—now—

Keikarou Palace
Maku-Harihongo, Kingdom of Chiba

He’d ridden in a car with Ikuta-san and a handful of his staff, preferring to stay out of the limelight. The streets of Maku-Harihongo had been a flood of humanity, their cheers almost deafening as the horse-drawn carriage ferried Aiba Masaki and his parents through the capital. It was a new era in Chiba.

Sho had only been able to look out the motorcar’s window, relieved that the crowd’s interest remained on the carriage at the head of the procession. Ikuta, still working like a madman even during the parade, had been talking through the logistics of travel with Sho, rambling through the itinerary. It was like Sho’s opinion didn’t even matter. He would be leaving Maku-Harihongo in a few days, and that was that.

He was back at the palace now. Guests would be arriving in a few hours’ time for the coronation ball. He had asked Masaki not to introduce him, saying he wasn’t ready for any sort of recognition, especially with things still so out of control in Minato. Masaki had given him an odd look but hadn’t felt the need to explain himself.

The sun was setting, and the entire capital would probably be lit up all night long. Though the coronation ball was limited to Chiba’s noble families and select guests, the rest of the city would be celebrating in their own way. Sho waited in his guest suite, still in the fine suit that had been made for him for the parade in such a short span of time. According to the chamber maid who cleaned Sho’s rooms, the tuxedo he’d be wearing for the ball that evening was still being finished at the tailor’s workshop.

He couldn’t help wondering how Jun and Nino were spending the evening. Masaki hadn’t said much about meeting them the previous day, just inferring that they had been polite and appreciative. That Nino’s parents would be fast-tracked for immigration. He hadn’t been able to ask Masaki yet about helping Ohno-san, and he wasn’t sure if Jun had been able to bring it up. He’d have to bring it up and demand it himself.

They were at the Midori Hotel, just across the bridge and a few blocks down on Boulevard Queen Yuko. He’d put in a friendly hour or two at the ball and would then see if he could make it over there. If Masaki forced a guard upon him for the excursion, he would allow it so long as he was able to go. With the haste of Masaki’s plans, dragging Sho onto his celebration train and taking him away, he had to at least try to convince Jun to come too. It was selfish, like most feelings Sho had regarding Jun, but he still had to try.

There was a knock at the main door of his suite and he opened it, expecting to find staff coming to dress him for the ball. He didn’t expect to find Matsumoto Jun in a new wool coat and a suitcase in hand. “Jun,” he whispered, still holding onto the doorknob.

“Can I speak with you?”

“How did you get here?”

“I had an appointment with Ikuta-san.”

Sho was wondering if Masaki’s right hand man was even human, given how hard he worked. “Come in then. Please.”

He shut the door behind him. While Jun set his bag down, he didn’t remove his coat. He had no intention of staying for long.

“Have you been taken care of?” Sho asked him, fidgeting and unable to leave his place by the door.

Jun leaned against the sofa, perching on one of the arms. “Yes, your cousin is a generous man. Nino’s back at the hotel making some new friends already, saying he’s best buddies with the king now.”

Sho couldn’t help smiling. “He’ll never change, will he?”

“I hope he never does.”

“And you?” Sho asked, feeling a little more uncertain. He gestured to the case Jun had set down. “Is that the reward money? Your bag?”

“I’m going back to Keio.”

Sho was stunned, feeling an ache in his shoulder. He hadn’t used his pain cream all day, not with the fuss of the parade. “What? When?”

“Tonight.”

“Tonight?” Sho repeated, panic setting in within moments. They’d only just gotten here, how could he be leaving?

“It’s actually a mission from the king. We met yesterday, as you may know. He’s secretly opening diplomatic ties with Minato. There’s a train leaving tonight from Maku Central Station. Medical supplies, food. I’m part of the team that’s going to the capital now. I’ll be going back and forth, bringing supplies from Chiba for the next several months on a mission of peace. I’ll be quite busy. Guess I can’t shake the delivery man lifestyle just yet.”

“That’s so sudden.”

“He told me you would be traveling with him all over Chiba,” Jun replied, and Sho could have sworn he heard relief in Jun’s voice as he said so. “It’s wonderful that you’ll be together. You can catch up on old times. You deserve happiness like that, Sho-kun, truly.”

