Sakamoto Ryoma

[Yaoquizque]

Takada was still somewhat shaken by the attack as she clambered out into the hangar.
Opening the hold, Ishikawa stepped out beside her. He stretched a bit and winced, emitting a painful "Ow."

Holding his left shoulder with his right hand he then turned around to Takada.
"This went pretty bad.."
Giving her a smile as if he wanted to mitigate the negativity of his sentence, he however added : "Thanks for getting me out of there though."
Brushing the hair from her eyes, the officer smiled back.
"It appears I was the lucky one, you've not entirely escaped injury".
That said, the smile playing on her lips faded away and she added in a concerned tone :
"Even after those pirates fell, there were too many for us..."

As she stepped towards Ishikawa, they were interrupted by another pilot who offhandedly interrupted the conversation they just began.
"So you're back. And without your ship, as usual. How pathetic." said the officer wearing a Commander uniform.
She then pretended to have only noticed Takada and stared at her.
"Who is this?"

Before anyone could reply, she added point-blankly after having reported her attention to the man :
"Nevermind. So. You're coming?"
"Oh. Hello Junko. Nice to see you too." Said Ishikawa, preferring to not lecture the woman about that rude behaviour she just showed to the officer who saved him.
He however added calmly : "This is Umi-san. She was part of this mission and the only one to make it out. Thankfully she managed to tractor our pods."

Junko considered coldly the other woman she was already seeing as a rival.
"Good evening."
"Hai, I have... heard of her." whispered to herself Takada and, deciding to mask the beginning of anger she was feeling against that perfectly unpleasant woman behind perfect politeness, she said : "Konnichiwa, Commander. I think we have the pod of Ujisato and perhaps the crew of our gunboat, no severe injuries to any of them."
She then gazed at Ishikawa, looking vaguely worried "Coming where?"

"I wasn't talking to you but to the one who just smiled to you." replied coldly Junko.
"hm." muttered Ishikawa, starting to frown slightly. "Coming where indeed? Maybe we could all have a drink together. I'm not sure when the admiral expects a report.."
"A drink?" repeated Junko with disdain. "You can't be serious."

The least thing Takada wanted was to spend more time with that unbearable woman. She humbly said :
"I know am only a low-ranked woman, but this is not the time. Our element of surprise has failed, the Admiral knows we are against him. Kusari is not safe."
"We should be for a few days... That's at least what they say on the bridge..." Said the Commander in a bored tone as she was observing crew members retrieving the wounded.
"Sakamoto will be very busy right now. I'm not sure what plans he has made for the case that we would fail."
"Go have a drink with your new friend then." said Junko, turning away to leave them.
"Hell Junko. What is with you today? Where are you going?"
"I'm returning to my cell."

She then stopped to gaze at him with a strange expression. Sighing she uttered :
"You're back, which isn't that bad, after all.."

The woman then smiled cruelly and added with a sweet voice :
"Even if you miserably failed..."

"Perhaps if we had more pilots, it could have gone more fluidly... I guess there were not enough to be trusted?" pondered quietly Takada while giving a side look at Junko.
The woman decided to ignore that barb. She shrugged instead, raising slightly her arms.
"Hardly surprising anyway... Since i wasn't there to save the day?"
"Of course.." replied with irony Ishikawa. He then frowned, his gaze getting lost in the distance as he was reflecting.
"The presence of those chrysanthemums made everything more complicated."
"Hai, I do not know what drove them to interfere so much. Nor that Dragon that was with them. They proved a sufficient distraction for my escape once ordered, however."

"See? Once again a woman did better than all you oh so manly pilots. In very truth, i don't know how you could even fly decently without us baby sitting you, Hi-De-A-Ki."
"She did well." simply replied Ishikawa, unflinching.
"I would not say that our other pilots are bad though. Maybe I should go to Sakamoto immediately.."
"Fine, go do that. Have fun."
"I would think our honourable leader would want to be informed, indeed." sentenciously said Takada.

"Sure. The Admiral stupid will be for sure delighted to hear his oh so smart plan succeeded. Just as planned."
Takada gazed at her, aghasted by such an amount of disrespect. Ishikawa didn't have any other reaction than saying :
"You can come along and tell him this yourself if you want. I'm sure he'd like to hear your opinion."

The woman crossed her arms in a show of defiance.
"And why do you think i was enjoying the comfort of the cabin assigned to me here while you were having fun outside with Miss survivor right there?"

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