days Off

///

'Life is full of surprises' is a phrase that my grandpa liked to use very often, at one point in his life.

Many other people would also use the phrase. Since the concept of everyday life is a volatile thing.

But I don't really like the phrase, it gives too much stock to unpredictability. And it gives people hope, that their lives will be unique. They will go on some adventure, become a great hero, create a business, or something that will make their lives more special than the rest.

The truth is that most people will have a mundane and ordinary life.

And I prefer it that way. I prefer the status quo, even if I can adapt to changes.

Though much to my displeasure, life seems to give me a lot of surprises lately. As it does with everyone, no human being can control every facet of their own existence. Whether they are rich, strong, smart, weak. Somethings will always remain outside of their personal control.

In 1945, what would have been a defeat for the country, seemed inevitable. Mighty armies were coming to destroy and finish a bloody war, and they were on the doorstep of the heartland. Yet somehow, the country persevered and came out of the conflict bruised and beaten, but not defeated.

Forty years ago, rebellions sprang up in parts of the Empire. Regionalism, separatism, discrimination, and many other pointless excuses were used to justify the chaos. But in the end, all they did is damage their standing with the mainland, not changing anything in their favour.

For the first time, I left my home island of Hokkaido to travel to the opposite part of the mainland. Even though I live alone, my lifestyle did not change at all. The only thing that did - was the city.

But recently it seems that even my life has been on the edge of inescapable change.

This week some transfer student appears and proceeds to put the whole school in chaos. Not only that, but she also proceeds to single me out for some reason.

The empty roof is an example of good change. It would have allowed me to act on my own wishes more easily.

But the girl following me around is an example of bad change. She now becomes an obstacle to my status quo, the longer she follows me around, the more difficult it will be for me to live as I did.

Today I got mugged. Usually, nothing would be special about that. But the appearance of a kenpei changed what would be an ordinary evening into something else.

All of this is going somewhere, somewhere I do not know. Somewhere that I just cannot know. Because this is out of my control.

Now I'm following the said kenpei.

To where?

Some darkroom where I will be interrogated?

Maybe to the police station as a punishment for 'self-defense'?

Or just some hole in the ground, where my corpse will be shoved into?

Those options are mundane and expected, but which will change my situation in this world.

But yet again, life is going to give me another surprise. Something that will let me continue the status quo, in a way.

And keep leading me into an unknown direction.

"We're here."

We stop near an unassuming apartment building.

More specifically near a sliding door, that leads to some sort of establishment. And near it was a wooden signboard.

Bar 'Showa' is written on it…

…

…

…

…

…I did not see this one coming.

Life is full of surprises indeed. Good ones and bad ones.

"What is standing here for Suzuki-san, come on inside." Now Kanzaki had a hand over my shoulder, starting to push me towards the entrance of the bar. His voice sounded festive as if we're old drinking buddies, who met up by coincidence.

His friendly attitude seemed to be completely genuine. This was throwing me off. I have no idea how to react to this development.

At all.

Part of me wanted to just leave, any possible tension in the air was already gone. But another part of me was just flabbergasted, refusing to act on my wish to run away.

The Kenpetai officer proceeds to open the sliding door, while still having the hand over my shoulder.

"Hey, old man it's me again!"

Kanzaki greets someone inside the bar while pushing me inside.

I take note of the interior that is reminiscent of a Showa era bar. Most of the inside had wooden furniture. The music that came from the modern-looking speakers was playing something from the eighties. Or I assume that's it from the eighties, it does sound like something my grandpa would listen at max volume back home.

The other notable features of the bar were the posters hanging all over the place. These posters were various advertisements for beer, sake, umeshu, and some western beverages like whiskey and rum. But all of them seemed old, I assume they were made in the Showa era, and the owner of this place hanged them up for the atmosphere.

It looks like a lot of work went into making this place as authentic to the era. Someone has a lot of free time to collect all these antiques.