He took a step forward, shaking his head. “I was going to ask you to come with me. I was going to come to your hotel tonight and ask you.”

Jun smiled sadly. “That’s kind of you.”

“You’re really going tonight?”

“The train leaves at 10:00. It was your cousin’s wish that the first mission departs when Maku-Harihongo isn’t paying much attention. Don’t worry about me.”

He shook his head again. “You can’t go.”

Jun scoffed. “We spoke of this before. That Minato needs help. I’m going to help.”

“You can’t leave me behind!” Sho said, raising his voice.

The sudden outburst left them both silent for a few moments. He looked into Jun’s eyes, desperate to change his mind. How could Masaki have arranged this and not told anyone? How could he send Jun back into such a dangerous place when he was finally free, finally safe?

Jun cocked his head, pushing his not-so-perfect glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Sho-kun, you have your life back. You have your family back. I’m happy for you. And you know there’s no place for me here or on that grand tour of Chiba train. I’m going to make a difference…it’s what we both wanted for Minato, I thought you’d be happy for me.”

He walked closer, until he was standing right before Jun, forcing him to look up from his seat on the arm of the sofa. He felt tears stinging his eyes, and he didn’t much care if Jun saw them fall. “Why would it make me happy to be separated from you?”

Every feeling Jun ever had was easily read on his face. Every single one. Right now, Jun was surprised, deeply confused. “This is where you belong. You’re royal.”

“I’m not,” he answered. “Jun, I haven’t been for fifteen years.”

“You belong with your family.”

“I belong wherever you are. You’re the family I need.”

Jun looked away, unable to look at him a moment longer. “You’ve used this ploy on me before. When you didn’t want me to go to the War College.”

“It’s not a ploy. It was never a ploy! I needed you then, I need you now. I’ve been alone for so long, and I’ve only just gotten you back. You can’t go. I’ll talk to Masaki.”

Before he could turn and run, to go over Ikuta’s head and find his way into his cousin’s chambers himself, Jun’s hand latched around his wrist hard. His voice was unsteady, uncertain. “It’s not your decision to make.”

He yanked his arm away roughly, grabbing Jun by the shoulders and shaking him. “I love you, does that make a difference?”

Jun looked up at him once more, eyes wide.

Sho let him go, taking the words that had always been written on his heart and saying them aloud. “I love you. Jun, I love you.”

Jun said nothing in reply. He simply grabbed him, pulling him close. There was a second’s hesitation, Sho feeling a warm huff of Jun’s breath against his mouth before Jun was kissing him. Still perched on the sofa, Jun moved his legs apart so Sho could stand between them, could come closer. They’d been children, they’d been such children back then, afraid of discovery and burdened by their different social classes. This was different. They were the same now. They were equal.

He held Jun’s face in his hands, unashamed of his tears falling. Jun had his arms around him. For fifteen years, Sakurai Sho had been gone. Sho had been Yoshimoto Koya, someone else, a man without a past. For fifteen years, he knew Matsumoto Jun had mourned the loss of him. He could feel it in the way Jun’s strong hand pressed against his spine, in the way Jun was barely keeping it together, his breaths hard and his skin hot.

Sho ignored Keikarou Palace, ignored the coronation ball, ignored the tailor who would soon arrive with his tuxedo. He knew only Jun, the press of his mouth, his desperate little gasps. Jun, who’d always been there. Jun, who’d had to create a new life, start over, but without the convenient ability to forget. Jun, who’d refused to forget him.

“Please,” Sho begged him, dragging his lips away, hearing Jun moan gently when he pressed his mouth against his cheek, along his jaw. “Please, you can’t go.”

Jun finally moved from where he was sitting, rising to stand up straight. One moment, Sho was kissing Jun and the next he wasn’t.

Jun reached out, resting a hand on his shirt, finger nearly catching on a button. “I’m sorry. What I’m doing is more important than you or me. And in time, I think you’ll realize it’s true.” He took his hand away, started to walk. He picked up his suitcase and didn’t even look back. “Goodbye, Sho.”

