Chapter Text
The desk is nothing in comparison to your own all the way back home, expected when one compares the presidency to the power that came with being a professor, and yet there is some gratitude in the failures of the executive in wrangling this union into a form that might be able to defend itself.
With obvious exceptions there was no sane person that would enjoy reading upon the reports of war with the glee that the generals had written of the reality of war and the disappointment that might come with finding a divided enemy as they approached the river dividing the country in two.
Of course, without a shadow of a doubt, the scale from slavers to liberators ran a large course but they were forever greater than slavers. In the face of armed liberation coming from the outside without the expectations of the white man and their freedom there had been no better time to sabotage and potentially revolt against their weakened masters.
It had been a weary reminder of his willingness to accept the generals that made up the army of his that was lead by an exceptional class that also thirsted for blood and honor as if they were supposed to be the shogunate of old that was decrepit against the devils of the old world that forced them all away from their ancestral homeland.
Cut adrift from the homeland without anything waiting for them beyond the tragedy that remained in the hearts of the first generation of the refugees that would come to America's shores in understanding of the fight that would come for them all.
It was unexpected and unpredictable from an analytical perspective, and yet there he was, one of the tribe had managed to conquer the odds and sat at the kind of desk that was supposed to feel more fulfilling than continuing lessons plans and alike while continuing the electoral struggle.
After the end all that remained was to heal and create the kind of country that was supposed to be given to them as all under heaven instead of the mockery that continued on the home islands, always being second best to the foreigners that controlled each and every little thing they did. But if their corruption gave those across the pond anything of value it would be the wisdom and understanding that came with the trappings of tradition.
Men and their politics only worried about the kind of power that came with holding far longer than they needed to just as they surrendered their sovereignty in the name of keeping themselves as nothing more than a vassal, always open for their superiors that would be helped in suppressing the population, yet they did not understand the kind of power and immortality that came with being remembered as the father of a nation.
Immortality was much greater than those that had won battles where one day they would be cosigned to a level of forgetfulness eventually, yet faces became immortalized forever in the kind of myth that had produced the guiding star for them all as they had done the kind of political move that only came from those with ambition and the guidance to see the true areas of exploitation and power bases.
Immortality was good on it’s own and just as it lead Raiden Ei to engage in the kind of suicidal ambition that could only be comapred to the hubris of a god it lead Kamisato Ayato to understand the recklessness that came with the kind of immortality that may only come from the battlefield and the challenge for the god of battle.
Hatred would lead one to ignore the enemy and their tactics much less their leaders and history that was built on the exploitation in the name of god and their development but that was the kind of thinking that was not to be allowed in his world as those that knew and of his hatred of the courtly world had sunken their claws in a mockery of the conditions that were said to exist back home as a sign of a sad decline into irrelevance.
Men and their atrocities were not of his concern beyond keeping those on their toes in the kind of talk that might’ve gotten one court martialed on talk of betrayal and sedition were they living in a less civilized land than America. It was not his greatest desire in life but there was a great joy to be found in challenging those that engaged in the kind of thinking that did not allow for survival and adaptation.
They spoke of legacy yet they did not see the potential set out before them and thus it was for Ayato take the charge in transforming a nation in ways where it would be his name in the books that come in the future where legacy comes from the history of America that could not ignore his own influence in the mentality and patriotism that was to be formed when he got his hands on the psyche of these people.
He adorned freedom as any free man from the Shogunate did just the same way the slaves from Kansas continued their rebellions from the masters, much as he wished to forget Ei’s words on the ‘delightful sight’ and ‘potential for soldiers’ from those fields, and yet he found those that always tasted freedom to be the most concerning when it came to the kind of ideals that they claimed to be true and honest under the banner of that most insidious ideology.
Nationalism.
A fine enough project for those like him that could look beyond their own eyes and see the danger of such a project getting its tendrils in the minds of men that would exploit and pervert such an idea until it served nothing more than the whims of the greatest speaker that could come and trick these weaker minds until they had signed their own rights away under some guise of an enemy that did not exist.
Not to speak ill of his allies for the cause but there was a reason he had been the one with enough sense to understand that despite everything that he could say about the kind of liberation that was to come to those ‘oppressed people’ if one listened to the word of Kokomi that had been spending much too far time where there seemed to genuine questions raised at her loyalty, only through diligent work for the foreseeable future could his goal begin to not collapse under the weight of those preaching freedom in a way unlike the corrupt bargain.
