Our Bonds

"Hey, Onii-san, what's your relationship with Onee-chan?" (Rin)

The small girl pushed herself against my back as I was about to drink my miso soup.

"Rin-chan, don't bother Admiral Keita too much. And that was dangerous." (Takao)

"Don't worry about it. This is nothing compared to what I experience almost daily."

I have trained my body, sort of, to handle Yuudachi's constant tackling. This much is like a leaf landing on me.

"Let see, we are friends."

"Friends? Then, can Rin be your friend too?" (Rin)

"Sure, why not?"

"Yay!" (Rin)

"You are quite the lad- ah, I better not say that in front of a child." (Takao)

"I concur."

"Hm?" (Rin)

I drank my miso soup and let it's warmth and taste calm my body. I have just gotten out of a stressful situation after all.

The door slid open and out came Rei and her father,

"Got it? No more funny business." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

"Hmph. I don't need you to tell me that." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

"Come on. You two, breakfast will get cold." (Takao)

The atmosphere just became awkward again. Rei and Grand Admiral Akihito sat down and silently ate. After that fiasco, Rei dragged her father into another room for a talk. I'm curious as to what they talking about, but I'm kind of afraid to ask, especially with that big scary gorilla in front of me.

"Hm?! What?" (Grand Admiral Akihito)

Ah. I didn't mean to stare. Erm...

"I was just wondering why are you still wearing your uniform. You could have worn the yukata, right?"

Idiot! What are you saying?! What kind of response was that?

"They don't have my size. Not yet, at least. The innkeeper said she would be tailoring one for me later. Of course, I will be paying for it." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

"How much is she charging you?"

"The quotation given to me was about 10,000 yen each. It's quite a steal, considering it's going to custom-made." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

That's cheap. Maybe I should get one for myself.

"Wait. Then..."

I looked at Rei's silky, koi patterned Yukata,

"Those are.."

"Hm? Oh, these? They are not custom-made but we got these from the store beside the inn. It was either our own sets or a rental one which has a simple boring design." (Rei)

"Look at mine." (Rin)

Rin tried to spin to show off her grape patterned Yukata, only for her to trip over her own feet.

"Woah there."

I grabbed her small hand before the girl could fall and hurt herself.

"Careful."

"Thank you, Onii-san." (Rin)

I can feel the gaze of a bloodthirsty gorilla,

"Pa- Father!" (Rei)

"Hmph! Rin-chan, stay away from that man. He will spread some kind of disease to you." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

"Darling, I know you are irritated but even I can't let you get away with that kind of insult." (Takao)

"Papa is being mean!" (Rin)

"Grr..." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

Come on, you two. I still want to live and keep my job.

Around 8.30am, a room attendant enter our room to remove our breakfast. The room attendant skillfully stacked all five small wooden tables, along with the crockery, and brought it out of the room without breaking a sweat.

Rei brought Rin to buy some ice cream... leaving me alone with Grand Admiral Akihito and Takao again!

"Tsk... Do I really have to do this? I have already gave my thanks." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

"Darling, didn't we all agree last night? That you would explain the situation to him?" (Takao)

Takao smiled at me,

"If you have any questions, feel free to ask. My husband here will answer all of them." (Takao)

"Erm..."

Can I really though? One wrong word and I may be sent back in a box. I do have some burning questions though.

Hopefully...

"If it's alright to ask, why did you allow Rei to go on a date? Even though you were so adamant on not giving her to anyone."

There is that whole issue with the blind date thing a few months back, but I can slowly change the flow of the conversation and find a good time to talk about that.

...I screwed up... I jumped straight into a landmine. That question should have been asked after I set a proper mood.

I can hear Grand Admiral Akihito let out a loud growl,

"I guess I can tell that much. Just to let you know, I still refuse to give my daughter to anyone! Not even to likes of you!" (Grand Admiral Akihito)

Takao whacked the angry old man in his head.

"With that being said, it was the wishes of Rei and my mother."

So, Rei's grandmother...

"Rei always wanted to have a boyfriend, so much so that she even joined the military. She should just stay as my precious, pure little girl for the rest of life. But some things changed. You probably know there was a period of time where Rei went on several blind dates, right?" (Grand Admiral Akihito)

Ah, that's what I wanted to ask too. Rei told me that she didn't want to be a Christmas cake. A rather old-fashioned trend with young women. Though most of them can't be bothered with it these days. I was surprised he actually allowed her to go on blind dates.

"Rei told me that she wants to get boyfriend. I challenged her for that right and she beat me in combat for the first time in a while. So I allowed her to go blind dates for a while. Thankfully she gave up on that rather quickly." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

You just said some scary things there. You, a large gorilla, lost to Rei in combat? I... I... Let's not worry about it...

