Serving Kusari

[Teta]

Teta Nakamura, Commander in the Kusari Naval Forces by now, was standing in front of the door to her father's flat. Waiting after having sounded the bell, she realized that it feels weird to visit home after such a long time without bringing a proper gift. Teta had decided against it earlier, as she expected her father, who worked for the Kusari State Police long enough, to interpret it as an attempt of bribery. And she only now realized, that this actually was the very purpose of it... But there was no turning back now, as she had promised Jiro to clean up this mess as well, if that was even possible, in her opinion.

To her surprise, it was not her father, but her uncle who opened the door: "Hello Teta-chan.", as he still called her to her surprise, "It has been a long time since we last met." He bowed short and invited her inside. "Ah... hello, Kiyomasa Oji-sama. I... did not expect you. Why are you here?", Teta asked, looking at her uncle in confusion. "Well, you know, Teta-chan, when your father got your message about visiting home, he did not hesitate to tell me about it. And so I decided to drop by... you know, he sounded..." Her uncle raised his hand before his mouth to speak to her in a hushed tone: "He sounded quite happy about it. Well, as happy as he sounds." Realizing her uncle's intentions, she started to smile at him: "Hai, it is very nice to meet you again, Oji-sama."

Stepping into the flat, she put her bag and shoes aside. "Hideyoshi is already waiting in the living room.", her uncle told her, "Do not let him wait." So she took a deep breath before stepping into the living room. Her father was sitting on the floor in front of the table, looking towards the door Teta just entered through. Taking a glimpse of his face before bowing deeply, she realized that he was looking older than last time, but had not lost any of his usual strict expression. After remaining bowed for a moment, her father finally started to speak in a calm manner: "I greet you, my daughter." She knew he prefered to avoid her name, and after hearing this, Teta raised again to answer respectfully: "Otou-sama." Her father reached his arm towards the other side of the table: "Please have a seat." She bowed at him thankfully before sitting down on the table as well. Her uncle also took a seat, acting far more distanced than before.

There was a brief moment of silence, while Teta's father was examining her more closely. During this time, a lot of things went through her head: will he scold her for not coming home for so long, or for the demotion thing? Will he at least slightly praise her for doing a good job at the Naval Forces otherwise, or will he only ask when she would find a husband. Or will he maybe have news on the possible whereabouts of her mother, among other things that concerned her a lot.

"How have you been, my daughter?" he finally continued. "I am fine, Otou-sama. And I have always been trying to do my best for Kusari in the Naval Forces." She had decided to mention this topic to maybe get the most troublesome part early on. But instead of seeing him visibly burn up with anger, as she knew him from earlier days, he only nodded calmly, much to her surprise. "Just recently, I have been promoted into the middle command ranks.", she continued, wondering if he would finally start to object to this. But he only nodded again. This made Teta feel uneasy, as she expecting him to only no longer show how angry he was now. So she decided to not mention her mother or a certain Jiro for now.

With this, another moment of silence occured. "Your room still is as you left it, my daughter." he told her. Taking this as an invitation to retreat for a moment, she thanked him and returned to her room, hoping to be able to speak maybe a little more casually with them later.

After Teta disappeared into her room, the two Nakamura brothers were looking at each other. Hideyoshi, uncertain what to think about his daughter's quick retreat yet, asked Kiyomasa: "Do you see? Her upbringing did serve a good purpose. She, at least, knows how to act properly." Teta's uncle knew from how his brother put emphasis on the words, that he was refering to his former wife, Teta's mother, who would not know how to act properly. In Hideyoshi's eyes, that woman was spoiled through and through, not only by being half Libertonian, but also by the generally bad influences of a place called Liberty, for him only a hoard of indecency. And so he was generally putting all the blame on Liberty, not only for his wife eventually leaving him over night and never being heard of again.

With this, uncle Kiyomasa added: "Yes, I would be happy if my daughters Saki and Shino would be a little more like your Teta. You know, it is especially bad with Shino. I have no control over her anymore, anyway...", he said with resignation. They both agreed that if anybody was to blame for a bad upbringing, it was usually the mother. So the uncle continued: "We are truely cursed to both only have daughters..." They nodded at each other in understanding, and Hideyoshi added: "I wonder what will become of our Nakamura name."

Later that day, Teta tried to ask her uncle if there, by chance, were any news about her mother, but since she left so long ago, there was not much to expect. So the answer of her uncle was the same as always.

In the evening, when the uncle had already left and they were sitting together for dinner without any word, her father Hideyoshi addressed a certain topic: "Well, how much longer do you intend to remain in the Naval Forces?", as he would prefer to see her as a proper wife rather than a military pilot. "Well.", she answered to this not unexpected question, "I was not yet planning on leaving, Otou-sama." She remembered the deal they made, and about her time running out, but she really did not plan on settling down any moment earlier. "So you want to wait until the very last, I see.", he answered, understanding her correctly. They both knew it would be this way.

Wanting to take this chance to inquire about a possible second candidate as well, she could not see a way to do it. Any mention of Jiro surely would make her father believe something indecent was going on, and that would invalidate everything. So she was fidgeting with her feet all the time, but remained silent in the end.

Not entirely as expected, her whole visit at home turned out rather quietly, and she was not really sure if her father was content or just hiding his true opinion for now. The possibility, that her father was hoping for her next visit not to be years from now again, and hence being less obnoxious, seemed rather unlikely to her. In the end, she left home only with an unusual image of her father, that made her wonder if he was just getting old there, and a list of items she found around the house, which appeared to be to the liking of her father, with the intention of forwarding these finds to someone...