K - Four Seasons of K short story 13

In spite of all odds, apparently it’s not over yet! Here’s another story! This time with Scepter 4!

The original Japanese text is still kindly provided by .

Sakura and Liars by Miyazawa Tatsuki

Scepter 4 was a relatively upstanding bunch. The idea of ‘order’ resided at the members’ core firmly, and their blue uniforms never failed to make them feel the sense of pride. Compared to the other clans where familiar frankness in clansmen’s attitude towards their king was nothing unusual, Scepter 4 stood out.

Unlike the Silver clan that had a feeling of a friends’ circle to it, or the Red clan that could be rather accurately described as a gang of delinquents with their gang boss ascending to kinghood as he was, without much change, the Blue King Munakata Reishi made a rather clear distinction between his position and that of the rest of the Blue clansmen. That distance was perfectly consistent too and always the same on all occasions - from a casual exchange on the most ordinary of days to an order for emergency drawing of swords in combat.

In a good sense, it cultivated class consciousness in his clansmen. Although not to the absolute degree of the Gold clan, you wouldn’t find anyone in the Blue clan who would dare contact Munakata in a friendly or familiar way. Everyone spoke to Munakata with a fixed and always present degree of reserve and respect.

On his part, Manakata always had a fitting presence and dignity about him naturally warranting such attitude. One could only wonder if it was innate, acquired during his upbringing or, perhaps, both. But the fact stood: he truly possessed royal solemnity, seemingly impossible for someone so young.

Still, even for Munakata there were times when an informal attitude towards him was adviced.

“Let us put ranks aside for today.”

Even if such a time was the occasion of flower viewing.

When Fushimi Saruhiko heard these words, he let out an exagerrated sigh, while Hidaka Akira, who happened to be present at the time, raised his eyes to heaven, lamenting his tragic fate.

Flower viewing was a customary event for Scepter 4. The HQ had rows of sakura trees growing on its premises, and holding a modest party while admiring the lovely view of blooming flowers had become a tradition of the past few years.

Only, Scepter 4 was a clan that had understood precisely what busy meant and respected it. Gathering everyone in one place for a lengthy drinking and talk session was a difficult task, so the usual practice was for the participants to come and go, starting with those who happened to be available at the time: they would take part in the party, enjoy the atmosphere briefly and then go back to their respective posts and duties.

The time window allowing for all the members of the Special ops squad to come together wasn’t even an hour long. Still, even for the Blue clan that did not hold many social functions like parties and trips as it is, time left for modest socializing with other clansmen outside work was cut exceptionally short these days.

And it was still only early hours of afternoon. The only three people who happened to be free at this time were Munakata, Fushimi and Hidaka. Munakata adjusted his schedule, freeing up about an hour before he had to head to a government office. The reason why Fushimi was available was probably to provide himself with an alibi: he planned to put in an appearance purely for the record in order to have an excuse to escape any further festivities before the party went into full swing in the evening.

He used the same tactics the year before, after all. That time, he lay down under the sakura trees, fiddling with his PDA for a while, then got up and left with a face that clearly read 'Geez, you may have forced me to go along with this stupid stuff, but now I’ve paid my this year’s dues’.

It was rather safe to assume that he had intended to do the same this year as well, except, as luck would have it, he happened to run into Munakata.

But the person whose luck was even worse off was Hidaka.

'Now I get why Enomoto and guys insisted on doing my paperwork for me!’

It positively looked like he was set up by his own trusted comrades who, somehow or other, learned just what kind of lineup was currently gathered under the sakura trees. If anyone could actually relax and sincerely have fun while sandwiched between Munakata and Fushimi, that alone would classify them as a beast of mental fortitude.

For form’s sake, Hidaka held a can of beer in one hand, but not a single drop of alcohol went down his throat. For the record, Munakata, who insisted on 'putting ranks aside’, sat in a straight-backed seiza, sipping green tea out of a teacup because, as he had informed the present, he still had work to attend to later on. Thanks to him, the whole thing had the vibe of an open-air tea ceremony instead of a flower-viewing party. Fushimi, for his part, sat kneeling down on one knee with a completely sour face, his other leg stretched out carelessly on the plastic sheet as he fiddled with his PDA. He was also pointedly ignoring every word that came out of Munakata’s mouth.

In Scepter 4, with their strict discipline and clear chain of command, Fushimi was the only one who dared address Munakata with a somewhat familiar 'anta’. He did 3 times more work than any other member, but in return he never shied away from showing his displeasure and even had the nerve to openly object and disapprove of the king. From where Hidaka, the epitome of ordinariness in both work and in mental fortitude, stood, Fushimi was pretty much a beast in his own right.

'Agh, I wish I could leave already,’ Hidaka thought to himself with all painful sincerity. There was just no way anyone could enjoy their beer when sandwiched between two monsters.

“Now that I think about it,” Munakata remarked thoughtfully, “putting ranks aside is easier said than done, making you two quite uncomfortable, I’m sure. So how about we incorporate another idea into it? It’s not everyday that the date is April Fools’, after all. So how about a rule allowing you to lie freely just for today?”

Ah, come to think of it, it completely slipped Hidaka’s mind that it was April Fools’ Day today.

“Lie?” He couldn’t just lie on demand though.
“It could be anything, Hidakkun,” Munakata reassured him, thoroughly amused. “Think of it as your chance to show off your wit.”
“Haah, but sir…”
“Well, honesty is basically Hidaka’s greatest virtue, and wit must be getting in the way,” Fushimi suddenly spoke up, interrupting Hidaka and leaving him flabbergasted: normally hell would freeze over before Fushimi deigned to actually compliment Hidaka.

