Nil Admirari

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“Mya-myaaaaaa~” Ryo-ohki chirped, pleased beyond what her vocalizations could express that she was taking to the dark seas of Outer Space again with Ryoko. It had been many years since the two of them set sail for a longer trip, Ryoko preferring to keep to the Earth as much as possible after the marriage. There was always a part of her that would plead to go off on an adventure somewhere every time she looked to the night skies. But she forced herself to decline this desire, wishing to get further away from the life she led out there before she came to meet the man she loved. Ryoko missed the sensation of flying around in the vast emptiness with nothing to stand in her way but the occasional pesky Galaxy Police patrol or a Jurian ship. Giving it up served as a way for her to bring about a change. Her life was no longer free-floating. She was attached to the heart of another, and she could not be as careless as she once was.

Dwelling upon a single planet was such a foreign concept to Ryoko before she crashed onto Earth. The delicate brush of the artist who crafted each planet and star had so much to offer even a space pirate like herself. Some planets bathed in red hues and orange highlights, tickling her violent side with thoughts of powerful storms and dry, cracked climates at odds against the anger of the planet itself. Deep blue shells, yellow spheres, some planets half consumed by technological build-up. Even when she was too young to truly appreciate just how immense the universe was and all of the life she passed by, she held a sort of reverence for the things that space travel could show her. She was, in fact, enjoying the sight of the planets again when Ryo-ohki’s communication com channel lit up.

“Didn’t forget the carrots, did you?” Washu teased as her petite frame flickered onto one of Ryo-ohki’s screens. Ryo-ohki instinctively cried out excitedly at the thought of her favorite orange treats.

“I took care of everything. Did a few quick duties around the house, said goodbye to Tenchi, packed a lunch…” Ryoko trailed off, Washu chuckling at the thought of Ryoko calling off a checklist like a child would before a field trip. There was a brief silence between the two before Washu spoke up again.

“Anyway, I did a little diggin’ around to see if I could find our comedy duo team in the Galaxy Police mainframe. Had to dig real deep, they’ve upgraded since the last time I probed in.”

“Hope you didn’t slip up and get caught,” Ryoko mused.

“Listen now, I may have been out of practice with their systems but it isn’t anything I can’t handle!” Washu struck her usual proud pose. “Besides, you’ll know if I got caught when the fleet opens fire on you. I used your name, after all.”

“You what?!” Ryoko jolted forward in her seat as Washu belted out her obnoxious laugh.

“I’m just pulling your leg! You think I’d let myself get caught? Would hardly befit a person of my statute, would it? I was able to determine that Yagami is still in active duty, both of our friends still serving aboard. Quite a few additional decorations awarded to both, though their higher standing puts them on higher level cases. But, I managed to get in contact with Kiyone and made the arrangements. She’s got a nice place in mind somewhere near where they’re currently stationed. I’ve sent the coordinates to Ryo-ohki.”

“Mya!” Ryo-ohki confirmed.

“It’s a little upscale though dear, try to wear something decent so you don’t embarrass the poor girl.”

“What are you, my mother or something?”

“Just trying to be a help! Au revoir~” The screens blinked off as Washu gave a cheeky little wave. Ryoko leaned back in her chair and went back to staring at the marbles hanging in the dark drapes of the universe as Ryo-ohki sped off in the direction of the coordinates she was given.

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Like a good usher, the door swung open with little resistance and never got in Ryoko’s way as she stepped into the bar. Lining the interior were classy wooden furnishings mixed in with the more familiar curves of modern metallic styles. Thumping away in the far back corner were some nameless, hep Jazz musicians, whose tempered freeplay borderlined between relaxing and seductive. Customers sat along a row of chairs by the bar proper, the counter just barely lit by a dim light humming away just above the bar. Lining the walls were booths, each pair enough to seat 4 people to a table. Despite the chatter between patrons, the clink of glasses and mugs being set down after casual sips, and the lush saxophone fluttering out note after drawn out note from the back, somehow it wasn’t quite overpowering. Ryoko could hear every word spoken, but could easily tune it out with little effort.

