Poston

Chapter thirteen : Conflicts

"I GOT A LETTER!"

Nino jumped awake, only to wince in pain as the sudden movement gave him an instant headache. "God dammit, Mai!" he swore rolling over on his bed. "Can't you be a little quieter next time?!"

Mai only gave him a bad look. "Well, maybe if you would stop taking naps in the middle of the afternoon then I wouldn't have to be quiet!" She threw him a letter. "You got one too."

Nino scrambled to pick up the letter and nearly tore it open when he got it. Masaki had been gone for five months now, but now that he was stationed working on a special task with someone he wasn't at liberty to say, he now wrote from an unknown place in the Pacific. 'I assure though,' he wrote before, 'I am perfectly safe, so do not worry about me at all! I will come home, that much is for certain.'

When Nino started reading his letter, he saw it was shorter than his last letters, but he also gave an explanation why.

Dear Nino,
I'm sorry I haven't written much. I've been kept pretty busy here, but all that training they had me under has really started to pay off! Who knew that learning all that arithmetic would come in handy one day? We're making steady progress on filing all of these papers, but it seems like every time something is put away, three new things appear! I'm literally buried in papers! But it's okay. I'm surrounded by a good office of people, and we work hard every day. I know I'm far away from home, but maybe I'll be home in time for my child's birth.
Speaking of it, how is Mai? With her letters, I feel as though something is off with her. She's ecstatic about the baby, as am I, but she doesn't really seem to talk about much of anything else anymore. Don't get me wrong, of course, I understand she's worried about having the baby without me, but I would like to hear about her news about the rest of you too. Is she feeling alright? Is the pregnancy taking a toll on her? Please be honest, cousin. It just worries me that she's keeping something from me.
I also haven't heard from or about Sho in a while. Is he feeling okay? I try to ask Mai about it every time I write, but it's like she ignores my question. Can you answer for me?
I really hope to hear from you soon! If you don't get my letters as frequently, it's because of all of this damn paperwork! I miss you as always, and I look forward to getting your letter.
Sincerely, Masaki

Nino frowned, reading in between the lines and sighing. 'Paperwork' meant 'secret work'. 'Arithmetic' meant 'military training'. He had to censor out his words in case the enemy caught word of whatever he was doing. To them, it looked like a boring, harmless letter. To Nino, it was reassurance that his cousin was safe and doing okay. Any news at this point was good, especially since they had no idea where they were.

Mai sighed as well, making Nino look up at her. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Mai only shook her head, tapping her small stomach that had almost doubled in size. "I just worry about him," she responded. "That's all. I wish he could tell me where he was."

"He can't to do that. Otherwise he could—"

"I understand why, Nino!" Mai snapped. Nino stopped talking and she angrily folded up her letter before standing up. "I'm going back to work," she announced to no one. "Why don't you go out and do something for a change."

Her words hurt, but Nino honestly had no idea where in the world they were coming from. Mai had never been a mean person, but lately it was like all she did was get angry. Nino thought that perhaps it was a pregnancy thing, but every woman he had talked to about it told them that in Mai's case, it was becoming more common than usual.

As soon as Mai was out of sight, curiosity got the best of him and Nino immediately went to look for Mai's letter. She had left it on the bed, and quickly Nino took it out of the envelope and began to read it. Unfortunately, it had all the normal stuff a husband would write to his pregnant wife. Nothing unusual. He asked about Sho, like in Nino's letter, as well as Mai's own wellbeing, but other than that there was nothing exciting. Nino was glad he was alone because he allowed himself to be disappointed as he put Mai's letter back.