"What the big idea, Rukawa?" an angry voice came from inside the briefing room.
Inside the room, the fox-eyed pilot remained silent much to Sendoh's annoyance.
"Why did you lie to him about having a fever?" Sendoh demanded to Rukawa who was sitting on the chair quietly at the briefing table.
Under Hanamichi's care earlier on, Rukawa has miraculously became well again and changed into his blue uniform out of his sweaty pajamas to lounge in the briefing room all alone when Sendoh burst in teeming with anger.
When Sendoh reached the base earlier on, Hanamichi has already changed into his grey-brown mechanic uniform and began to explain to the spiky-haired pilot about what happened to Rukawa. Sendoh, not in good terms with the fox-eyed man since the beginning found it easy to believe that Rukawa intentionally kept the redhead at the base so that he wouldn't be able to go out on their date, especially since he now found Rukawa sitting in the briefing room well and healthy.
"You ruined Hanamichi's birthday," said Sendoh lowly, placing his palm on the desk to lean over to Rukawa closely so that the fox-eyed man could feel the anger in his voice and stance, "I hope you're proud of yourself now."
Rukawa looked up at the man standing across the table and glared warningly.
The redhead felt bad about what has happened especially for Sendoh who was looking forward to their 'date' more than he did but as he stood up to try and calm the pilot down, he felt suddenly hot around his body together with an uncomfortable sense of displacement.
"Wait, Sendoh! It's my fault-" began Hanamichi when Sendoh cut him off.
"No, it isn't Hanamichi," Sendoh told him, "Rukawa is never happy when nothing goes his way. You just don't know him yet."
Turning back to Rukawa, Sendoh said softly, "Didn't you care about Hanamichi at all, Rukawa? He was genuinely worried about you and all you did was jerk him around."
"Urusai," Rukawa suddenly growled, standing up from his seat so quickly that the chair he was sitting on scraped against the floorboard harshly.
"Stop it you two!" shouted Hanamichi but the two pilots ignored him. Facing off in front of each other, the tension in the room grew thick with the possibility of a fight when suddenly the door opened and in walked Akagi, Mitsui and Hikoichi.
"What's going on here?" Akagi asked, noting the scene with little surprise. It was just too good to be true to expect the two pilots to let a day off without a small fight for even something so miniscule but seeing their faces at that moment, whatever they seem to be angry about does not seem so small.
"Eh, nothing captain," said Hanamichi, relieved with the arrival of the three officers, "Where have you guys been?"
"Out," Hikoichi said licking a banana icecream which he shared with his bat.
"So how did your date go, Sakuragi?" asked Mitsui walking over to the redhead.
As Hanamichi tried to find an answer to excuse Rukawa's supposedly fake sickness and also to placate Sendoh's anger, he felt a wave of dizziness assaulting him. When his legs gave up on him, his head has gone light-headed before his vision went black as he lost conciousness.
"Hanamichi!" exclaimed Sendoh, running forward and dropping down beside the redhead to drag the mechanic's head onto his lap, "He's warm!"
Wanting to rush over to see to the redhead's state as well, Rukawa instead forced himself to remain still so that others couldn't see that he cared. He, however, could not stop the surge of jealousy everytime Sendoh's fingers brushed through Hanamichi's red hair back from the redhead's feverish face.
"Souka," Sendoh said, gathering Hanamichi close to him, "I think he's gotten your fever, Rukawa. You were telling the truth after all. Gomen nasai."
Rukawa did not speak but Sendoh could feel the blue piercing eyes drilling holes into his back as he carried the redhead out of the room with help from Hikoichi.
~~~~
"Dammit, he's good!" cursed Sendoh when he failed to shake off the enemy tail behind him.
"You've improved since we last met, Sendoh," same the cold voice through the communicator. Sendoh's head jerked back when he recognised it especially since he knew it belonged to the pilot of the enemy aircraft.
"Rukawa!"
Hanamichi gave a quiet gasp when he also recognised the fox-eyed pilot who has gone bad.
"That's right, Sendoh," replied Rukawa quietly.
"What do you want, Rukawa?" Sendoh growled.
"Revenge, Sendoh. For taking Hanamichi away from me," Rukawa told him simply.
"You're not getting near Hanamichi, even if I have to pay for it with my life," Sendoh told him calmly.
Rukawa smiled evilly, "Then that's what I'll take."
Getting a lock on the plane in front of him, Rukawa fired two heat seeking missiles onto Sendoh. The spiky-haired pilot did not have time to escape.
"Akira!" Hanamichi cried, banging his fist against the hard glass screen as he watched in distraught Sendoh's jet bursting into flames.
