passengers were free to move about the cabin sounded, and the seatbelt lights were shut off.

"Hotaru deserved to be happy. So do you."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"...Do what you want," Shouji harrumphed. He really couldn't win. Like father, like daughter...

"...What are they talking about?" Hotaru peeked from behind her seat, staring with suspicion toward Shouji.

"I swear if that dude dare to annoy Kanae, I'll give him a beating of his life..." Akira didn't try to sneak a glance anymore after the plane had departed. Instead, he was wallowing in self-propagating anger.

"...Will you be fine?"

"Huh?"

Akira stared at his sister, demanding her to elaborate her question.

"Genki is there, isn't he?"

"It doesn't matter. America is a big place. He's nowhere near our destination," Akira retorted. "You don't have to worry about it."

"If you say so," She went back to peeking at Kanae and Shouji.

 

[Admiral19]

Kanae was satisfied with that for now. Pressing Shouji for answers was only gonna push him away. Whenever he wanted to speak up, he would do so, and Kanae would listen. That's all.

She could tell Akira and Hotaru were a little on edge, knowing who was a couple rows behind them. If Kanae could eventually ease their worries, then that would be a win for her.

* * *

The remainder of the flight was smooth, with a nice nap in between. It was sunset by the time the plane touched down, and they reached the hotel they'd be staying at by the time it got dark. New York was no different than when Kanae was here a few months before, packed with people and traffic. It was a wonder they managed to bypass most of it.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"We're heeeere..." Hotaru were clinging to Kanae this whole time, seemingly drained from all the close encounters with people all around the streets. America was really different. There was a lot of people, so many people, but they mostly kept to themselves. It reminded her of Akihabara.

"Ooh... New York! I've been here once during my study!" Seiichiro was more chipper, looking around here and there with bright, childlike eyes.

"Our hotel room..." Akira looked at the card they had been distributed to at the entrance. Kanae and Hotaru would stay in one room, while the rest of the guys would take another. So it would be him, Uncle, and... Shouji.

Akira glared at him. Shouji replied in kind.

"Alright, alright, it's no big deal," Seiichiro cut them in the middle. "I swear, youngsters these days... Saitou, what's our next plan?" He turned to Aisuke.

 

[Admiral19]

"The person we're searching for is someone by the name of Lucas Spitz, who has the Capricorn medallion." Aisuke pulled up a contact on his phone. "He's a friend I made while I was waiting on the metro. Very nice guy, if not a little coarse. He runs a pawn shop near the station. He's one of the ones who doesn't know about the medallions, so it'll be a little hard to get."

He then opened a different app, displaying the front of a shop out in the city. "Because he runs a pawn shop, he might be putting it up for sale. If that's the case, we can get it easily for something of equal value...but if someone else gets it, that could hinder us greatly. If he has the medallion in his personal collection, it's more secure, but harder to get. We'll need to do some haggling."

---

Kanae flopped backwards onto the bed. "Haaah, travel fatigue is the woooorst...I feel like we've been in the air for weeks."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Hotaru climbed into bed, curling up beside Kanae like a lazy cat. She unceremoniously left Shouji's situation for her brother to deal with. As for her, she only cared about spending more time with Kanae.

Still, she had her own worries weighing her mind.

"Kanae... about your friend... I'm sorry," she whispered. "She was turned into a monster... I'm sorry that we couldn't prevent it..."

 

[Admiral19]

Ah, yes, that. Kanae was silent for a moment. "Well, there wasn't much we could do about it. We didn't know what had been done to Nakamichi. We'll figure out a way to return her to normal, surely."

There was a knock on the door. "Kanae...erm, do you mind if I come in?" That was her mom. Probably back with a few essentials and snacks and such.

Well, now was as good a time as any. "Come on in."

Yuna entered their room carefully, a bag of something held in her arms. "Hey, both of you! Hello. Um...I brought something for Kanae! It's a little—"

"Are you trying to buy my forgiveness with a gift?"

Yuna stopped. "I..." Kanae had been so sudden, she didn't know what to expect. Kanae, on the other hand, stood and stared forward.

"Ten years is a very long time, Mom." Kanae started, still reaching out for the bag, disregarding Hotaru just for the moment. "It's long enough for me to graduate high school. It's long enough for me to start entry exams. It's long enough for me to make a couple friends while you two were gone."

Her voice gradually got louder. "It's long enough for me to buy aquarium tickets with the money you two send me. It's enough to start planning for birthdays, and picnics, and train rides...it's long enough for me to start drowning in my loneliness in my empty house, and it's long enough for me to start finding ways not to cry myself to sleep!"

Kanae's fists tightened, her eyes burning slightly with growing tears. "I can understand Dad. He used to work at OLYMPUS, he has work. But why...why couldn't you stay, at least?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Normal.

She wanted to turn Haru back to normal. It was understandable, but Hotaru still felt a little sting from that.

"Kanae... that..."

Before she could continue, however, Kanae's mother had entered their room. "Hello, auntie..." Hotaru greeted her politely, but she noticed that Kanae was getting... agitated. What was supposed to be a harmless visit seemed to be pulling bad memories out of Kanae.

"Kanae..." Hotaru didn't know what to say, or whether she had a place to say anything in the first place. All she could do was to hold her best friend's hand, hoping to remind her that she would always be on her side.

 

[Admiral19]

Yuna fell silent for a second. "Your father's work is dangerous. I followed him because I wanted to trust that I would see him again. I...It sounds so selfish now that I'm here, in front of you, seeing what you've become. You're such a wonderful young lady now, and I wasn't able to help you get there."

The room was still quiet. Kanae waited for some kind of cue that never came. "I had to learn a lot myself. You and Dad gave me a lot of advice over calls, but there's only so much you can teach remotely. There's so much that you two missed."