"And then there is this incident. It was actually something my mother always wanted and a request from my drinking buddy. My mother was hospitalized recently. She is old so we thought she doesn't have any longer to live. One of her wishes to see Rei with a boyfriend. She is basically the opposing my wishes, but she is my mother, I can't really go against her, especially if it's one of her dying ones. Rei also wanted to fulfill her wish. One day, I was drinking with this friend of mine. One thing led to another and Rei became the topic of our conversation. That guy suggested his grandson as a potential marriage candidate for Rei. He too was looking forward to his grandson getting a partner of his own. So since he was a win-win situation for us, I foolishly agreed without doing a background check on that fellow. He was my friend too, so when he said his grandson was perfect, I trusted his words against my better judgement." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

That kind of explains things, I guess.

"Then, what about your mother?"

Is she...

"That old hag is fine. It turned out to be a simple cold. Damn it. She gave us quite the fright." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

Thank goodness.

"Now, since she is still alive, her dying wish is put on hold until she really is about to kick the bucket. I am not giving Rei to anyone!" (Grand Admiral Akihito)

"Shut up! I can hear you all the way from the hallway!" (Rei)

The door slid open. The sisters are back. Rin kicked off her shoes and climbed onto the tatami mat.

"I'm back. Look, mama! They have Ramune flavoured ice cream there!" (Rin)

Rin pulled out a white colour packet from her bag.

"Oh. That looks delicious. Let's eat it before it melts." (Takao)

"Rin got these for Papa and Mama too." (Rin)

She pulled out two more packets of the same Ramune ice cream and passed it to her parents.

"Thank you, Rin-chan. Such a good girl~ " (Grand Admiral Akihito)

I can't help but shudder at what I'm seeing right now. The Grand Admiral Akihito I know is melting in front of a child. His usually stern expression is now replaced with a smile that emits love and affection. I know that he loves his daughters a lot, but to see him like this... Brrr...

I can hear Rei let out an exasperated sigh,

"Sheesh. He is always like this. Anyway, here." (Rei)

"Cold!"

I jumped as Rei placed something cold against my cheek. I turned towards her. She was holding a yellow ice cream packet.

"Hehe. This is for you, Keita-kun~" (Rei)

I can hear something snap behind me, a low growling noise and feel an overwhelming pressure.

"You are getting a kick out of this, aren't you?"

"Whatever do you mean?" (Rei)

I took the ice cream packet from Rei. Lemon soda flavored... Sounds interesting.

Rei plopped down beside me and teared open her own packet.

"Rei, why are you sitting over there? Come over here." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

"What's the problem? It's not like there is anything wrong with sitting here." (Rei)

Wow. His bloodlust is overwhelming. I need to shift the situation into my favour somehow.

Actually, one more thing,

"Grand Admiral sir, about that video..."

"Oh right. Don't worry. You weren't in uniform so you were technically off-duty when this happened. And your sh- lousy disguise can more or less trick the MP since they have no idea how you look like originally. Well, not like they would concern themselves with such things in the first place." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

"But don't they have my profile? With pictures and everything?"

"Yeah. But they are more concerned with discipline within the organization. They can't be bothered with things that happened in public. Unless you are wearing a uniform, or anything that represents the organization, and causing havoc outside, they won't even bother to charge you." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

"What's MP?" (Rin)

"It's a group of people who catch bad guys in Papa and Mama's workplace. They are like the police." (Takao)

They are the police in our line of work.

Alright. With my curiosity sated and Rei's problem solved, I think I should be going home now. Zuihou and the others must be worried sick.

"I think it's time for me to return back to work. I have stayed here long enough."

"Ehh?! Onii-san is leaving?" (Rin)

"Sorry. I will come by to play some other time. I need to go to work."

"If work is what you are worried about, I have already made sure that no paperwork or sorties are ȧssigned to your base for today. So just stay here for today." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

Er...

"But my girls will be worried if I don't go back soon."

"Just give them a call or something. Besides, I already applied leave for you and paid for your room for a night. Are you going to embarrass by rejecting my kindness?" (Grand Admiral Akihito)

What kindness? You basically kidnapped me. I didn't ask you to pay for my room in the first place. And don't apply leave for me without permission. I know I have a lot brought forward but don't take them!

Though, I can't risk pushing him back. He is glaring straight into my soul.

"I guess, I shall take you up on that offer. Thank you."

"Dam- You're welcome." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

Before Grand Admiral Akihito changed his words, Takao was pinching his leg.

"Then, Onii-san will be staying? Yay!" (Rin)

"Good for you, Rin." (Rei)

"She has taken a liking to you." (Takao)

There is that pressure again. Please stop trying to kill me. I didn't even do anything.