Sho turned, his shoulder screaming, though not louder than his heart was. He watched Jun open the door and shut it behind him, the sound echoing throughout the room.

He was gone.

—

Maku Central Station
Maku-Harihongo, Kingdom of Chiba

Though Jun’s appointment to the “peace train” was sudden, he was welcomed aboard without judgment. Though in time Jun would probably be expected to take on more duties, this first mission was under the charge of two individuals Aiba Masaki thoroughly trusted. Though out of uniform, Lieutenant Commander Katori Shingo was a member of the royal guard and was responsible for the safety of all aboard. He’d even commented on how Jun carried himself, grinning and saying “I’d know another soldier anywhere.”

Alongside him was Professor Fukiishi Kazue from the Chiba Royal Institute of Life Sciences, a medical doctor and instructor who hoped to remain in Keio, to work with the doctors there and as part of General Kimura’s staff. Professor Fukiishi’s parents had immigrated to Chiba before she was born in order to find better opportunities. Their daughter felt it was her duty to return to her parents’ homeland and help. Jun had a feeling he’d get along with the professor, seeing her passion and commitment.

Jun was in a fairly luxurious compartment, housed between a very shy scientist who had retreated back inside as soon as Jun had tried to introduce himself to her and a pediatrician who hoped to work with the children in Minato’s orphanages. He wasn’t quite sure how he could contribute as part of this peace train, but he’d do whatever was asked. He wanted to help, and he would.

The compartment consisted of a pull down bunk, a chair and a small desk, and a tight but serviceable washroom with a toilet and sink. A shower at the end of the carriage would be shared. He was surprised to find that the tiny cupboard was filled with more new clothes, all in his size. A note from Ikuta fluttered out of a suit jacket, and he laughed. Prince Masaki…no, King Masaki had apparently accounted for everything. Perhaps he should have asked the man for some new glasses.

Checking the clock bolted to the compartment wall, he saw that it was 9:43 PM. They’d be leaving soon. They’d make it to the Chiba border in the wee hours of the morning. It was a special train, its carriages able to be lifted from their chassis and onto new ones that fit the Minato rail gauge. It would take a few hours, but they would only have to switch to a new locomotive engine instead of having to move all their supplies onto a new train.

From there it was the same path back to Keio that they’d spent on board the Great Eastern Express. Though this time, the journey would be completed. He couldn’t help remembering what had happened, Sho’s horror, how the mask that was Yoshimoto Koya had finally fallen away, revealing the Sakurai Sho he’d known so well. The Sakurai Sho he thought had been lost to him forever.

He shut his eyes, leaning back against the compartment wall. It had been foolish to kiss him. He’d gone back to the palace to receive final instructions from Ikuta-san. He’d selfishly asked where Sho’s rooms were, thinking only of saying goodbye. As if that was something so easily accomplished. Hearing the desperation in Sho’s voice, hearing Sho confess the true extent of his feelings…it had taken everything Jun had to walk away. It was the right thing to do. Sho would understand. If Sho loved him as much as he’d just claimed to, wouldn’t he respect Jun’s decision?

But if Sho loved him as much as he’d just claimed to, how could Jun leave him?

He pulled down the bunk with an angry thud, tugging off his coat and resting it on his chair. A quick test of the thin mattress and pillow, and he was satisfied. It was no Midori Hotel, but it was perfectly fine. He was just unbuckling his belt when he heard commotion in the corridor. Leaving his belt on, he undid the lock on his compartment and pulled it open.

The noise was coming from another car, and Jun moved around the curious pediatrician, wondering if Lieutenant Commander Katori needed assistance. He moved to the next car and slid the door open.

“Sho-kun?” he whispered.

Just past Katori stood Sakurai Sho, with only the clothes on his back and a letter in hand.

Katori turned, looking at him. “He’s got a signed letter from the king. You know him? He says he knows you.”

Jun froze. No, Sho shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be here! He was supposed to stay in Chiba. He would be safe in Chiba!

“I’m Yoshimoto Koya,” Sho said, daring Jun to say differently. “Matsumoto and I served together in Minato.”

