I'm a reckless mistake
I'm a cold night's intake
The two had been at Akira’s office the whole evening, clearing it up for the next Captain-Commander. It was a long, awkward, silent evening. One with too many moments of temptation. They had divided the room into two sections. He took the left and she took the right. Her back was turned towards him most of the time and he had to fight the urge to jump over the pile of boxes and hug her from behind. That wouldn’t really be considered ‘waiting’.
The sun had already set by the time they were done. They were on their way to hand over the key to the quartermaster when they met Pagni and Baldanti at the hallway. Haru saluted the Captain-Commander and was glad for his presence. It meant he didn’t need to salute the Captain. Baldanti had a wide grin on his face and Haru didn’t like it one bit. The man was obviously happy that Akira would no longer be in the building, but Haru had a feeling this went beyond that. He looked far too pleased.
Pagni, on the other hand, looked a bit dejected. He turned towards Akira and gave her the slightest hint of a smile. “For what it’s worth, you have my gratitude,” he said. He didn’t elaborate and left it up to interpretation. Baldanti’s grin diminished, but wasn’t entirely gone. Pagni then turned towards Haru and he stood even straighter—which Haru didn’t think was possible. “Lieutenant Hatsuharu. Allow me to give you this great news before it is announced officially. Starting next week, you are promoted to the rank of Captain-Commander. Congratulations,” he said.
Haru was shocked. He looked at Pagni first, then at Akira, and then at Pagni again. It went on for a few more rounds and he looked rather stupid. “I- I don’t understand. You must mean ‘Captain’,” Baldanti intruded, with a dismissive chuckle at the end of that sentence. As much as Haru hated the man, he had to agree with him on this one. Pagni must have misspoken. “I said what I meant,” Pagni confirmed, ignoring Baldanti and answering to Haru instead when he realized he had the same doubt.
“You fought valiantly when the demons came. You earned this,” Pagni added. Haru saluted once more. “Thank you, Sir,” he replied. Haru never really cared about the ranks. But this one felt good because he now outranked Baldanti, who seemed furious.
To add salt to the injury, Pagni went on to offer Akira’s old office to Haru. “You should take over Miss Shimada’s old office. If you choose to be stationed in Orchidia for long, that is,” he said. Haru could see that Baldanti was fuming. Something told him that the Captain was expecting himself to be in the shoes that Haru was in right then. The young twenty-two-year-old fresh Captain-Commander was no saint. He was gloating and looked rather smug whenever his eyes met with Baldanti’s.
“Do me proud,” Pagni said finally, before he nodded and excused himself. The moment the two of them left, Haru turned towards Akira with his arms wide open. He wanted a celebratory hug from his partner. He didn’t want to wait for that.
Training Nullification (D-S)
Total WC: 7333/12000