Behind the stall was an old man with grey hair, dressed in western-style clothes, a black vest, white shirt, and pants that match the colour of the vest. This way of dressing was very trendy during the period this bar is imitating.

But after the war, western clothing is only widely used by workers of large companies that have connections to foreign countries.

It's frowned upon to dress in a 'western' style like that in public without a good reason. But some people tend to wear them as a message until the Kenpetai shove them into a hole that is.

Well, politics and I don't get along, so who cares about that.

"Welcome." The old bartender calls out to us as we enter. His gaze turns to me for a moment. "Oh, finally found yourself some drinking company didn't you Kanzaki-san? Good, good."

The bartender seemed very jolly for his apparent age, his voice while old-sounding was lively. As well as his enthusiastic movements were showing much energy. The old man looked like someone working his dream job.

And wait for a second, who is he calling 'drinking company'?

Not me, I hope.

"Yep, found him getting mugged in the alleyway near the red lights district. Some morons from the capital were too drunk to understand where they are. But this guy here just mopped the floor with them, apparently, me and him are a bird of a feather."

No, it looks like it's me…

Are they seriously planning to get a minor drunk? Isn't this illegal? Is the kenpei trying to do something here?

"Well, I hope he can hold his liquor. Although it will still be fun even if he can't." The old barman chuckles while looking for something within one of the shelves.

And speaking of this old man is he completely unaware who the guy next to me is.

Or is he an informant?

This situation was not something I expected to happen after seeing the Imperial Seal. Who would expect to get brought into some bar if approached by one of the kenpei's.

Is this some sort of Kenpetai psychological trick? Is Kanzaki already analyzing my every move, like grandpa says they do? If that's the case than that old man has to be a civil informant to the military police.

Or am I overthinking this whole thing a bit too much and this is a misunderstanding? To begin with, what would the Kenpetai want to do with me in the first place? I have nothing to offer them.

…

Never mind that, this is just turning into an unnecessary annoyance either way. No need to think about this more than I already have.

"Why are you standing there, c'mon take a seat." Kanzaki beckons me to take a seat on the stool next to him.

He doesn't look guarded or alert, there is no tension in the air, maybe there wasn't any. Instead, a relaxed atmosphere permeated the bar.

The old man was putting sake and beer glasses in front of Kanzaki and the place I'm invited to sit at.

…

…Really? I was just overthinking this whole thing.

Is that all…

"…What the yomi is this?" All my caution was completely gone by this point annoyance was the only thing in my tone.

"A bar what else could this be?" The kenpei talks in a matter of fact way.

It looks like he really doesn't understand how this looks from my perspective. Or Kanzaki does and this is just him playing dumb.

"No, no, no, that's not what I'm asking. Why did you bring me here?"

Kanzaki looks at me like I said something insanely out of touch.

"…To have a drink what else?"

Does this guy know how all of this looks from my perspective?

"Aren't you with the Kenpetai?" His attitude wasn't how I imagined a kenpei would act. It was just a bit too bizarre.

Kanzaki seems unfazed and proceeds to show me the identification card again.

"I am. Here, look again." The same ID is in front of me.

The photo matches the person holding the identification. Kanzaki Daisuke is written under the name. An expiration date and some identification numbers were also on the card.

And of course, the bright red Chrysanthemum Seal was hard to miss. This seal is the symbol of not only the Empire but also the Imperial family, wearing it on clothing without any purpose is punishable.

Even then the seal is modified to not have sixteen petals. Only the emperor is permitted to wear or show a sixteen petal Imperial Seal. Just anyone wearing it would make the Chrysanthemum Seal lose its significance.

Again, I don't see anything wrong with the ID. He has to be a member of the military police for the Imperial Japanese Army, the Kenpetai.

"Weren't you going to arrest me?" Might as well go straight for the question.

"Huh?" For the first time this night, Kanzaki looks straight out baffled. "You thought I was arresting you?"

He wasn't going to arrest me? So, I really misunderstood his intentions? Is that all?