Spotting an empty booth by the window overlooking the city street outside, Ryoko slipped her coat off to get comfortable as she slid into the stuffed leather seating. Leaning back, she detected a lingering waft of cigarette smoke from nearby. She waved it away, turning to look for the source, but didn’t see a single person with a lit cigarette. The sound of ceramic tapping against polished wood drew her back towards her own table. A handsome waiter, in his 30s with hair slicked back into a ponytail and a prominent jaw, stood holding a carafe of coffee. The smell was overwhelmingly inviting.

“Hello, miss! Welcome to Land’s End,” he greeted as he presented the carafe towards Ryoko. “My name is Hiroaki, I’ll be your server today. Would you care for some coffee?”

“Yes, please.” Ryoko watched as the man skillfully poured the coffee at a rather high distance from the cup. The individual notes of the coffee’s flavor and scent filled her senses with a calming energy. It had been quite some time since she’d had coffee, Tea being the preferred drink of choice back home.

“I’ve never seen you here before, are you familiar with the menu?”

“Coffee’s fine for now, I’m meeting some old friends here.”

“Understood. Wave if you need anything,” Hiroaki bowed lightly, clutched the carafe close to his chest, and walked off to serve another customer.

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“Could have left the whole jug,” Ryoko remarked to herself, lifting the cup to her lips and taking in the smooth, deep chestnut colored brew. The others often joked about how Ryoko could eat almost anything, but she knew this tasted great. Kiyone did always try to find the small pleasures in life as she rarely had the time for anything else. Ryoko spent a few minutes overlooking the bar room, so many contently pleased faces sitting around, wasting time as though there was an infinite abundance.

“Hey,” a familiar voice called out from behind Ryoko. “You got here early!” Kiyone’s face alit with a warm smile, she stopped right beside the booth. Ryoko stood up and, almost as though it were an instinct, gave Kiyone a welcoming hug. Kiyone wasn’t always one for the physical displays, but she slowly returned the motion. A beat of the song playing in the background passed before they separated and took their seats.

“Not like there’s anything else for me to do on this rock,” Ryoko sarcastically replied. “When’s this place going to see a little excitement, huh?”

“It better not come from you, I’d hate to be here on official business,” Kiyone seemed to acknowledge someone gesturing at her, and she nodded and gave a brief wave. Ryoko took a good look at her while she was distracted. Her face had seemed a little worn, her long cerulean hair streaked with a few strands of gray. She’d always dedicated herself to her work, sometimes almost too much, and it had aged her quite a bit. She wore it well though, it seemed to match with her overcoat she’d purchased while living on earth a decade ago. Either that, or she didn’t have the time to attend to it but it still managed to come together with elegance.

“Hard to believe it’s been ten years,” Kiyone remarked as she turned back to face Ryoko. “When I saw the message from Washu, I wasn’t sure what to think. Usually word from her means trouble.”

“Hey, I think you’ve forgotten who’s sitting in front of you!” Ryoko wrinkled her nose a little in feigned offense. Hiroaki appeared and slipped a cup gently in front of Kiyone. She nodded towards him without skipping a beat, the smell of coffee filling the air again as he poured.

“Can I get you two anything else?” he asked. Ryoko shook her head.

“Biscotti Toscani,” Kiyone replied as Hiroaki turned to her. He nodded.

“I’ll be back in a moment,” with that, Hiroaki shuffled off again. Kiyone added a dash of sugar into the coffee, gave it a stir, and slipped a slender finger carefully around the cup’s handle.

“Where’s Mihoshi?” Ryoko asked. “You two are still partners, right?” Kiyone finished her sip and gave off a small noise that could have been either a satisfied expel from the coffee or a sigh in recognition of her partner’s ineptitude.

“She said she’d be here on time, probably spent too much time back at her apartment.”