Hearing the keening sound of Rukawa's jet coming closer to the base, Hanamichi turned his attention to the remaining aricraft in the sky. When his hawkeye vision caught the symbol on the large weapon below the plane's belly, the redhead cursed, "K'so! It's a nuclear device!"
"What?!" the controllers in the tower exclaimed in panic.
Even if they start running now, they wouldn't even have the time to escape the deadly weapon.
In his cockpit, Rukawa flipped up his visor and whispered, "Aishiteru, Hanamichi," before he pressed the button and released the nuclear device.
In a matter of seconds, the whole base was blinded with the white light of energy before it levelled of into nothingness.
"IIEEEEEEE!!!!!"
Hanamichi woke up screaming and sat up in bed in alarm. His ragged breathing slowly grew quiet and turning his head to the window beside the bed he noted with disinterest that it was raining outside.
"It was all a dream," murmured the redhead, trying to calm his still fast beating heart, "Thank Kami."
That was when he realised that he was not alone. Turning to his other side he saw Sendoh and Rukawa, again facing against each other in a tableau of challange.
"Shiiit...." groaned Hanamichi. Somehow what he now sees in real life in front of him compared itself with the danger of the nuclear device in his dream.
----
A black government military car stopped at the checkpoint to be allowed entrance. It passed through without any problem and continued it's drive into the base to reach the Kanagawa TTS dormitory at good time, regardless of the rain heavily pouring down in the area.
----
Looking through Hanamichi's room from the outside noone would be able to hear, amidst the heavy outpour of rain, the heated conversation between the two pilots as the redhead watched with dread from his position on the bed. But one could guess the animosity with the stiff stance and angry gestures the two dark-haired men made as they argued.
Finally Rukawa stalked towards the door before turning around and said, "I can't be partners with you anymore."
And then he left but not before banging the door shut angrily.
"Rukawa!" Hanamichi called but there was no answer.
Turning towards Sendoh, Hanamichi whispered, "Sendoh?"
Sendoh did not look at him. Turning away without another word, the pilot also walked out leaving the redhead alone. Hanamichi began to regret telling his new team-members of his birthday because now because of him the squadron's two best pilots were fighting worse than before and he liked both of them.
Chikuso. What should I do?
----
"Another flight test?" Akagi echoed.
"Hai," colonel Yumiyoka nodded, "In a week's time with the same guidelines as before. If you fail the squadron will be disbanded."
Seeing the serious worry on Akagi's face, the lady officer spoke, "Rumour has it that Sendoh and Rukawa have learnt something about teamwork. I'll look forward to seeing some."
Unit commander Toaka and captain Akagi wisely remained silent.
The next day Mitsui, Rukawa and Sendoh went up in the sky in their jets to practice their techniques for the upcoming evaluation. Down on the ground, Akagi and Hanamichi stood in front of the hanger, watching the practice show with their fingers crossed.
"Sendoh, Rukawa, let's go to an Open Air Flower Blossom," instructed Mitsui to the two sergeants. At his signal the three planes rose up in altitude, going nose first as entered into the first formation.
Breaking off from their ascent, the three planes made a lovely arch on their own area, each creating a smooth upside-down hyperbola in the sky before they levelled off to begin on another formation where Rukawa and Sendoh's plane would start from opposing directions.
"Now let's begin on a Backwards Cross-Through. Ready?" asked Mitsui. The two pilots did not reply until Rukawa realised that Sendoh has not gotten into his part of the formation. Instead, the spiky-haired pilot seemed to want to ram into Rukawa's plane as the two aircrafts got closer together.
"K'so!" cursed Rukawa.
"Sendoh! What're you doing?!" Mitsui demanded.
Hanamichi yelled in panic, "They're gonna crash!"
"Sendoh! That idiot!" roared Akagi furiously, "What does he think he's doing?!"
Fortunately, Rukawa managed to swerve to the side on time to avoid an impact with Sendoh's plane. Looking over his shoulder, Rukawa cursed the spiky-haired pilot to seven levels of hell, "Bakayaro!"
"Damnit," Hanamichi muttered to himself, "I nearly wet my pants..."
"Great..." groaned Akagi, "What're we going to do?"
~~~~
In the observation area not far from the hanger stood the unit commander and colonel Yumiyoka.
"Looks like Air-Self Defence Force would be able to wash their hands off of the Kanagawa TTS coming this evaluation this week," commented Yumiyoka to the unit commander.
"Yes, but did you take a good look Rukawa's technique?" pointed out Taoka, "He's an exceptional pilot."