…At this point I was just feeling stupid for even being worried about my own wellbeing.

"I'm leaving."

I turn towards the sliding door, preparing to leave this place

"Hey, hey why leaving all of a sudden."

"Because I feel really dumb right now. Did you have a reason for flashing that seal around?"

"Of course, I did. If I didn't show it to you there's no way you would have followed me. Stop worrying about the minor details and sit down."

…So, let me get this straight, the only reason why he showed me the seal - was to make me follow him into a bar. Because Kanzaki didn't want to drink alone tonight. Making me follow him without revealing his intentions.

So that's what the Kenpetai can do with just demonstrating the Chrysanthemum Seal.

Abuse of authority, huh?

That makes me…

…

…

…

…wish I had power like that.

Also, there's another thing I should probably let them know. I think they misunderstood something.

"…I'm a minor, I can't drink alcohol yet."

""…You are?!"" Both the kenpei and the bartender react in unison. I take out the student ID that I carry around and show it to Kanzaki.

Kanzaki looks at it for a second and starts ruffling his own hair. For half a minute no one said anything. Until the old bartender breaks the silence.

"Hmm, it looks like he really is a student at the Academy we have here. There is no issue with the young man's student ID from what I can tell." Then he looks at my face. "Now that I take a closer look, you are quite young-looking. It seems that facial hair of yours gave Kanzaki-san the wrong impression."

"I thought that some hobo was fighting against a bunch of street punks. But now that I take a better look, you're really just a kid. Sorry about that." It sounds like he's just making excuses.

But wait a second…

...

Facial Hair?

Hobo?

What are they tal-

…Ah.

I touch my face and as they said my facial hair grew out a bit. A prickly sensation felt on the palm of my hand. The hair not very long, those two made it sound like I have a full-fledged beard.

Come on, I didn't shave for a couple of days, not a month. I shouldn't look as bad as they make it sound.

Well, it doesn't help that my hair is naturally messy, so it only contributes to the 'hobo' impression.

Looks like I need a shave, damn what a pain in the ass.

"So, can I go then, now that we cleared up the misunderstanding."

I just want to leave already. If this isn't something serious, then there's no point in me being here.

"No, this makes it even better Suzuki-san." The kenpei doesn't stop relenting. "Come on and sit down, I'll be the first person to pour your first cup."

Damn, he's persistent, I just want to leave.

Let's try another approach.

"Aren't you suppose a servant of the law? You know the Emperor's law."

"What's the fun in being a buzzkill when I'm on vacation right now? Now come on and sit down and get ready to have your first taste of adulthood."

Even if you're on a vacation, don't just go around flashing around the Imperial Seal.

Should an enforcer of the law be saying things like that in the first place? Aren't you supposed to be making sure that nothing and no one breaks that law? And the laws say that no one can drink alcoholic beverages until their twenty.

Well, at least I'm not in any immediate danger.

I look over to the menu that they have here. After reading some of the dishes this place serves, I remember that I hadn't eaten anything properly since breakfast. My stomach feels empty as Kanzaki's head.

If I get to eat something and I don't need to cook might as well accept this situation.

"You're paying for this right?"

"Yep."

"This really isn't some kind plan to put me in prison."

"Hey don't worry. Underage drinking isn't even under the jurisdiction of the Kenpetai in the first place. Leave that to the Imperial Police. And I don't have a reason to put you in jail anyway"

Well if that's the case...

I take a seat near Kanzaki who immediately grabs a flask of sake.

"Now we're talking. Lift up your cup."

There is a small cup in front of me.

"I think you can pour drinks even without someone lifting it up."

"It's proper drinking etiquette to fill up a cup as the host. Come one, don't be stubborn."

I sigh and take the small cup in my hand

Kanzaki starts filling it up until it's completely full.

One slight movement can spill the sake.

Then Kanzaki proceeds to pour the drink for himself.

"To our accidental acquaintance and future friendship. Cheers!" He brings the cup to me, expecting our cups to come together.