“As I was just explaining to Yoshimoto-san, I don’t have a space for him on this train,” Katori said, gesturing to the letter. “The king says to allow him aboard. To not depart Maku-Harihongo without him. I hate to impose on you, Matsumoto-san, but he says he knows you. We’re departing in less than ten minutes.”

Jun, horrified by Sho’s rash decision, could only nod. “Yes, I know him.”

“I’ll have some extra pillows and blankets brought to your compartment. Thank you, it’s a big help, Matsumoto-san. On our way back to Chiba, we’ll have a lighter passenger count, I’m sure.”

Dismissed, Jun turned on his heel and didn’t look back. He knew Sho was following him. The corridor was empty when he returned, the pediatrician having apparently lost her curiosity. He opened the door to the compartment, and Sho followed him inside. He was still holding the letter in his hand.

“Is that even real? Did you forge your cousin’s signature?”

“It’s real,” Sho admitted, holding it out to him. When Jun didn’t take it, he let his arm drop, the letter fluttering to the compartment floor. “I nearly made him late for the ball but…but I couldn’t let you leave without me.”

“Why did he let you leave? I thought he was taking you on his whirlwind tour.”

Sho smiled weakly. “I told him what I felt. And he understood. He didn’t like it, you’ll be happy to know, but he understood. Ikuta had someone do a rush job, but I’ve even got a Chiba passport that says I’m Yoshimoto Koya. Nino would probably have cause for complaint over the craftsmanship, but since we’re on such a time crunch…”

“How can you make jokes right now?” Jun interrupted, barely able to keep it together. For so long, he’d kept it together. For so long, he’d denied himself. All for the greater good. All for what was best for Sho.

“I don’t know,” Sho admitted. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m very angry with you.”

Sho nodded. “I understand.”

“I nearly drowned to get you to Chiba.”

“I know you did,” Sho said, tears in his eyes. Jun could barely look at him. He couldn’t bear the sight of him like that, wearing his heart on his sleeve.

“You didn’t do this just because you…” He took a deep breath. “…just because you love me. Sho-kun, I know you.”

Sho moved over, sitting down in the desk chair. “I listened to Masaki swear to his people today that he would protect them. That he would devote his life in service to them. I would have sworn the same, if Minato wasn’t the Minato it is now.” Sho blinked back tears. “How could I spend the next several months of my life traveling from city to city, watching from the sidelines when I could do something for the country I left behind?”

There was a knock on the compartment door, and Jun answered, accepting a mound of blankets and a few pillows before shutting and locking the door once more. He suspected that these were from the supplies meant for Keio. Luckily there would be more coming in the future.

“I’ll take the floor then,” he said, moving to the spot beneath the pulled-down bunk, dropping the blankets there.

Sho didn’t move. “You make me stronger. You always have.”

Jun knelt down, trying not to let his hands shake as he tried to sort out the blankets. “You’re plenty strong. And as you’ve demonstrated again tonight, stubborn as an ox.”

There was a noisy whistle, and the train started to move. There was no turning back now.

He sat there on the floor, pulling his knees up, hugging his legs. “Did your cousin tell you who the new leader is in Minato? Who he’s been working with? Who we’ll be meeting there?”

“Wasn’t exactly time,” Sho said quietly, looking down at him.

“Kimura Takuya. He’s a general now, but we knew him better as a lieutenant.”

He saw Sho jolt a bit at the name, saw him grip the chair tightly.

“He was there with us. At Sakura House. He’s moved up in the world now, has other people to kill for him.”

Sho shut his eyes. “No.”

“It’s him. He’s apparently quite popular still. His is a name I hadn’t heard in years, but he’s probably been operating in the shadows, waiting to make his move and he got to your cousin…”

“No,” Sho repeated. “No, he’s not one of them.”

“What do you mean? Sho-kun, you remember everything else now, don’t you? Surely you remember him. It was him, Inohara, Mori…”

“He’s not one of them,” Sho insisted, shutting his eyes. “He was the one. It was him…”

—then—

Sakura House
Near Gunma Town, Kingdom of Minato

He’s falling asleep at his desk, wondering why he’s so tired. He hasn’t even had dinner yet. It’s only when he tries to lift a hand to shut one of his books that he realizes he can barely move it. What’s going on? He’s had the drink from Hana-san, a glass of warmed milk to get him through his afternoon studies.