A moment of silence crossed between them.

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“Surprised you didn’t order something heavy, the bar has some nice brands and mixes. The bartender, Taura, he’s pretty talented… if a little quiet.”

“I try not to go as haywire as I used to,” Ryoko shook her head lightly, though a good drink always sounded appealing to her. “So, how’s things been at the Galaxy Police anyhow? Still filing accident reports like a good girl?”

“Thankfully those days have been behind me for a while now. I received a few promotions on a slightly different path than I had expected. They want to protect the ones they considered bright from the Academy days after a few years of stressful cases. Sometimes, I miss patrol work. Now I deal with some of the more fun and interesting cases. Dissolving assassinations, political intrigue. Most recently I helped take down a real bastard of a man who held seat in the civilian side Jurian court. Had his hand in every pile of dirty laundry you could imagine, and a mouth that’d make your space pirate linguist skills blush.”

Ryoko recalled Kiyone and Mihoshi both getting some nice promotions after they helped end Kagato’s control over Jurai. The both of them willingly gave up their positions to return home to the Masaki house when they felt the work wasn’t to their liking.

“Do you ever regret it?” Ryoko posed. “Giving up your old position at the Galaxy Police to come back to the Solar System?”

“It wasn’t the most fulfilling,” Kiyone lifted the coffee up, sipped, and placed the cup back onto the table. “I was young then and had only thought of forwarding my career. It didn’t matter to me at the time where it was that I ended up, I just wanted a new stripe on my uniform to say to the world that I had made it an extra step. I realized that before I came back, though nowhere near as much as I do now, ten years wiser. Besides, you were my friends. I couldn’t say I had any of those except for Mihoshi while I was out there. I think she missed you guys even more, you know how emotional she can get. We may be as inseparable as sisters, but it didn’t feel right without the whole family at the time.” As Kiyone finished, Hiroaki sat the Biscotti Toscani in front of her. She muttered a ‘thank you’ as he moved on to the next table and picked up one of the delicate cookies. It was shaped in a long wedge, powdered with cinnamon and drizzled with lines of dark chocolate webbing. She dipped the edge of the dessert into her coffee and stirred lightly, letting the hot beverage soak into the fibers of the cookie.

“But really, it’s all probably not very interesting to hear about. How about you? Ten years on earth, surely you’ve got some stories to tell!” Kiyone bit into her cookie and chewed with delighted enthusiasm. She seemed to be awaiting Ryoko’s response. Ryoko thought for a moment.

“Well, life’s bee-” before she could even begin, a loud crash was heard near the entrance to the bar.

“Oooh, oh my, I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there, really, I can’t believe I ran into you like that,” another voice as familiar as the beat of one’s own heart rang out above the rest of the bar’s low-key noise. Some heads turned, Ryoko’s included. Kiyone simply hid her face with her hands.

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“Mihoshi…?” Ryoko called out. That blonde, curly head of hair peeked up from around the corner of the table. Mihoshi gave her usual chipper smile and giggle.

“Oh, Ryoko!” She jumped up, leaving the poor waitress she crashed into behind to pick up the mess. Kiyone scooted over a bit and pulled Mihoshi down into the booth seat, her face painted red with frustration.

“Can’t I take you anywhere?!” Kiyone spat out in a raised whisper. Ryoko felt a chuckle raise deep from within. Leaning back with one arm stretched out against the top of the booth’s cushioned seat, she watched as the two of them went into one of their little quarrels. Ten years and they still hadn’t changed a bit. For the first time in a long while, Ryoko felt a sense of home that had been absent in that time. Finally, the two of them completed their patented MihoKiyo physical comedy routine and settled down.