No amount of treasury money could imitate the payment to come with Kokomi’s brilliant work of allowing their troops through native land without harassment.
Of course now there were games to be played with those promised some kind of recompense for not rebelling and essentially being paid to disappear but he would leave that to her digression while he cared very little for those that had the dubious honor of still being alive instead of being subsumed by the ‘white man’ and other such nonsense when conquest could be summarized to technological differences.
Kokomi would be ecstatic to be the one in charge of such a task, at least it also got her away from the risks of engaging in another round of parlay with her own enemy from something he could not wrap his head around.
Yet there was no doubt that when push came to shove there was a beauty in their destruction that came with those not afraid of death in the madness that came with immortality. Now that the dust had settled nonetheless there would be many stories told about those twin devils that would not yet leave consciousness.
But that immortality came with conquering and violence not in the kind of statecraft that was certain to be the actual path for legacy that Makoto shared along with Ayato in heavy contrast to the kind of person that was certain to cause a conniption for those back home in Oregon or even the shogunate.
It was almost a toss up between which of the Raiden sisters might cause the most heart attacks but there might be a slight edge to the warrior of the bunch for having the spirit of the samurai in the body of a woman that had the men on the edge of their seats as she continued her own work towards becoming the greatest warrior of the western hemisphere which could be the only reason for her to continue to lead their campaigns.
Of course for all of the reports that might come from the battlefield and the enemy there was only one accurate source for Ei’s desire to find herself surrounded and outgunned in the style of one of those westerns that had some similarities of the stories of those brave samurai that embodied the kind of warrior Makoto suspected her sister of trying to emulate.
Despite all her recklessness born of the kind of hubris that might rival even the gods there was a deep and burning desire to return home at the end of the day instead of becoming nothing more than a wanderer constantly looking for the next fight, Raiden Makoto was not the flashy one yet she was perhaps his favorite between the two of them.
She had been the one to leash her sister and had been the one to remind him of what came next now that they stood at the head of the land of opportunity which required all of their hands to share the pie equally in regards to the government that was much too weak for any of them to be comfortable with; Besides Thoma but he would settle with what he got.
Life itself had diverged them somewhat yet there would be no reason for them to worry over the kind of bickering that was expected of politicians as he followed the rules for ‘summoning’ ‘retainers’ for a ‘mission’ that was the one to carve up the country in ways that just might work between them all.
Even if they all also hated Washington D.C. just like Ayato they would need to get themselves acquainted with the city for the rest of their lives; unless he allowed elections but he would kick that can down the road.
Really, they were due a reunion anyways.
If one was to describe the story of Kamisato Ayato it would be insulting to not mention the arm on his shoulder that came with having the envious position of closest advisor. No doubt about his loyalty was coming from his end on the moves of Thoma that went on as he also made his own moves to try and remove the circumstances of the rebellion that had led to them over taking the government instead of being arrested.
His closest friend, or rather ‘advisor’ as those people put it, traded barbs with him as they meshed their ideologies in ways that still boggled the mind. It was equally fair to say the longer they spent together there became a sort of softening of positions on certain ideas that were supposed to be the kind of thing traditional school of thought said was to be pushed away as if one was expelling a demon.
While there was no chance Ayato might one day find himself in an Anarcho-Communist commune there was at least the very real understanding that there was something in those ideals that might be worth implementing because he had been forced to read a lot for Thoma and also because of the terror on their faces.
Summoning the man was as simple as asking him to come from another room into the office of the most glorious position in the world, now was the time when there remained little to be hashed out between the two of them but there was a desire to prepare himself for the battles that were to come soon enough in the future once those others got to learn about the information that was sure to cause unnecessary friction.
Alas not everyone could have his relationship with Thoma.
One strong enough that there was a shared understanding of why exactly he had come to his first friend with a grimace on his face as they faced one another at the table, he looked as if he was fighting the urge to slump against the old chairs that did no wonders for support in this day and age before he opened his mouth to be his eyes and ears on the discussions that were no doubt continuing without him.
“It’s bad.” He almost raised an eye at the failures of Makoto before sighing as even she failed to coral her sister.