Did one of the soldiers put something in the glass? Have they poisoned him? If not, why would Hana-san…

He’s barely coherent when Lieutenant Kimura enters his room and locks the door from the inside with one of the master keys. “No,” Sho slurs, moving to stop him but falling out of his desk chair and hitting the floor hard, his chin smacking the rug and making his teeth rattle.

“Now. It has to be now.”

“What?”

But then Kimura’s hauling him up, sliding open the secret panel in the wall beside Sho’s bed. How does he know about that? Did Jun tell him? Or do all the soldiers know? He feels like he sleeps for days, only waking when he pisses himself.

He’s in the dark now, still stunned from whatever was in that drink. He can feel piss dripping down his leg, and he’s so tired he can’t even gather the energy to be ashamed. “Sorry,” he says, but then Kimura’s hand is covering his mouth.

“Be quiet.”

They’re in the cellar. The secret passages go down to the cellar. He can hear noise, screams. He hears his own name, shouted by his parents. “Kimura’s out looking for him,” Sho hears. It’s Inohara. Inohara who has always treated them with the most respect.

Kimura tightens his grip, and Sho’s still only halfway to consciousness. He’s freezing. The cellar isn’t heated. They store food down here, just on the other side of the wall. Kimura’s dragged him down here in haste. Sho’s only in a thin pair of socks, the slippers he’d been wearing in his bedroom having been lost at some point. Kimura’s warmer. Sho can feel the heavy wool of his coat. Sho’s in a cotton shirt and slacks. Piss-soaked slacks, he reminds himself.

The new soldier, the newest one in charge, eventually has something to say.

“Do this and we’ll take care of him when we find him.”

And then Sho is screaming with them as they’re all dragged down the stairs. He’s screaming, unable to fight as Kimura holds onto him, covering his mouth, whispering again and again in his ear. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. My god, she was trying to help you all. It’s happening earlier than they said…”

At the first sounds of gunfire, he stops fighting, stunned by the sound. He’s never heard it so close, at least not aimed in his direction. He writhes in the soldier’s grip, sobbing noiselessly, uselessly. The wall splinters with several of the shots and Kimura tries to move him, to head in the direction of the door at the end of the passage that has a ladder up and out.

The bullet comes through the wall and strikes him in the shoulder. His scream of pain is lost among the gunfire, among the other screams throughout the house. Hana-san? Amami-san? Are they next? What about Jun? What about Jun?

The pain is overwhelming. He’s broken a bone before, but it’s nothing compared to this. Nothing.

Somehow they get outside, and it’s freezing. It’s so cold, god, it’s so cold. And in the cellar they’d just…no, oh no no no no no no no-

“Don’t,” Kimura says, gruff and demanding. Insisting. Ordering. Carrying him through the snow, likely leaving a trail of blood in their wake. “Don’t pass out just yet. Stay here. Stay with me, Sho-kun, don’t go.”

It seems like hours, and he’s in and out of consciousness. The pain wakes him, the pain shuts him down. The cellar, the cellar. It feels like a dream. Maybe he can convince himself it’s not real. That the cellar didn’t happen. He’s just dreaming, he’s just dreaming. He’s leaving a trail of blood in the snow and it feels like fire, fire consuming him whole.

Kimura’s teeth are chattering, but he talks to him, tries to keep him awake even though Sho is all too happy to fade into oblivion. To give up. “Minato is your country. You must save your people.”

He says nothing. The man’s words are meaningless. They hold no value. Sho has no value. His family was ousted. His family was imprisoned. His family was just…his family was just…

“Maybe not now, but someday you’ll be able to. Someday you’ll be able to make things right, kid.”

I’m not a kid, Sho thinks. And then he doesn’t think. He refuses to think anymore.

At some point, Kimura drags him onto a porch. He hears him murmuring with someone else.

“I just brought him from the front lines, our hospital was overwhelmed.”

“Who is he? What’s going on?”

“Kamezuka Hospital, can you get him there?”