I ignore him and just chug down the sake in one go. Like I see other people do.

The flavor is hard to describe. At first, there's no taste, only the feeling of liquid going to my stomach. Then a twisted flavor spreads through my mouth. Making my nose and throat feeling unpleasantly warm.

Ugh.

"Blergh, this is disgusting." I can feel my face contorting because of the unpleasant sensation.

How can people drink this in huge amounts? I'll probably never understand.

"Hahaha. You seriously never tasted alcohol? Not even as a secret from your parents?"

"No. I never had any before today. And after drinking just a little, I don't feel like having any ever again."

And in the first place, I don't exactly have parents to hide secrets from, or friends to share secrets with.

"Heh, how innocent." Kanzaki seems to find this whole thing rather entertaining.

I need to eat something, or the alcohol will make me throw up.

"You can cook all of this stuff, right?" I gesture towards the menu on the table.

"Oh, have anything that takes your fancy young man?" The bartender responds.

I look over the list of dishes again before making my order.

"Fifteen takoyaki and large pork yakisoba."

"That's quite a big order, are you sure that it's not too much?"

"Just get to work, I don't want to wait long." The taste of alcohol is still in my mouth, irritating me. I want something to make it go away.

The bartender doesn't seem to take any offense to my attitude.

"Looks like someone is very hungry right now. Just wait a moment."

He makes his way to a corner where all of the cooking utensils are. Soon enough the sound of sizzling fills up the bar.

The takoyaki and yakisoba give off a pleasant smell of dough, oil, and meat. Reminding me of how hungry I am right now.

"Come on, give me your cup again." Kanzaki brings the flask of sake close to me again.

"Are you still expect me to drink?" After just one taste I don't really feel like having any more sake.

"Of course. Did you think we're done only after one drink? That's naive Suzuki-san, too naive."

I lift up my cup in resignation and he fills it up completely with sake once again.

At this point, it was easier to just go with the flow. Putting any effort into fighting back was stupid.

But still...

"Are you trying to get me drunk to get some sort of info out of me." I put the fully filled cup close to my face and the unpleasant smell assaults my nostrils.

…I just can't shake this feeling of... something.

"Like what?" Kanzaki says as he starts to fill up his own cup.

I and he gulped down the contents of our cups in unison.

Again, the flavor assaults both my taste buds and sense of smell.

"Like the murder at Gunkanjima Academy."

I keep an eye on how the kenpei will react to that statement.

"Ah, that." Kanzaki speaks without surprise. Like he expected the subject to come up but did not want to talk about it. "Not really, it's not a case I'm working on and I'm on vacation right now, remember? I'm more surprised that you actually know that it was a murder."

"What is it being covered up by the government or something?" I don't really expect an answer to my comment.

"It is." But to my surprise, Kanzaki responds immediately, without as much as giving me a sidelong glance.

…

"Are you even allowed to say that."

"No. But at this point, it's apparent that the kid's murder was a cover-up. Plus, I'm off duty now, I'll suppress information when I'm paid to do that."

That an easy-going attitude for someone to have. Especially for someone with so much power.

"Okay then, why is the government covering this up."

Kanzaki fills up my and his own cup again.

"That's…" Taking another drink of sake. "…a state secret. I don't know either, so don't ask for detail, you'll get none."

It looks like he has no clue either, well if Kanzaki would know something, he wouldn't be walking around the city. He'd be in some huge office building in the capital.

"Fine whatever." This has nothing to do with me.

"Here is your order, young man."

Two dishes are in front of me. One full of takoyaki covered in sauce, tempura scraps, and pickled ginger. The other one has a huge amount of yakisoba noodles with pork, sauce, and vegetables.

I can feel how my stomach reacts to the smell of food.

Taking the chopsticks that were given to me I start eating the noodles. It's not too oily and the ingredients blend well. Making me want to eat more.

Not bad.

"And have this as well." The bartender puts a glass full of beer in front of me. "It doesn't seem you took a liking to sake, so the beer should be more to your taste."

