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Ogami popped down to the training room not out of curiosity or a desire to meet with Kanna, but due to the fact that he could hear the sounds of weight-training equipment breaking.
He could, in fact, hear them from two floors up.
[Ogami]
No.... just doing the nightly rounds, as usual. Are you training, Kanna?
----
[Ogami]
I kind of figured as much, seeing how we have to replace all of the theater's workout equipment every morning.
[Kanna]
Guess they don't make all this metal stuff like they used to, huh? Wahahaha!
[Ogami]
Well, we've decided to start rolling in more durable equipment, and we were thinking of the armor that we've using on the Koubu--
[Kanna]
Nah, that stuff breaks too easily. Don't you remember? I've--
[Ogami]
-- accidentally punched through the armor of your Koubu while fighting the Wakiji, yeah. So we decided to go with something like titanium, or--
[Kanna]
Nah, I've broken that stuff with my forehead before. Hey, the government's really freaking rich, right? Think we could get the theater to roll out some mithril equipment?
[Ogami]
I-- mithril doesn't actually EXIST, Kanna. It's just a legendary alloy.
[Kanna]
Really? We make that stuff all the time, near our old village. It's a bit hard to make, but it works great!
[Ogami]
"A bit hard to make"!? Wha-- what the hell kinds of needs does your village HAVE if your metalworkers are pushed to discover and create mythical super-strong alloys!?
[Kanna]
Breaking contests. We got to the point where most of our reigning champions could break any object known to mankind, so we had to start improvising.
[Ogami]
But... but it doesn't actually EXIST!
[Kanna]
Mind over matter, Ensign!
----
[Kanna]
Come to think of it, the Grand Imperial Theater has both a workout room and a pool... its facilities sure are stacked, huh.
When I was living in Okinawa, I'd just use logs and rocks while training.
[Ogami]
Is, is that so...
----
[Kanna]
Yeah, I'd gotten to the point where I can break mithril things, so our village only rolls that stuff out for special occasions--
[Ogami]
I got the picture, Kanna.
----
[Kanna]
And we'd always swim in the oceans around Okinawa. A pool just can't compare.
Come to think of it, Captain... you were in the navy, weren't you.
[Ogami]
Yeah, I was in the naval academy.
[Ogami]
Lessee...
Sure, Kanna has a ridiculous amount of stamina, but when it comes to how FAST a person can swim... well, Ogami considered himself pretty good. And there's the off-chance that her oodles of muscles would just slow her down in the water!
Just try not to think about that last choice.
[Ogami]
I accept your challenge! If it's swimming... that's something I have confidence in!!
[Ogami]
Heh...? A Cross-Okinawa Race?
[Kanna]
So it's a race where we swim to and cut across every island, from north to south.
Well... it'll probably take about two weeks of straight-out swimming.
----
[Ogami]
... what are we supposed to EAT?
[Kanna]
That's easy! I mean, every competitor brings their own bowl, and they're expected to make do by catching anything that swims in the ocean.
[Ogami]
Basically, we eat fish?
[Kanna]
... kind of!
[Ogami]
Oh, that isn't too bad! So if I don't die of exhaustion, dehydration, or simply by drowning, then at least I won't have to worry about starving to death.
[Kanna]
Yup!
[Ogami]
Good god, woman, are you telling me that ALL Okinawans are as insanely tough and powerful as you are?
[Kanna]
And sensitive!
[Ogami]
Wonderful. So if I end up with Kanna, her in-laws would be able to break me like a twig.
----
[Ogami]
Uh, um... could we cancel this race? I mean, we can't leave the capital for a whole two weeks.
[Ogami]
Ah, aaah...
----
[Ogami]
... this is payback for me beating you at a children's card game, isn't it.
[Kanna]
You betcher boots it is! You might want to hurry up and get that will written.
[Ogami]
No... I think I'm set. I've already gotten it written out in triplicate.
----
----
----
[Maria]
Captain... it's only eight o' clock.
[Ogami]
Yeah, I know. Isn't it just wild? I almost never stay up this late!
[Maria]
... are you a child, Captain?
[Ogami]
No, not really. I mean, I'm a lot more tired these days, what with everything that's going on...
[Maria]
I suppose that is true, Captain; it HAS been getting somewhat--
[Ogami]
... and the quasi-privacy that I can get in my room is only available at the end of the day, when everyone isn't screaming at me to do something or trying to abuse me or trying to kill me...
[Maria]
... Captain? Are you alri--
[Ogami]
... and it's the BEST time of the day because it's so nice to be able to sleep and forget about everything and some days I wish that I could just sleep and sleep and sleep and never have to wake up again...
[Maria]
Another day, another mental breakdown, I see.