“With this snow? I can’t get the truck through that…”

It’s the last thing he hears, and by then he’s nobody. He’s nobody special. He’s nobody that needs to be remembered. He shuts his eyes and forgets it all.

—now—

Aboard Diplomatic Train
Near Chiba/Minato Border

He woke up in the pull-down bunk, peering over the side to see that Jun was curled up in the mound of blankets on the floor. Rolling over, onto his back, Sho stared at the ceiling of the compartment, listening to the train chug along on the tracks. In another hour or so, they’d be at the border, where the train cars would be moved onto the other tracks.

He remembered all he was going to remember now, and Jun had listened to all of it. Jun had sat there, not saying a word, until Sho was finished.

“Sleep, Sho-kun,” Jun had said, unable to hide the kindness in his eyes. Though he’d claimed to be angry with Sho, he couldn’t stay that way for very long.

He’d changed into some of the clothing Jun had been given. It mostly fit, though Jun was broader than he was. Jun had turned out the light, and somehow they’d slept.

Upon reaching Urayasu, the passengers were all asked to leave the train momentarily. He and Jun joined a few other passengers from their carriage for breakfast. Sho introduced himself as Yoshimoto Koya, and everyone accepted it without question.

They were on the way back to the train when there was a roaring noise in the air. Jun had wrapped an arm around him, aiming to protect him, but then they’d stood together transfixed, watching an aeroplane, a real honest to goodness aeroplane, take off into the sky from a small airstrip just beyond the train station.

“It’s just a mail plane,” Professor Fukiishi said when they boarded again.

“Minato doesn’t have any,” Jun explained, his eyes full of wonderment that made Sho smile.

“I promised him we’d see one together someday,” Sho said, laughing. “Guess we can check that off, huh?”

Jun looked at him in surprise. Had he only just remembered?

When the train got moving again, Jun claimed to be busy with something, though Sho knew he had volunteered for inventory duty, to count and recount their supplies to ensure that nothing had gone missing during the border crossing. Sho was still astonished by how kindly the Minato soldiers had treated them. Nobody had asked to see a travel visa. Nobody had tried to extort money from them. The stakes were too high. If anything happened to a diplomatic transport from Chiba, Minato would never recover.

He showered and shaved, returning to the compartment. They’d be in Keio by dinnertime the following night. He had money from Ikuta and pain cream, but otherwise he had little else with him. He opened the cupboard and took the jar out of his coat, sitting down at the desk with it.

Lieutenant Kimura was running Minato now. And unlike all the warmongering generals that had come before him, his mission wasn’t power or control. His mission, though idealistic, was to ask for help. To make Minato better. Sho suspected that Hana-san had recruited him that day at Sakura House, to help his family escape. But Kimura would have never agreed if he didn’t have Loyalist sympathies in the first place. But if he’d survived this long, had made it all the way to general, then he’d never been found out. He’d kept the secret all these years, that he’d been the one to smuggle Sho out. Then again, Kimura wouldn’t have known if he’d actually survived.

He wondered if the man had believed him dead all these years. If the man believed that he’d failed.

He shoved those thoughts away, twisting open the jar. There was a knock on the compartment door, and he sighed, pulling his shirt back on. But when he slid the door open it was Jun.

“Sorry, is this a bad time? I’m done with the inventory for now…” Jun asked.

Sho stepped back nervously, shaking his head. “It’s your compartment, I’m just in here taking up your space.”

Jun gestured to the jar in his hand. “Did you want me to help you?”

“I can do it myself.”

“I can do it better than you can.”

Sho couldn’t help smiling. “It’s not a competition, Matsumoto.” He handed it over. “But thanks.”

He turned away from him, feeling tense as he slid his shirt off, resting it on the chair. He was standing there in only the thin muslin trousers he’d slept in, remembering all too well what had happened the night before at Keikarou Palace. He was barefoot, praying Jun wouldn’t look down and see. He moved to have a seat but Jun stopped him, a hand to his shoulder.

He took a deep breath, shutting his eyes. Jun’s touch was gentler than it had been the previous times he’d done this for him, slowly rubbing the cream into his skin, filling the entire compartment with the medicinal stink. “Turn around,” Jun eventually said, and Sho obeyed.

