2023-06-16: Hearts Shining Bright
- Cast: Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi
- Where: Fujinomiya City - Slopes of Mt. Fuji
- Date: U.C. 0097 06 16
- Summary: Noticing the pressure Sayaka's putting herself under, Koji drags her out for a picnic dinner date. As the sun sets behind Mt. Fuji, two people who have been in love for over a decade finally speak their hearts' shared truth. FINALLY.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
The work never stops. With the Science Fortress Laboratory recently reactivated, and being used as a storage hub for the information the Photon Power Research Institute has discovered beyond the practicals of using their technology for powering Japan (and a refuge for highly-wanted fugitives), some of the burden has been eased.
Knowledge is a burden that's terrible all on its own, though - no matter where you hide it.
Sayaka's fatigue has been noted; so it's time to make a bigger effort.
[VERTEX] Mazin.Dr-Z: Sayaka~
[VERTEX] Mazin.Dr-Z: When you get off work tonight, let's break the bikes out.
[VERTEX] Mazin.Dr-Z: Picnic dinner date! I'm cooking (obviously).
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On the eastern slope of Fuji, Koji pulls his bike over at a parking site overseeing the picturesque slopes - the mountain has seen its fair share of battle and scarring but not every slope is damaged. Waving Sayaka over and pulling a large bag off the back of his bike, he walks down the slope towards a small copse of cherry trees. Sakura season is long since over, but the trees provide comfortable cover and shade against the sun.
There's a spot up here where they have a good vantage point to look down on the city at the mountain's feet and out over their homeland if they're sitting down, and it's here where Koji opens his bag to pull out a blanket to spread on the grass, before handing Sayaka her bento box and grabbing his own, and a second blanket "For when things get colder".
He sits down on the blanket, patting the space next to him as he looks up at Sayaka. "C'mon, sit down."
Inside the bento: Chicken gyoza and mille-feuilles? He's going all out.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
So much has been happening - from the cruelty of the Vist Foundation, to Koji welcoming several fugitives into their backyard. It means that Sayaka's only been all the more diligent when it comes to her work as Director - but it's come to be noticed by the Photon Power Institute's staff how much pressure she's under right now.
And for how oblivious he can be sometimes, maybe it's significant that Koji takes notice, reaching out with plans for a nice picnic date.
[VERTEX] The weather is pretty nice... let's do it.
[VERTEX] And in that case, I think I can call off work early.
[VERTEX] I'll see you soon.
And as she says, it's not long after that she shows up at the planned meeting spot: where else could it be but the foot of Mount Fuji? She's already out of her work labcoat and in a comfortable biker's suit, pulling a distinctive red and white helmet off her head as she sprints towards where Koji's waiting.
And takes her spot on the blanket. "Somehow, it all always feels so far away from all the way up here." She comments on the view over the city. "Probably what we needed, honestly."
She takes her own bento to see Koji's made her favourite. "Itadakimasu," she thanks him, doubling as an invitation to begin the picnic date.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"Itadakimasu!" He smiles.
He leans over to put his arm around Sayaka as she sits down next to him, for brief sideways hug before he cracks open his own. The smell is slightly different, but it's a similar arrangement to her own. "We could both use the break, I think."
He takes a mouthful of pork gyoza, chewing on it thoughtfully as he looks out on the city, before swallowing. "Yeah... tiny, but... important."
He looks over to her. "You holding up okay? I know there's... a lot going on right now. I haven't seen you look this tired in a while."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"You don't happen to have any drinks on hand?" Sayaka asks - and thankfully she doesn't immediately mean alcohol. "Iced coffee would be good. But yeah... it was seriously long overdue." She agrees.
"So tiny," she tries to make out the city's landmarks. "But no matter how you look at it, it's home."
Koji asks what's on her mind then, and she considers it between bites of gyoza. "Yeah. There's a lot to be worried about. It's hard to just, rest easy, when we know well what Vist is doing to Leina for starters." She nods. "There's nothing we can do about that right now... so I've just been putting my head deep into work to make up for it." She shakes her head. "But I'll be the first to admit it's not been working out that well, though. I'm glad I called it a day early... and I'm glad you reached out."
She turns her gaze from the city below back to Koji. "It's something I don't think we'd end up doing even a few months ago. Neither of us really understood that there's so much more to love than just - grand gestures and the really big steps - did we?"
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
The one landmark of the 'Shin Fuji Science City' that's unmistakable no matter how far away you get - the New Photon Power Lab, built over the central parks and accessible from diagonal lift cars, the iconic antennae matching its sister lab standing tall over its helipad.
Koji checks the bag - "aha! I knew I packed a cooler bag for drinks." He fishes the smaller bag out, setting it down between them and opening it up. "Way back when, I told Banagher that the Vists were trying to push him and Mineva into hopelessness by filling their days with anxiety and dread about what comes next, and if he threw himself into training to fight Puru-1 all the time he'd lose the time to make happy memories, be ground down into dust. I hope... something of the time he spent with Leina, at HaroCon... she still remembers that."
He reaches down to squeeze her hand. "And that's no less important for us. We have to make the time - snatch the moments away from the people who want to deny us them, right? Throwing ourselves into work and... out-of-hours side projects - " he grins at the euphemistic phrasing - "is just gonna wear us out."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Even with the growing unrest and general uneasy feelings that stem towards Japan from Britannia, the twin Photon Power Labs still stand tall. "I've always hoped the Photon Power Labs could be a source of comfort for people no matter what happens... so it's nice to see it from this far away. A symbol of almost aggressively defiant peace, don't you think?"