"And if you hate us for missing it—"

"I don't hate you." Kanae's voice was painfully fragile. "I really should hate you, but I don't want to."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Hotaru tightened her hold. She didn't like that Kanae was feeling upset, but shying away from the problem wouldn't help either. It was a delicate situation.

---

In the next room, Shouji was looking at the wall separating their room with Kanae's and Hotaru's. Although muffled, they could still hear some noise coming from the other side. It sounded like an argument of sort.

"Don't stick your nose in it," Akira said. A warning.

"...Why would I care," Shouji harrumphed.

Akira was typing in his phone while frowning. Seiichiro was deeply engrossed with a complex-looking program in his laptop, showing him countless results of simulated experiments that he had attempted. Shouji was the only one who had nothing to do, so he just lay down on his side and closed his eyes, feigning ignorance to whatever was happening next door.

 

[Admiral19]

Aisuke simply made sure Shouji and Akira didn't suddenly try to kill each other. Unlikely, but you could never be too careful.

He had an inkling as to what was being discussed, and only hoped that everything would go smoothly. From what he's learned about Kanae since he returned, she cared about the wellbeing of others a great amount. That wasn't a bad thing at all, but when one chooses to give, they need to be careful not to drain themselves.

---

Kanae looked over at Hotaru. Of course she befriended her because no one else would, but Hotaru was also the one distraction from how empty her home felt, how quiet it got in the evenings. Kanae was selfish in that regard. Her mom knew what sort of things her dad got up to and wanted to make sure he was safe. She was selfish in that regard. But Kanae's selfishness was a result of her mom's.

It was the same here. Her mom was selfish enough to want Kanae to stay despite their absence. And fortunately enough, Kanae wanted them to stay, wanted to be with them until they made up for everything they did and then some.

"Please..." It felt strange for her to speak. "Just...don't go again. Not for so long."

Yuna smiled. "We will try."

Kanae's never been a crier; Hotaru and Akira can attest to that. Even at her saddest, Kanae never seemed to shed a single tear.

She didn't cry right now, but it was very damn close.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

The argument was over. Perhaps. At least it got quieter on the other side. Shouji tried to get his mind off of it as he forced himself to sleep.

"Tanaka, what are you doing?" Seiichiro turned his chair around after finishing one section of the report. Akira had been playing with his phone for hours now. That didn't seem healthy...

"Oh. It's... my old man," he replied with a bit of hesitation in his voice. "He keeps sending me messages."

"He must be worried about you."

"Heh. It'll be good if that's true," Akira scoffed.

 

[Admiral19]

"Senior, trust me when I say, that man doesn't talk to his children because he cares." Aisuke seemed to be going through his bags, trying to look for something. "No, he talks to his children because they're another set of ears that can hear him talk."

That was about all he had to say about that, mostly because he found what he was looking for: something packed into a small box that he tore open quickly. Inside was a handful of various stones and ores that seemed decently expensive.

"Now, then, if I remember Lucas, he has a huge thing for crystals and stones. These that I've found go for a rough $75 USD. If all else fails, we can trade the medallion for these."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Akira raised an eyebrow. That was... quite an accurate description of his old man. He wondered if Kanae's father had known him before. No, that actually made sense. The kids had been friends for years, naturally the parents would had had contacts, at the very least some phone calls. He wasn't sure if talking with Tanaka Genki was a pleasurable experience though.

That man whose head was only filled with his wife and his work couldn't be a good conversation partner.

"Would that really work?" Seiichiro took a closer look at the crystals. They looked pretty, but he couldn't really tell their values beyond that adjective. Surely not to the point that he would spend $75 just for them.

 

[Admiral19]

"As I said before, I gave the medallions to two types of people: those who I could trust with the secret, and those who wouldn't know any better. Lucas is the latter. So long as he believes that he's getting a good deal off it, he'll take the offer. And..."

He held one of the stones up to his face, watching the light bounce off of its facets. "As someone who used to collect rocks myself, not every stone is crafted the same. Some of these I actually bought off of other people, others I've had for ages. Trust me, you can't pull the wool over the eyes of an expert."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Huh..."

Seiichiro narrowed his eyes. He really couldn't tell the difference. Forget it, some people were better at different fields. He should let the expert deal with it, while he focused on what he could do best.

"I'll leave it to you, then. You guys go ahead and have a rest. I'll go to bed after I finish this report."

Whether he really would end up sleeping that night was up for debate, but Seiichiro was already used to it. He looked like a zombie on daily basis anyway, so one or two nights without sleep wouldn't change much.

In the next room, the atmosphere had gone relatively quiet, although Hotaru felt that it was merely held on cease fire. In the end, the scar of loneliness couldn't be healed with a few smiles and apologies. The only thing that he could do for Kanae was to hug her to sleep.

 

[Admiral19]

Kanae's mom had long gone to sleep. Kanae herself was still a tad restless. Akira was the one that told her she should talk it out with her folks...she didn't think it'd be this whole thing, though. At least she brought it up now before she could blow up about it later.

Things weren't settled. There was a childhood's worth of catching up to do. But, for now, Kanae could say things have become less...tumultuous.

There were some things Kanae simply couldn't get out of her head, however. And for those times, she appreciated Hotaru being here to ease the rest of her worries.

"Hey." She nudged Hotaru gently, getting her attention to do nothing more than give her a goofy little smile. Typical of Kanae.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Hmm," Hotaru stirred in her sleep. Her eyes opened to a slit, taking in Kanae's smile, before she dived in and snuggled closer to her best friend.

"Are you alright, Kanae...?" She asked in a muffled voice.