Jun traced his fingers over the scarring. “You shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”

“I’m not going to show it off though,” Sho pointed out, his voice hushed.

“You lived through something horrible. But you lived.”

Jun’s attention was on the cream, on rubbing it onto his scar, his shoulder, his chest. He shivered a little, feeling the tingling sensation of the cream and the warming presence of Jun’s fingers on his skin. He was so focused on it that he barely registered Jun stopping, setting the jar down on the desk. Jun’s fingers were ticklish then, an arm wrapping around him and tugging him close. There was still the lingering scent of the cream on Jun’s fingers when he put them beneath Sho’s chin, tilting it up so their lips could meet again.

He felt Jun’s hand resting on his back, felt the scratchiness of his shirt against his bare skin. If Jun was still angry with him, it wasn’t too obvious. There was time now, no kissing out of desperation. They took their time, Jun’s hands on his skin, Sho’s fingers starting at the bottom buttons of Jun’s shirt and moving upward. The thin trousers he was wearing did little to hide his growing desire, finally having Jun here, alone, the two of them together at long last.

Before Sho could push for more, to tug Jun’s shirt off and leave it on the floor, Jun had a hand on the back of his neck, keeping him in place, the other moving down his abdomen with purpose. He moaned against Jun’s mouth when his fingers slipped into his trousers, finding him. It was a slightly awkward position, standing in the middle of the compartment, swaying with the train, Sho grabbing hold of Jun’s arms, squeezing him to hold steady. The tighter he held on, the more it encouraged Jun.

He whimpered, gasping at the insistent way Jun was touching him, slowly, slowly, working him up and down. “Jun,” he murmured, nearly bucking his hips against Jun’s hand. He’d wanted this for so long, for so so long. He had to take his lips away, burying his face against Jun’s neck. “Faster. Faster. Touch me.”

But then Jun did just that and Sho could barely handle it, chuckling. “Wait, wait…”

Jun slipped his hand out of his trousers, kissing his temple and laughing at him before kneeling down before him, tugging his trousers to the floor. Sho gasped in surprise, resting a shaking hand on the top of Jun’s head when he replaced what his hand had been doing with his mouth. It felt so good, it felt so good. The only experiences Sho had ever had before had been with another staff member at the orphanage a handful of times, things done out of loneliness rather than affection. Things done hurriedly in the dark and not spoken of again. But now it was Jun, Jun doing this to him, Jun the person he loved.

It was over fairly quickly after that.

Jun brought Sho down to the blankets on the floor, lying on top of him, not seeming to mind how flushed and out of it Sho was for the next several minutes. He felt more kisses pressed to his face, his mouth, up and down his neck. “I love you,” Jun said, kissing his collarbone, lips lingering around his scarred skin, unafraid. “I’ve always loved you.”

He stroked Jun’s cheek with his finger, crying in relief. “I think I always knew.”

He turned them, Jun allowing Sho to push him onto his back. His shirt was still unbuttoned and Sho simply pushed it aside, listening to Jun’s appreciative gasps as he kissed him, learned his body. Jun’s slacks were next, Sho tugging them down, palming him through his underwear. “Please,” Jun asked, “please.”

The compartment stunk of pain cream, the train jostled them, but it didn’t really matter. Sho ignored all of that, enjoying the simple pleasures of Jun beneath him, Jun’s fingers tugging his hair, the taste of him in his mouth. They eventually lay there, a tangle of limbs, sweat-soaked and exhausted on a pile of thick blankets. It was the closest to perfect that Sho had ever felt.

Whatever was ahead, they’d face it together.

—

Ohno Fishmongers
Keio, Workers’ Republic of Minato

The meeting with General Kimura had been nervewracking. It had been him, Sho, Professor Fukiishi, and a handful of scientists in a room with the General, a dozen rifle-toting soldiers, and his new cabinet ministers. They’d spent the better part of the day arguing with him over how the first batch of aid might be distributed, over where Professor Fukiishi and her staff would be working, about how Minato doctors and scientists might be selected for the first round of training.