I take a swing and as he said the taste is better. Still not something I imagine taking much liking to.

At least this is better than just drinking sake by itself.

"Heh, how old are you supposed to be then?" Kanzaki says as he lights a cigarette.

"I'm sixteen." I continue eating as I answer.

"I'm twenty-six if your wandering." I wasn't. "Been with the Kenpetai for about five years, ever since I finished my mandatory service. Here drink more, I'll fill the cup of a future comrade of mine."

My sake cup was full yet again.

It looks like it was a good idea to order this much food.

///

After getting more beer into my system, me and Kanzaki seemed to find some more common ground.

"Then she said: I'll never betray my comrades; you can do anything you want to me, but I'll never do that."

"And then what did you do?"

"I took out my pistol shoved it into her mouth and said: Well bitch, it's time to die!" He screamed loudly in an exaggerated manner. "After that, she told us everything. It's funny how easily people give up all of their righteous ideals just to save their own skin."

His face is red and movement wonky. Eventually, he started to tell stories of his work with the Kenpetai.

It was light on the detail, but it seems the Kenpetai has a lot of authority independent from many legal courts, not only in the Empire but around many other countries too. Starting an investigation does not require a warrant and only a few individuals can directly control the Kenpetai.

In retrospect, it's a good thing he didn't plan to arrest me. Because who knows what he would have done to me in that case.

For my part getting a bit of alcohol in my system got me to talk and talk back more.

I guess alcohol can be a good mood maker, even for someone like me.

"Can't believe that there are some dumbasses who trafficked drugs through Korea. Do they want a repeat of the eighties, or what?" Kanzaki says as he smokes a cigarette.

"Another rebellion would be a pain in the ass I'll agree with that. What happened with that woman after you interrogated her."

"I'll tell you sometime, but not today." He lights another cigarette and starts smoking. "Okay, now your turn to tell a story."

"I don't have the power of arresting and interrogating people. You drunk."

"Then tell me, someone, you would like to if you had the opportunity."

Something I would like to do…

I thought for a bit but only one thing came to my drunken mind now.

"You know how those ads pop up at the most annoying moments when you watch videos on NICONICO."

"Yeah." He nodded.

It looks like he understood what I was going to say.

"And the fact that skipping some the ads is impossible."

"I remember getting annoyed after they rolled that feature out." He continues to nod.

"So, here's what we do. Find every single person responsible for the ads…"

"Uhuhu."

"Put them into some dark, secluded, underground bunker."

"Oh shit, you're going to say what I think you will?"

Yeah, he knew.

"And then we just FUCKING KILL THEM!!!"

"YEAH, FUCK YAEH!!!" He screams at the top of his lungs. "Here's to add free NICONICO videos!"

We clanged our beer glasses together and started to chug in unison.

We've been drinking for quite a while, so the atmosphere was not as awkward as before

"This is how it should be. Drinking, laughing, screaming, and bonding over a drink, is how true men become friends." The old man was seemingly satisfied with the situation. Is he trying to be poetic or something?

Still, even though it's easier to drink beer than sake, alcohol still tastes very unpleasantly.

"You sure said that well old man. Don't you agree my kindred friend." Kanzaki puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't call me a kindred friend, the only reason why we seem closer is because of these." I gesture to all the empty sake and beer bottles.

"Well, drinking together should have made the two of you a bit closer."

"Stop projecting your wishes on to others, old man."

The old bartender chuckled.

"You love to complain don't you, young man."

"It's my thing, to complain about every single thing, no matter if I actually find it annoying or not."

"Come one don't be like that, didn't this whole ad hoc meet up help you relax?"

Kanzaki already started to light up another cigarette and puffing smoke. The smell of tobacco was annoying me.

"Well, I guess this helps me a bit too. The school has been a bigger pain in the ass than usual."

"And what's causing that?"

"A girl."

"I see. Young love."

You see nothing, dumb ass.

