Detective Yuki

25. Xiongmao

1. Xiongmao

Following the presidential pardon from Duan, the crowds at the embassy dispersed, and the Chinese government arranged for them to board a small cargo plane back to Japan. The rickety ramshackle scoured across the ocean, until the Japanese Home Islands were in sight.

 "it is good to be home again" Yuki exclaimed as she saw the sun rise over the southern bay city of Kagoshima. 

After several hours in flight, the plane came to land at the Sagami bay airfields just south of Tokyo. When the plane finally came to a halt, Yuki and Aibo were surprised to find a large crowd of people clambering around the aircraft, waiting for them to emerge. Yuki stared out of the window, unsure of what to make of the congregation, but upon exiting down the small wooden steps of the plane, the crowd jeered a triumphant cheer to the prodigal heroes returned.

The two were quick to receive the hero's welcome home as nearly everyone in the city and the country had heard by radio about two Japanese fighting monsters in the Chinese capital, ending in a pardon from the president and their safe repatriation back home. The crowd continued their celebration, before a convoy of black automobiles arrived on the scene. The crowd ceased as a short man in a black kimono and tie shouted "behold, his imperial highness Emperor Taisho".

 A tall old man exited the car and walked amongst the crowd with his security team to greet the passengers. 

"loyal subjects, I would like to personally congratulate these two valiant servants of the empire for their fidelity and courage in ridding our lands of the demon courage" the emperor proclaimed as an aide gave him two exquisite and large Order of the Precious Crown medals for their actions. 

His majesty then joined the jubilant crowd in applauding the two, who latched onto each other under a stream of bright camera flashes. Two days passed, and Aibo stayed at Yuki's quaint cottage in the middle of Tokyo, providing her with endless hours of companionship among the sounds of nature and the big city.

in the early afternoon, Yuki and Aibo were surprised by a special delivery in the mail. Two packages addressed to each one, both large in stature and equally tantalizing, stamped with the imperial chrysanthemum insignia. Unwrapping them just inside the door like kids on their birthdays, Yuki discovered a very large sum of money, countless banknotes that on further observation amounted to ¥75,000,000. 

"the emperor must have been very pleased with us" Yuki chuckled as she waved her new-found wealth in the air. 

Aibo was stunned by a pressed new military uniform, much like his original except with the added bonus of a collar insignia with one silver star and two red lines against a yellow background, the symbol of a second Lieutenant in the Imperial Army.

Never before had the two of them felt so honored as on that day, unless you count the entire adventure where they managed to save the world from a rampant demonic psychopath. One week after the ceremonies, the duo finally made their way to the brickwork edifice of the Tokyo train station, where hundreds of others were awaiting for the next steam blower to arrive and whisk them away to destiny. Yuki donned her usual investigation attire while Aibo sported his refurbished military uniform. As the steam trains whistled, Aibo took his suitcase in hand and said his goodbyes to Yuki. 

"good luck" Yuki hoped. 

"it will be fine. If they still love me, they will take me back" Aibo replied as he leapt onto a rust brown train heading out of the city, leaving behind Yuki in a white mist of vapor. Aibo would return back to his home town of Sendai and find his parents inside a thatched roofed house reminiscent of a temple, standing guard for the city in late summer.

Unsure of the response, but hopeful for positivity, Aibo knocked on the frontal panel doors of the house, where his father and mother looked upon him in surprise. His father was as tall as his son, and a near spitting image with the addition of several wrinkles and a small moustache, while his mother stood behind with her hair in a bun and a red robe. Aibo's father saw the medal his son had been awarded, with his son informing him that it was a gift from the emperor. He attempted to apologize to his parents from running away from the academy but was interrupted by the warm embrace of his parents on the front porch before they took their conversations indoors for a pleasant afternoon.

Yuki would immediately return to her congratulating comrades at Tokyo police headquarters, and the awaiting surprise of the sergeant. There she would continue to solve crime in the capital for the next fifteen years, in the meantime taking well deserved time off to build a luxurious furbished mansion in the seaside city of Nagasaki using the reward money she had received. The mansion was modelled off of European designs, with two underground floors to carry out research, and two floors above ground, filled with trinkets from previous adventures, and a breath-taking view of the quiet bay only a stone's throw away from her new abode.