Before the Battle

Family Name 14/17

At twelve o'clock my mother called us all in for lunch.

I watched with sympathy as Maya struggled with her chopsticks, but it wouldn't be my stubborn friend if she didn't get the hang of it eventually.

Then my sister said sweetly what a wonderful couple Maya and I were, which made my mother smile and tell me I had chosen well.

After that, even Shira, who hadn't minded keeping our relationship a secret, seemed annoyed, and I felt his hand run up my thigh and squeeze tightly under the table. Probably to remind me who I belonged to.

Maya and I tried to make it clear, but my mother didn't seem to want to hear it. When she started talking about grandchildren, I seriously considered running away from the table.

The whole conversation certainly didn't help the tension between Shira and Maya. They had barely exchanged a few words, gone were their friendly banter and snide remarks, which, while occasionally crossing the line, also showed how close they were.

But now that Maya's warnings had proved true and Shira felt he had failed, it wasn't helping their friendship.

I hoped things would be sorted out soon, because if we were going to get out of this mess, we shouldn't be fighting and blaming each other. I wanted everyone to work together and we had to find a solution because I could not think of one.

I looked at everyone sitting around the table.

Shira was moving his chopsticks around his plate and seemed to be somewhere far away in his thoughts. Mother and Tamiko were happily chatting with Maya about her experiences as a doctor, and after a while Dr Soichiro joined them. His assistant Reiji was absent as he had to attend to a patient.

At that moment I made a decision.

If we didn't turn this around, if the worst happened, I would take the blame. It was the only way to protect the people closest to me: my mother, Tami and Shira. That was what Marat wanted me to do. So if I did, he'd be satisfied to get me and leave the others alone.

How the Council would deal with me after that, I couldn't say.

But one thing was clear: if Satoshi's plan worked, my days as a general and councillor would be over.

*

Two hours later we were back on the hill. Behind us was a beautiful snow-covered forest, in front of us a romantic view of a peaceful and quiet village, and in the distance a host of soldiers marching unstoppably towards us.

"They're in a hurry, aren't they?" remarked Kioshi. It was he, along with Matsuo, who had come to warn us that the Resistance soldiers were getting dangerously close.

"I expected them to take longer, too," I sighed.

"It would have taken them longer to get the whole Third Division here," Shira replied, watching the advancing formation through the binoculars. "But there's only a few hundred of them."

"Then they've kept the rest as a backup," I tried to assess their strategy. "Enough to search a house anyway. And if something happened, they'll call in reinforcements."

Shira put down the binoculars and nodded, "I agree."

"There are about a hundred of us," Matsuo said. "Our offer still stands, Taira. We discussed it with the Commander. All you have to do is say the word and we'll go against them."

"No way!" Maya, who had been silently observing the surroundings and not joining our conversation for the time being, spoke before me. "Are you crazy? Do you want the fighting to start again? Do you want to throw away our agreements, everything we've achieved in the last few months?"