"True," murmured Yumiyoka, "The squad will pass if either Rukawa or Sendoh could cover up any mistakes."
The lady officer thought, There must be something that could make them fail.
~~~~
Two hours later, the three fighter planes landed on the runway after their practice and as the three pilots walked towards the hanger, Akagi and Mitsui were there to receive them.
"You did great up there, Rukawa," Hanamichi praised the fox-eyed pilot sincerely.
Rukawa 'hmph'ed, pointedly glaring at Sendoh who was behind him, "Unlike someone here I know of."
Blue eyes met and sparks of anger flickered between them.
Mitsui walked up to Akagi and said determinedly, "Don't worry, boss, I'll get them ready for the evaluation."
"Somebody has got to keep them on-line," Akagi told him, "Or we'll fail the test."
"Captain Akagi."
Walking out to the open from inside the hanger that connected to the observation building nearby, was Taoka. He approached the small group standing in front of the hanger and asked, "Is there a problem?"
"No, of course not, commander," Akagi replied.
Taoka nodded before walking towards Rukawa who was still in the glaring contest with Sendoh.
"Sergeant Rukawa. Your presence in immedietly requested in the colonel's office."
Rukawa turned towards the unit commander and looked at him questioningly.
"Sergeant Rukawa," Taoka told him again, "The colonel is waiting for you."
~~~~
At the Central Airshow Command Headquarters, Rukawa and Akagi stood in front of the colonel's desk, stunned at what the female officer sitting behind to desk has said.
"So what do you say, Sergeant Rukawa?" asked colonel Yumiyoka with a smile.
Rukawa blinked at her in surprise, "Do you mean that I get to be a real combat pilot?"
"That's correct," unit commander Taoka nodded, "We think our nation could use your abilities in a battle squadron."
Colonel Yumiyoka's smile grew wide, "You'll probably be flying an Eagle."
Rukawa's heart soared! At last he could get out from being a worthless training tactical pilot and become a real combat pilot like what he has dreamed of since he could remember.
"This is a special opportunity, Sergeant Rukawa," the colonel continued, "You must transfer to Nyutabaru immedietly."
"Nyutabaru Base?" echoed Rukawa quietly.
"That's right," she replied, "We must begin Sergeant Rukawa's training immedietly. Do you have any objections, captain."
"No, ma'am," Akagi murmured.
"Good," she smiled condescendingly, "This decision came from Division Headquarters and was personally approved by General Anzai."
Transferred out?
Rukawa's mind immedietly flew to the redheaded mechanic who he knew for a short while but who managed to steal his heart with a few simple but honest words and caring hands. To be transferred out would mean that he wouldn't be able to be beside Hanamichi anymore.
"When... When will I be transferred out of here, colonel?" Rukawa asked.
Yumiyoka leaned back on her chair and told him, "You should be ready to leave by tomorrow morning."
Rukawa stared at her, "But I am assigned to fly for the evaluation in three days' time."
"I'm sorry," sighed Yumiyoka tragically, "The General wants a pilot urgently. Of course, you can always decline the offer and stay with the Kanagawa TTS if you wish..."
"A pilot like you should operate a combat-ready fighter plane," Yumiyoka added finally when Rukawa stayed deep in thought.
Visions of Hanamichi again entered in the pilot's mind. But when he remembered of Sendoh's ever cheerful face smiling at him before that handsome face twisted into an expression of indulgance, Rukawa made up his mind. He would show everybody, especially Sendoh, that he could be the no.1 pilot of Japan!
"Colonel Yumiyoka. I accept the offer."
Akagi stared at the fox-eyed pilot in disappointment.
Rukawa...
~~~~
Back at the hangar where Hanamichi was checking into the three planes, Mitsui was tapping his foot in impatience.
"Rukawa is late. Where is he?" the scarred-face officer demanded, pulling back the sleeve of his orange uniform to look at his watch, "Break should've ended fifteen minutes ago."
"The captain in late too," commented Hikoichi, who has just arrived in his pilot's gear, "Something must be up."
"I'll go look for them," offered Hanamichi jumping off of the ladder where he was on while he was inspectinf Sendoh's cockpit controls. The spiky-haired pilot standing beside the ladder watched the redhead walk away, feeling a mite jealous that Hanamichi have begun to show more than casual concern over the fox-eyed pilot. Shaking off that feeling wryly, he continued the inspection on his plane himself.
~~~~
Hanamichi hopped onto his bicycle and peddled off towards the office where Akagi and Rukawa has gone to. Reaching the garage, he made his way to the front area where he heard an angry tone of the captain's.
"I can't believe she would do this!"