"It's not young love. It's the girl who was in the news recently."

"Hmmm, her." Kanzaki goes quiet for a second. "Is she really that strong or something. If all that's left out of Suzuki Yuta is a stain. Then she has to be."

So, the kenpei had information on that.

"Compared to you and especially me, she is ridiculous."

"Hmmm." Kanzaki puffs out some more smoke from his nose. "Is the girl cute?"

"…What does that have to do with anything?"

"Don't you like her?"

…Huh?

"Where did you get that idea from."

"Did you forget? You talked about some Harumi for a while."

I did?

"About how annoying she is, how awkward she is, how everyone fears her to death. You also mentioned that you like women who are much shorter than you, and this Harumi girl fits the criteria."

"Does that sound like me praising her? She killed someone in front of me and we know each for less than a week. How can people fall in love under those circumstances?"

Saying the word 'love' makes me cringe.

"First of all, I didn't say 'love', I said 'like'. And believe me, people fell in love with each other in stranger and dumber circumstances. Some people just fuck for one night and somehow manage to find out they perfectly compatible with each other. Without even talking much at that. Humans are irrational creatures in any way. So why not just accept her as a part of your daily life from now on."

…Accept her as a part of my daily life?

"Why don't you just ask for a warrant to arrest her. Making my daily life peaceful again."

"I don't need a warrant to arrest someone. Kenpetai, remember. And that's not my department anyway. Even if I wanted to, I can't go after her, from what you told me beating her normally sounds impossible."

…'beat her normally'…

Something about that didn't sound right…

…

…

…Probably the booze making me think strange things…

Yep, just the booze making me think strange things…

"So just get along with her at the very least." Kanzaki says as he takes another swing of sake.

…

"That shitty advice. It's so shitty in fact that I'm leaving." I think I've had enough for now.

"Huh, already? We just started and the nights still young."

"We've been drinking for three hours. And I have school tomorrow, unlike you, my vacation didn't start yet."

"Well, I guess you have to do what you have to do. Then until next time." Kanzaki says as he tries to light another cigarette. But can't seem to put the lighter anywhere near his target.

"There won't be another time." I get up from my seat and my legs feel a bit wonky. So, this is what the effects of alcohol feel like.

"Oh, wait a second." Kanzaki speaks up as I prepare to leave.

I glance at him, his face red as a tomato and body movements floaty.

"I think I figure out your character archetype."

"What archetype?"

"You know the archetypes in manga and anime. You're a tsundere, aren't you."

…

"I'm not a tsundere, you damn alconaut."

"That's what a tsundere would say. But don't worry, I'll get to see the dere hidden behind the tsun soon enough."

All I can do is give him a look of annoyance and just make my way for the door.

There is no dere and no tsun in the first place. You won't find a more honest person than me.

"Be careful on your way home young man. And as promised Kanzaki-san will be paying your tab. please bring your friends next time."

Not saying any goodbyes, I make my way to the sliding door. The outside air dissipates the smell of stir-fried food, alcohol, and tobacco. Even the somewhat muddled city air is more pleasant than being inside the bar.

The noises of the Showa era rock music become muffled.

My body is a bit float and I don't have such good coordination of my body movements. The alcohol was having an effect. Although I seem to have higher alcohol tolerance than Kanzaki, judging from his tomato red face.

Nice to know that for the future.

Still, drinking underage with a kenpei out of all things? Life sure is strange.

Well, this is an onetime thing, so who cares. Not like I'll ever come to this bar again.

The outside air makes me forget the smell of cigarettes and the drinks from the bar. But the taste of alcohol continues to assault my taste buds. If this is the taste of adulthood, it tastes absolutely disgusting then. Drinking some matcha when I get back home should help.

Maybe I should report Kanzaki for giving alcohol to a minor after all.

Putting my hands on my face, I feel a prickly sensation and start walking. Probably should shave before going to sleep, don't want to get into a situation nearly this dumb tomorrow.