'Wit, to boot? Did he just call me witty?’ Hidaka was in total confusion.

Munakata, though, wore a face that clearly read 'My, my.’

“Still, I feel it’s worth taking Captain up on that challenge. After all,
despite us all being so swamped with work, he found an opportunity and made time for us to have this pleasant talk. He’s such a great boss, really.”
“Hohoh,” Munakata intoned and grinned, thoroughly entertained.

Hidaka still struggled to make sense of what was going on.

Fushimi, meanwhile, continued with the same sour face, “We rarely ever get a chance to freely talk about all kinds of things with our most revered superior, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity that I’m on the verge of tears right now.”

After hearing something that ridiculous, even Hidaka finally caught on. 'I see, it’s April Fools’!’

It looked like Fushimi was on board with Munakata’s idea, in the light of which it was necessarily to assume that everything that came out of his mouth was lies. In other words, his earlier statement about Hidaka was to be taken as 'There’s no way Hidaka with his stupid honesty could do that’, followed by what basically amounted to 'It’s not worth listening to a stupid boss who squeezed some nonsense meeting into our already packed schedule at a friggin hectic time like this’ if you went into the nuances of it.

'What a ridiculously elaborate way to call someone idiot!’ Hidaka was impressed despite himself. Curious about how Munakata’s reaction to Fushimi’s sarcasm, Hidaka glanced at his superior, only to find him shaking his head with a sigh.

“I have to say, Fushimi-kun, I do not appreciate that attitude of yours void of any cooperative spirit. Your habitual incompetence is deeply frustrating.” He actually sounded disappointed!

'Umm, so, to translate…’ Since Munakata was lying, his statement was to be understood as something along the lines of 'I highly appreciate your straightforward attitude. You are habitually very efficient and capable.’

How annoyingly confusing. And the worst thing was, it wasn’t going to stop any time soon.

“I’m so happy to hear that from you, Captain, that I think I’m about to sprout wings and take to the sky.”
“The report you wrote on strain classification based on medical jurisprudence was an extremely absurd read. I tore it up and disposed of it.”

It went on, all the while Fushimi looked sullen, while Munakata appeared amused and enjoying himself. That is, the gist of what was happening was Fushimi badmouthing Munakata in a roundabout way, while Munakata kept responding to the barbs with compliments.

'Th-this is tiring. What clever, complicated people they are.’

Hidaka’s weariness only kept mounting all the way until the other members showed up, Munakata ran out of time and had to leave for the government office in accordance with his plans, and Fushimi, rightfully believing his due paid in full, disappeared out of sight.

In the end, after Hidaka had nursed a can of beer, he fell asleep right under the sakura trees from severe mental exhaustion. The party, on the other hand, continued late into the night as the ever changing participants kept coming and going one after another.

When Hidaka awoke from his slumber, he returned to duty and finished whatever little paperwork he could, but his mood remained rather awful. Having given up on forcing his head to work anymore today, he made his way to the washroom, intending to splash his face with cool water.

When on the way he noticed Munakata and Fushimi in an open space along the hall used for brief meetings, his legs instinctively got rooted to the floor and refused to move. His heart leapt into his throat at the thought of their tricky exchanges and them still being at it, but to his relief, they appeared to only meet to share information. Finding it hard to leave the place for some reason, Hidaka stayed, eavesdropping, until the two’s amazingly efficient conversation came to an end.

'Really, these two are insanely capable when it comes to work.’ That was the one thing about them that never failed to impress Hidaka.

Having finished their business with each other, the two were about to part ways, heading in the opposite directions. Until…

“Oh well, when everything is said and done, I consider the fact that you’re my King fortunate,” Fushimi muttered, malicious look on his face, as he glanced at the clock mounted on the wall. For all intents and purposes, he appeared to be lying, creating a chance for himself to badmouth Munakata again.

The clock read 11:45 in the evening.

Munakata chuckled with amusement written all over his countenance. He, too, raised his eyes to look at the clock on the wall. “Fufu. That was a mistake much unlike you, Fushimi-kun. This clock is 30 minutes slow. Thusly, right now, it’s not 11:45 in the evening on the first of April but 15 minutes past midnight into April, 2. Lies are no longer lies.”

Indeed, Hidaka thought. He had checked his wristwatch and confirmed that the clock on the wall was indeed slow.

“Tch,” Fushimi, annoyed, clicked his tongue heartily. Then he shrugged his shoulders and left without uttering another word. Munakata’s lips curved in a light smile as he walked off in the direction opposite of where Fushimi had gone to. It was an indifferent parting, very much in the two’s style.

Only then Hidaka was finally able to leave his spot.

“Haah.” He felt awkward or maybe edgy.

Just as Hidaka was deciding, Enomoto chose that moment to appear at the scene with a stepladder.

“Hey there, sorry.” He leaned the ladder against the wall and was about to dismount the clock.

“Wait, you gonna fix it?”
“Yeah. Its battery ran out or something, and Fushimi-san ordered me to do something about it earlier.”
“!” Without realizing, Hidaka turned in the direction Fushimi had gone to. 'Does that mean he knew from the start this clock was slow?!’

For a while Hidaka just stood there stock still, unable to move from the shock.

Enomoto was staring at him in puzzlement.

“Haha,” Hidaka finally let out strained laugh, tinged with admiration. Those two really were incomprehensibly weird, he thought with feeling from the bottom of his heart.

Chapter end