After a solid eight hours of negotiations, they’d at least gotten through it all without bloodshed. Jun had mostly sat there at Sho’s side, letting the scientists and doctors speak. Sho had only introduced himself as Yoshimoto Koya, though there’d been pure surprise in General Kimura’s face when their eyes had met. The negotiations would continue on through the week, but Kimura had promised them all safe passage through the city and rooms in the Keio Grand Hotel, a building that had made it through years of civil war.

It would be a long journey, helping Minato. But it was a journey worth taking.

The Keio they left had been a mess, everyone walking with their heads down to avoid trouble. There were still soldiers in the streets, but they seemed less menacing. It had only been a short time since the coup, but the long Minato winter was finally ending, the snow mostly melted and life starting to return. On the underground train, he and Sho had been surprised to see that some people were chatting, unafraid to speak in public, even if it was only about mundane things. Paying rent, cooking dinner, doing laundry.

Jun had hesitated upon their arrival at Ohno Fishmongers, but it was Sho who had tugged him along. They had days and days of negotiating ahead. “We ought to at least remind ourselves what we’re fighting for.”

Like always at this hour, the warehouse was deserted, but the door had been unlocked. Sho climbed the stairs behind him, a steadying hand on his back. Jun was so nervous he thought he’d pass out, but when he got to the top, the door was tugged open.

There he was, as though nothing had changed. Ohno Satoshi in a sweater that stunk of shrimp, his eyes tired but his face calm and gentle. “You came back.”

Sho joined him on the landing, giving Ohno a bit of a surprise, especially when he bowed low to him. “Ohno-san, it’s my fault that you were inconvenienced.”

“Who are you?” Ohno replied, gaze wavering uncomfortably between Jun and the stranger bowing to him with such deference. “It’s okay, lift your head.”

Sho did so. “My name is Sakurai Sho. I used to be the Crown Prince of this country.”

Ohno staggered back, his eyes comically wide. “A ghost?”

After all this time, all the pain he’d endured, Jun laughed until his belly ached. It felt good. “Can we come in and explain?”

Ohno’s voice was shaky. “You’d…I guess you’d better!”

Within minutes they were sitting around Ohno’s desk, at ease. Ohno was refusing the money they offered, seemingly satisfied that in letting Jun steal from him, Minato was now on course for a better future. If Ohno hadn’t helped them take the train, they’d have never made it to Chiba. Sho would have never reunited with his cousin. The peace train might have still left for Minato, but Jun had seen the way General Kimura had watched Sho that day. It had been something close to relief. With Sho’s help, even in the guise of Yoshimoto Koya, he suspected that peaceful negotiations would be even more likely to succeed.

Ohno dug out a bottle of liquor and some glasses. He poured for each of them, setting down a glass for himself atop some paperwork he probably ought to have completed by now. He caught Jun looking at it, grinning. He held his glass up. “Here’s to our friends in Chiba, for their generosity.”

Sho lifted his glass. “To General Kimura Takuya, one of the architects of our future. And without whom I wouldn’t be sitting here drinking with you today.”

“To Ninomiya Kazunari,” Jun joked, “for being greedy and foolish enough to try and trick Chiba’s royal family.”

He and Sho laughed at that for several moments, a still slightly confused Ohno just rolling his eyes and downing his liquor.

There were more toasts. To the Sakurai family. To Matsumoto Hana. To the Gyoranzaka Home for Boys. To Aiba Masaki and Ikuta Toma. To the farmers’ truck and to Okada-san’s cabbage. Eventually Ohno left them, stumbling off to his kitchen to make some food to help soak up the alcohol they were drinking.

After a few moments of quiet, Sho reached for the bottle, filling Jun’s glass and then his own one more time. Sho held his up high, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “To Matsumoto Jun, my friend.”

They’d been through so much, so much Jun could barely grasp it. The path ahead of them wouldn’t be easy. Minato wouldn’t be fixed overnight. Hell, Minato wouldn’t be fixed in a year. But with Aiba Masaki’s support, with General Kimura’s determination, and with Sho’s passion, Jun believed that anything might be possible. After so many years without hope, Jun now burned with it. Theirs wasn’t an ending, but a beginning, and he couldn’t wait to get started.

He raised his glass in return, happier than he’d ever been. “To Sakurai Sho. My friend.”