"Now there would be no way for you to stop the demise of the squadron," said commander Taoka, "From the start you knew this would happen sooner or later so why bother to stop it?"
"At least I have faith in my team," growled Akagi.
Taoka's eyes narrowed, "A team-member like Rukawa? Even if you managed to persuade the man to not transfer out, he won't be a pilot anymore after he makes the general look like a fool for taking back his promise to join the combat team. Accept the fact, Akagi, that you will fail. Better luck next squadron."
Hanamichi stayed quiet from his hiding place, feeling angry at knowing what has happened. Without the dual team-work of Rukawa and Sendoh, the show would be just average and would fail to impress the evaluators in this coming test. Just when Hanamichi thought things have gone bad, it only got worse.
~~~~
At the breifing room, the four officers, Mitsui, Hanamichi, Rukawa and Hikoichi sat down for dinner.
"So," said Mitsui picking up his chopsticks to start digging into his food, "What do you think Rukawa is up to?"
Sendoh shrugged, "Beats me. Knowing Rukawa it could be anything."
Yeah, Hanamichi answered silently as he glanced at the empty seat in front of him, Something really bad.
He wished to ask the fox-eyed pilot about what he heard Akagi and commander Taoka talked about that afternoon but seeing the untouched bowl the others have set out for Rukawa, he guessed that the pilot have decided to avoid them until he was gone from there.
The redhead continued to pick at his food sullenly.
~~~~
Out in the town, a red and black Kawasaki motorcycle could be seen parked outside the arcade while the owner released his stress shooting at computerised enemy aircrafts of the game machine in front of him.
The timer on the screen counted down from fifty to nineteen seconds with five enemy aircrafts already brought down and only one more to go when suddenly Rukawa's plane was shot from behind. When the red signal of GAME OVER flashed against the black background on the screen, Rukawa thumped his fist on the console in annoyance.
"Ho! Ho! Ho! Not bad but you should've done a Scissor Roll. That should've avoided it."
Rukawa turned around and saw a portly elderly man with white hair and a white moustache smiling at him from his position behind Rukawa's chair. The raven-haired pilot stared at him for a while before he stood up and walked away wordlessly towards the vending machine nearby.
As Rukawa was inserting the coins to buy himself a can of drink, the white-haired man was approached by a young child who began to tug at his sleeves persistently.
"Ojiisama!"
"Yes, Ayako-chan?" queried the white-haired man looking down at his beloved grand-daughter.
"Can you get me that monster over there?" she asked, pointing to the machine filled with stuffed baby monsters at the bottom.
"Ho! Ho! Ho!" laughed the man, "I'll try."
When the crank to pick out the prized toys whirred in motion, Rukawa listened to the tinkling music coming from the machine as he sipped on his drink. Hearing the outbursts of the little girl in amusement, the fox-eyed pilot knew that the white-haired man was failing miserably. Everytime the man managed to pick out the toy his grand-daughter wanted it slipped out of the mechanical grasp just as easily.
"Oh no! Not again!" cried the little girl, "You're not very good, ojiisama."
The white-haired man sighed, "I need to get more change. Wait here, Ayako-chan."
"Hai," sighed the girl, pressing her nose against the glass while her grandfather went to change his money.
"Ojiisama needs help," sighed the little girl seriously, looking back to her grand-father who was receiving change from the counter, not realising that the machine has started again with the tinkling music in the background until a stuffed pink baby monster was thrust in her face.
Looking up she was confronted with the tallest man she has ever seen with mussy black hair and beautiful blue eyes.
"For you," Rukawa said tonelessly.
"Waiii!!" squealed the little girl hugging onto the doll delightedly, "Arigato!"
When the white-haired man came back, he looked at Rukawa and his grand-daughter in surprise.
"Look ojiisama!" exclaimed the girl, "He got me Fiorgara and it only took him one try."
"Ohohoho! Good job, young man," thanked the white-haired man.
Rukawa bowed back and walked away to exit the building. When he reached his black and red motorcycle, the pilot threw away his unfinished can of drink in a nearby trash before starting the engine to his bike. As he was about to put on his helmet he heard a loud screeching noise followed by a loud crash, making him jump in startlement. Looking up along the street he saw that a white car has crashed into an electricity pole, the wires tangled and broken with the long pole bent foward to lean against the building across the road.
Rukawa shook his head when there came a sweet voice calling out to him, "Sir! Oyasumi nasai!"
The pilot rewarded the young girl with a smile as she waved cheerfully at him with the Fiorgara doll in her arm. Seeing it reminded him of Hanamichi...