She takes the iced coffee from the cooler, taking a nice long sip of it. It's not quite /sunset/ yet, but already the sun begins to change colour, which feels all the more beautiful near the heart of Mt. Fuji.
"Yeah. There's nothing wrong with seeing all the evils in the world and deciding you want to change it. But if it's all you think about... you end up forgetting why you cared enough about the world to change it in the first place."
"They're still just teenagers... and for Vist to rob them of that, they'll get theirs." She says with a quiet tone, that sums up her anger more than anything. It wouldn't be acceptable no matter how old they were, but Sayaka finds it particularly important for how she and Koji had to fight the Hell Army as teenagers.
And Koji reminds her that making happy memories is still important for their own age. "Right... we always had the excuse of being 'so very busy' for why we literally never went on dates. And that's true to an extent, we don't have nearly as much time these days, but..." Well, Tetsuya and Jun worked it out. "The actual reason probably went far deeper than that. And I'm happy we're making good on that now. Because you're right... moments like these are why we fought for the world in the first place."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"Defiant peace..." He chuckles. "I like the sound of that."
He nods. "That's exactly where I'm at, too." He nods firmly. "... Yeah. We have to make sure they stop - for good - and we need to be there afterwards. You and your father taught me that lesson really well, and now it's up to us to be the ones paying it forward."
He sighs. "It wasn't just the work, I think. We both knew we were missing something. Maybe the retired pilot life isn't for us?" He grins playfully. "It was Tsutsujidai that made me understand, when it disappeared - the promise I made, to come back to you, became the most important thing... And I realised I don't want a world that doesn't have you in it, Sayaka."
The words he yelled to the Void Dragon at 2100 Ra-Shalom. 'I know what my ideal world looks like, and this isn't it!'
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Sayaka figured Koji would like the sound of that: in many ways it's come to define what both Mazinger Z and Aphrodite Areia stand for.
She's glad they're on the right page when it comes to what to do about the Vist Foundation too, and what they need to do for Banagher, Mineva and Leina. "And we will be there when the time comes, just like I was for you all those years ago. I'll pay it forward as many time as it takes." She concludes, with a smile, taking another long sip of her drink.
"For sure. I thought, with Dr. Hell gone, and Mycenae's ambitions crushed, it was finally time to uphold the peace we earned. I still don't regret that, but..." The retired pilot life sure wasn't for them. "It was never going to last forever. This past year just proved to us over and over that our strength is still needed just as much."
When Tsutsujidai disappeared, Sayaka felt the same way of course. "And I realized that the Koji Kabuto I love most is the one standing right by my side." She takes his hand, and squeezes it tight. "I know you wouldn't have it any other way, either."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"God, she couldn't even enjoy her own birthday party properly," Koji grumbles, offended on principle. "We'll have to make it up to her later."
"Yeah... our work's not done and we can't just turn a blind eye," he nods. "Maybe one day we'll get to just live in that better world, but... for now..."
He blushes deeply when Sayaka lays it out in the air, leaning in to touch his forehead to hers, and lowering his voice - even though they're the only two up here. "I love you, Sayaka Yumi - and I know that side-by-side we can take on the world."
kiss her, you fool
He adjusts his position slightly, to press his lips gently to Sayaka's own.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"We will," Sayaka nods firmly, as Koji talks about making things up for Leina. "We'll show her that despite it all, she's still a person worth celebrating."
"And that better world, will be the one we made after all of this." And if someone tries to disturb it once again? The eyes of Mazins will always be watching, judging... ready to stand again if need be.
Koji blushes, moves in closer... and says the words she's always wanted to hear, the words she knows he's always meant for her. But she's still patiently waiting, because there's just one thing left...
Kiss me, you fool.
That's when her cheeks finally go as red as the sunset that's fallen over Mt. Fuji, accompanied by silence until...
"You finally did it, you goddamned idiot." She grins, after the kiss. No, the time he thought she was dead, doesn't count.
Taking one more moment to breathe in the scenery of their picnic date as the moon replaces the sun, she adds, "The moon really is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" Geez, she is bringing out the classics.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"... Better late than never?" Koji tries with a wry grin. He's sitting a lot closer to her by now as the moon comes up, bento box lying empty next to him.
Oh. She used The Line.
He brings his hand up, brushing it through her long brown hair. Isn't there supposed to be an elegant, poetic response to this?
That thing he mentioned to Banagher, where all thoughts have fallen out of his brain at the sight of Sayaka? It just happened.
"... Yeah," he agrees, feeling a little bit at sea, "And so are you."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
There are many ways to respond to the proposition Sayaka just made: she eagerly awaits Koji's.
For a moment, it seems like he isn't even fully there...
Until he hits her with the just as classic 'so are you', and she feels just as starstruck as he did.
Really, the whole reason he brought her out was because she looked tired, but by now it's less like the stressful exhaustion of overwork, and more the blissful feeling of dozing off on your partner's shoulders.
And, wait, she does just that..! Because it'd be nice to stay in this moment for just a little longer, before it's time to go back to the city that looks so small from here.