“Oh gosh, I still can’t believe it, Ryoko!” Mihoshi snapped back to where she had been before she was dragged into her seat. “I can’t believe how much time has passed, has it really been ten years? My goodness, I bet so much has happened since the last time we paid a visit. When Kiyone told me she got a message from Washu about you coming to see us, I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming! But nope, it hurt a little… well, a lot, and I didn’t wake up, sooooooo! Here we ar- ooh, excuse me, waiter? Okay,” Mihoshi waved to a random waiter in the distance, before continuing again with nary a breath drawn between sentences. “So where was I? Oh, yeah, right! How’s things been? We haven’t seen you in so long I was starting to worry about you but I always thought to myself, ‘Mihoshi, you know Ryoko is a strong woman and she’s just fine’. Looks like I wasn’t wrong!” She finally paused for a moment to speak to Hiroaki while Kiyone and Ryoko shot each other glances. Kiyone’s was of exasperation. Ryoko’s was one of amusement.

“So, you’ve been doing well?” Ryoko prodded. Kiyone’s face stretched a bit as if to say ‘what are you doing?!’ Mihoshi finished placing her order and turned to face Ryoko again. Physically, she hadn’t aged a day. It gave Ryoko a bit of pause to see the weathered Kiyone next to a youthful-as-ever Mihoshi.

“Very well! Kiyone and I have stuck together through thick and thin, case after case. We got moved up a few times on the inside ya know, now we don’t have to deal with all that boring ol’ silly stuff. I mean, a job’s a job but some are more nourishing than others. Like the difference between a french fry and a bowl of noodles! Aaaaand let’s see, besides that, got a new place, a boyfriend, a-”

“Wait, you have a boyfriend?” Ryoko blurted. It sounded meaner than she intended, but she never really pictured Mihoshi being… together enough for something like that.

“Uh huh, he works with the Administration Department. We met shortly after one of the promotions Kiyone and I got. He’s so sweet! He likes to wait for me in the morning so we can get breakfast together, he’s always checking up on me to see how my cases are going… he almost knows the cases better than I do.”

“I can’t say I ever thought I’d hear that, but way to go Mihoshi! What about you, Kiyone? Have you found your man in the stars? Or, however that pop song went we sang on karaoke back at the wedding.” Kiyone looked down at her cup and fidgeted with the handle a little, her fingers nervously trying to occupy themselves to avoid judgment.

“No, no one for me. I hardly have the time to think about something like that. I’m hardly an ideal candidate either, my head’s always so into work. I mean, I would love to find someone to be with but I… well, I guess I’m just not that lucky.” Hiroaki approached the table and sat a large strawberry milkshake with extra whipped cream in front of Mihoshi. Her face lit up like a child’s at Christmas.

“Why not Hiroaki?” Ryoko teased. Kiyone let out a surprised gasp.

“Why not Hiroaki what, miss?” he responded. Ryoko opened her mouth but Kiyone quickly held her hand up in front of Ryoko’s face before she could say anything.

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Kiyone interjected, a nervous titter escaping her lips while becoming aware of how absurd she must look right now. For a moment, the only sound that came from the table was of Mihoshi blissfully unaware of what was happening and chowing down on her dessert. Hiroaki bowed lightly again and left the table. Ryoko burst into laughter, having contained herself while their waiter was there.

“You should see the look on your face, girl,” Ryoko tried to compose herself a little, to not disturb the gentle ways of the bar’s ambiance. Kiyone slumped into a relaxed position in her seat and took a sip of coffee, trying to hide her obvious blushing with her hands and the coffee cup. A thought processed through Ryoko’s mind at this turn of events. She questioned herself on if she even wanted to ask it, but curiosity got the better of her.

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“You know you two, this might sound weird but how come… how come you never really pursued Tenchi?” Kiyone and Mihoshi both spent a moment fixated in thought, Kiyone stirring her coffee with another piece of biscotti while Mihoshi swirled some milkshake around her tongue.

“It just never really occurred to me, I guess.” Mihoshi said, breaking her usual fast-paced cheerful tone with a surprisingly restrained one. “Being at the house was just more fun, like a really long vacation of sorts. Maybe I did have some feelings at some point I guess, but… I dunno, I enjoyed doing things around the house too much to dwell on it.”