[Ogami]
I want my mommy. And perhaps some breast milk.
[Maria]
... though I HAVE to admit that the creepiness level is increasing daily.
[Ogami]
Okay, fine, maybe just the latter will suffice. I am not a picky person.
----
[Ogami]
At the stars...?
[Maria]
Greece... China... Japan... all of them have so many stories about the stars.
[Ogami]
That's true... I wonder why that is.
----
[Maria]
I suspect it has something to do with the fact that they are big shiny things that show up in the sky at night for no readily apparent reason.
[Ogami]
I don't know... if THAT were the case, wouldn't most of our star-based legends be less about gods and romance and stuff, and be more like "what the hell ARE these big shiny things that show up in the sky for no readily apparent reason?"
[Maria]
... I think the legends revolving around gods and romance are a touch more interesting.
[Ogami]
Well, mankind DOES have a tendency to make shit up as it goes along. I'm pretty sure all of our legends are just the result of ancient civilizations hitting the bottle too hard.
[Maria]
THANK you, Captain, for ruining mythology for me by making it so that I can't unsee the greatest poetic minds of the past drinking their asses off.
----
Tanabata! 
[Maria]
Only once a year... are the two lovers able to cross the Milky Way and reaffirm their love for each other.
It is precisely because they are so far apart... that their hearts are so close together, and why their feelings for each other are so warm...
----
[Ogami]
What IS this, quiz night? First Sumire, now you...
[Maria]
Can you please just answer the question seriously, WITHOUT needlessly mouthing off?
----
[Ogami]
Maria...
[Ogami]
That's what I believe as well! Of course that's true!! No, there's no way that anyone could believe otherwise!
----
[Maria]
... SERIOUSLY, Captain.
[Ogami]
What? I AM being serious. ROMANCE IS SERIOUS BUSINESS.
----
[Maria]
Captain... this is what I think.
Even without love, people are able to live... but... a life without love is a life without meaning...
That's why... people can never forget their love...
[Ogami]
Yes... that's what I think, as well. And... that's what I want to believe.
----
[Ogami]
This is all I have left to believe in.
----
[Maria]
Now then, Captain... please excuse me here.
----
[Ogami]
...
[Ogami]
Well... that was a nice conversation. It's nice to know that even Maria has a romatic side to her otherwise cold, calculating exterior.
[Ogami]
Hey, I guess she really IS changing for the bett--
----
----
[Ogami]
-- godDAMMIT, she hasn't changed at all.
[Ogami]
Why must you remind me of the void?
----
Welp, Yoneda IS right next door, after all. Let's see what he has to say about the situation with Iris or about love (which are mutually exclusive subjects, for the love of all things good and holy in this world)!
[Ayame]
... and Manager, please exercise moderation in going out and amusing yourself at night.
----
[Yoneda]
'Coursh! Foo douche yew fink eye ham?
[Ayame]
A horribly drunk shell of a man?
[Yoneda]
I BOBJECKT TWO THAT! 'm not 'orribly blunk!
----
Naturally, the second Ayame leaves the room...
----
[Ogami]
W, what adults do...
----
[Ogami]
Stay up late and eat truckloads of candy!?
[Yoneda]
... well. At least from here, there ain't no other way to go but UP.
----
Ogami answers as any responsible, hard-working adult should.
[Yoneda]
That's how it's gotta be! Even you've gotta relax every now an' then, right?
Let's go, Ogami. I'll be teachin' you how a MAN's gotta behave!
[Ogami]
Yes, Manager! I'll follow you to the end of the world!!
Or at least until he can find some way to ditch the old man and escape to another country. FREEDOM!!
----
----
[Ogami]
... but if I DON'T worry about all that stuff, I'll just end up a full-grown kid.
[Yoneda]
But that's what every hot-blooded young person should aspire to, dammit!
----
Rattle rattle rattle.
[Ogami]
Manager... don't you have the key?
[Yoneda]
W, well.... I usually leave Ayame in charge of these kinds of things.
----
[Ogami]
So you've basically delegated some of the most important tasks to Ayame-san, which gives her an incredible amount of control over our collective ability to get in and out of the theater.
[Yoneda]
C'mon, Ogami, what the hell kind of person do you think I am!?
[Ogami]
Well, okay, fine, maybe not THAT much, but--
[Yoneda]
I delegated ALL of the most important tasks to Ayame!
[Ogami]
I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO SAY THAT.
[Yoneda]
I live to please!
----
[Yoneda]
But, this door... since when did it have this kind of a lock...?
----
[Ogami]
Since two minutes after Ayame left your office, if I can hazard a guess.
[Yoneda]
... she's always been able to keep two steps ahead of me.
----
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