Suddenly he heard a creaking sound of metal and lifting his head he could see the sign of the arcade moving, threatening to fall off of the building. The sign was erected near the electricity wire protected by the plastic pipe and since the broken pole is bent forward the tension on the wire began to increase and it pulled the pipe off of their nailed position on the building's walls, hence pulling off the sign's bolts in the process.
"Watch out!" Rukawa yelled to Ayako who was standing right under the sign, the gil blinking at him in puzzlement.
When he saw the sign falling, Rukawa dropped his helmet and gunned the engine of his motorbike just as the girl's grandfather was coming out of the arcade. Before the white-haired man knew what was going on, Rukawa charged forward to rescue the little girl from danger but as Rukawa held the girl in his arms, the pilot found himself jumping off of his bike to avoid colliding into the wall when the bike lost control.
"Ayako!" cried the old man, running forward to the pair lying on the street, when Rukawa sat up to let the girl out from the protected cacoon of his arms
The white-haired man sighed with relief, "Doumo Arigato Gozaimasu..."
~~~~
The base was quiet and everyone was asleep including Sendoh when the sound of a motorcycle woke him up.
Rukawa parked his motorcycle outside the dormitory building and winced when the helmet touched the cut on his forehead as he was taking the helmet off. Making his way into the building, he walked silently past the rooms until he reached in front of the door to a particular room where he hesitated for a moment before making up his mind to enter.
The only person seeing Rukawa enter was Sendoh who frowned when he saw whose room the fox-eyed pilot has gone to.
Rukawa stared at the young man sleeping soundly in the covers of the bed, looking like an innocent boy just out of highschool made by the ease of sleep softening the harsh angles on redhead's face. The red locks lay askewed against the redhead's forehead and pillow and Rukawa's fingers itched to brush it back. But he couldn't risk waking redhead just yet.
Baka ne, Rukawa scolded himself, Why did I have to accept the General's offer. I'll never see the team again... or Hanamichi...
After a few moments, Rukawa let himself fall into tempation and bent down to place a kiss on the redhead's partly open lips, mindful to keep it gentle so as not to wake the sleeping mechanic up.
Sayonara, Hanamichi.
Even with that care, Hanamichi woke up when he felt the butterfly caress on his mouth. Opening his brown eyes, he was shocked to see the thick lashes of a person's closed eyes close to his face. Suddenly those eyes opened and he found piercing blue staring at him in a similiar manner.
"K'so!" hissed Rukawa jumping back from Hanamichi, "Don't tell me that you were awake the whole time!"
Still feeling the tingling warmth of Rukawa's lips on his, Hanamichi couldn't trust himself to speak so he just shook his head dumbly.
When he saw the red on Rukawa's forehead, Hanamichi spoke up, "Hey, you're bleeding. What happened?"
"It's nothing" Rukawa mumbled, "I'm just here to say goodbye."
Hanamichi sat up and stared at him in surprise, "Goodbye? You mean it's true? You're leaving us?"
"You know already?"
Hanamichi nodded.
"So what do you think?" asked Rukawa seriously, "Do you think that I should leave and become a real combat pilot?"
"Eto..." mumbled Hanamichi, staring at the blanket in front on him, "You should follow your dream and become what you always wanted."
"So desu ne," said Rukawa coldly, "So you really want to get rid of me."
"Huh?" Hanamichi blinked in surprise.
"You don't care for me in the slightest."
"N-Nani?"
Rukawa stepped shakily forward and sat down heavily on the bed to pull the redhead forward for a crushing hug. Burrowing his face against Hanamichi's warm neck the pilot whispered, "I don't want to leave everyone here, especially you."
Speechless, Hanamichi sat immobile as Rukawa continued to hold him tight, "I wanted you to stop me from leaving and tell me that you needed me."
"Kaede..." murmured Hanamichi when suddenly the lights to his room came on.
Standing by the light-switch beside the door was Sendoh, looking at them curiously, "What's going on here?"
Rukawa quickly brushed away the suspicious moisture in his eyes while Hanamichi's face went red in embarassement.
"We-We were just talking, that's all," the redhead explained.
Sendoh arched an eyebrow, "Nothing happened?"
"Nothing at all!" nodded Hanamichi furiously.
Rukawa felt hurt at the quick admission from the redhead and narrowed his eyes at the spiky-haired pilot now standing in the middle of the room. Standing up gracefully, Rukawa walked out of the room but not before he told the other pilot, "You can't be sure nothing happened, Sendoh-san."
And then he shut the door with a bang, letting Sendoh glare at the closed door and the redhead still blushing furiously on the bed.