“You can love someone without being attracted to them,” Kiyone spoke after a few seconds of silence. “I loved Tenchi in the way that you love a sibling or an old friend. You love talking to them, hanging out with them, there’s a certain quality in their company that you find difficult to get anywhere else. But I never really saw myself with him. I think because you and Ayeka were already threatening to tear each others’ heads off over him, I don’t think I wanted mine on the chopping block too. Tenchi was many things to all of us, but romantic love wasn’t one of them for me.”

“Kiyone knows allllllll about love, don’tcha Kiyone? There’s this guy in the office she reaaaaaaally likes, every time he comes in for a report she straightens her uniform up all extra nice and has an extra spring in her step, oooh it’s so adorable Kiyone~!” Mihoshi’s giggles were stifled by Kiyone’s hand, which had reached over to silence her before she could spill out any further embarrassing details.

“I do not!” she protested, but Ryoko’s laughs told her it was too late to try and deny anything. Ryoko decided to steer things back on track to prevent Kiyone from growing any more grays during their meeting.

“I was just curious, you know? We’d been together through some of the craziest times of our lives – becoming the most wanted criminals in the universe, defeating a coup on the Jurian throne, stopping Kain from messing with Tenchi’s very existence, rescuing Tenchi from Haruna… There was a time I thought the carnival was just never going to leave town back then. I thought maybe it had something to do with when Tenchi and I became a thing. Everyone stayed until after the wedding and then bit by bit the house grew emptier in a way. I was beside myself every day to be with the man I loved, waking up and seeing the sun kissing his skin so delicately, his warmth enveloping over my every thought. I’d gotten what I wanted, but I had to lose something in return.” Ryoko lifted her coffee to her lips, finding it had grown rather chilly since the last sip she’d taken.

“It wasn’t that, at least not for me.” Kiyone shook her head. “I was glad to see you two finally come to terms with it and be happy with each other. Ayeka was the one who took it the hardest, but that was to be expected. She gracefully bowed out, but I could see in her eyes she still loved him even after she realized she couldn’t be with him. Still… you getting with Tenchi, it didn’t make me want to leave. It had just been a while and I knew deep down I wanted to move forward with work again. I’d had plenty of time to relax and think about what I really wanted to end up doing and figured I needed to start on it while I was still young enough. No use in getting promoted to the position you want a few years from retirement.”

“Mmmhm!” Mihoshi confirmed. “It was just time to get back to business, fighting crime and keeping the galaxy clean!” She gave a little salute like she would at an informal gathering to colleagues, and dropped her spoon down into the empty milkshake glass with a clang.

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After an hour or two of chat, the three of them realized it was getting to be very late. Mihoshi and Kiyone still had work the next day, so as much as it pained them to leave their old friend so soon after ten years of not hearing from her, it had to be done. They gathered just outside of the bar and hugged each other for a goodbye. These hugs lasted much longer than the one that had been exchanged previously, none of them really wanting to leave so quickly after such a long gap of time.

“Maybe we’ll take some time off and come visit earth sometime soon,” Kiyone said. “Even if we stay busy, there’s really not been a good excuse for us having been out of touch so long. Life’s just taken us places.”

“You should, the place is too clean without you girls there.” They all laughed.

“Tell Ayeka and Sasami we said hello!” Mihoshi chirped as Kiyone and herself waved goodbye and began to head off into the distance. Ryoko reached her hand out after her friends, one more thing hanging on the edge of her tongue. But she thought it best if it waited for the next time she saw them, lowering her arm as she watched Kiyone and Mihoshi’s figures become dots on the far horizon of the city street before becoming indistinguishable from the lights and other people moving in the distance. She looked up at the blue-hued moon floating in the night sky above this planet, slipped her hands into her coat pockets and began heading back to where she had docked Ryo-ohki.