“They've shut Makoto out.” Ayato shouldn't be surprised when every little conversation of theirs was filled with enough subtext to be the kind of battle between nobility or those generals in fiction that they had shut out the voice of moderation.
Raiden Makoto was perhaps his greatest ally in the institute believing in the kind of world that he was making instead of engaging the kind of world her sister or Kokomi believed in that would bring themselves greater satisfaction than the one that might come from their participation in the new government.
Now though she was the one in charge of getting these two to understand that they couldn’t take their ball and go home without letting everything fall apart under his feet and by extension their dreams.
“I’m here if you want?” There was no way in hell he was getting anything other than spreading hot air if he was to get involved in whatever quagmire was developing under his nose without so much as a word from him as the one holding this party from devolving into further escalation.
“Let me tell you…” Some things were worth more than blood.
Thoma could go for hours and hours and yet at some point it would be like he was physically in the room as the two of them tore one another apart on the measures that Kokomi considered ‘Something out of the Kujou clan’ and the pushback from EI that was of ‘national concern’ which lead to more back and forth on the role America was to play in this new and dangerous world that existed beyond their borders.
It was easy enough to lose himself in his explanations of your concerns over ‘reckless optimism’ and the like that served to tie up resources that might be better served in the service of helping everyone establish their own roles and departments that were to be served by those trustworthy individuals ‘of their choice of course’ in the future that might be needed before any other discussions could be had in the future.
Now anyone with a brain understood how nebulous and flexible the ‘future’ could prove to be especially when one of those goals in mind was nothing more than an adventure across the ocean for something that to Thoma or you was something doomed to eventual failure if not an odd passage in a history book about the history of America.
Smooth operators such as Makoto would be willing to accept such a promise in so far as with the can kicked down the road, where neither side could complain when Kokomi was busy playing native and thus was in no position to lodge any kind of attempt after the years of work you had admitted would be necessary for the country to at last have some stable footing in regards to the problems waiting for someone new to bring them solutions.
Now, normally this was the time when Makoto talks her sister down from her maximalist position, Kokomi would accept her council in keeping the lid on this debate where it might die in a few days once they agreed to come together for the understanding of their own position on this council for change.
But for some reason this was the thing that she could not accept any kind of compromise in was the manner to which even you had not been fully aware of that which occupied the mind of both those willing to play pretend court politics and the mind of the top general that led to those lightning campaigns and the stress that occupied Raiden Makoto that could not be figured out by Thoma or you.
An invasion of Japan.
It shocked Thoma just as it did you when you heard of the plans of hers that were certainly an interesting prospect from a military standpoint on a kind of scale that had yet to truly be tried beyond maybe installing a puppet as a form of colonialism still scarring the globe, such as the issue of Samoa and Tahiti that California wanted back after the Canadians moved in, and even then it was nothing more than the kind of warning signals in your mind that had destroyed many a country before.
That might’ve been an interesting topic to shelve for the rest of your lifetime as it seemed even Makoto was finding out about her plans for the first time as she seemed more interested in playing both technocrat and quartermaster to her sister’s hammer but yet the conflict outside was of the manner to which Kokomi of all people had managed to gather such a detailed proposal to the fine details when she had kept a small circle on purpose.
“Send one of them in, before they walk out.” That was the beauty of being friends rather than whatever old-fashioned method the court pretenders wanted as those kinds of fancy words and misdirection were useless in such a moment.
Thoma nodded and rushed back into the devil’s pit as Ayato was back to contemplating some kind of compensation for acting as the intermediary between all of them even when it might be painful to assume his words were Ayato’s. Might he appreciate some kind of power into which he might come to put into practice his kind of thoughts.
He already was dealing with the culture to which he might enjoy as the most ‘moral’ statist institution where his soul might be damaged the least but there was sure to be some crossover between himself and Makoto, how large could the difference in leftist thought be beyond the exclusion of the anarchist by a bunch of old men that were sure to be the last kind of person those two might think of?
How deep could the divide between Socialism and Communism truly be anyways?
Something for him to consider as soft footsteps made their way to the door that could only be Kokomi as when was the last time he might’ve considered anything Ei did as an attempt at secrecy?
Beyond her plan evidently?
There was a plan of attack evident even from the moment she had shown herself in the arena with Ei that Thoma warned Ayato of. It was something that might be commented on if they were not the ones to see her beyond the image other people got to see of the demure teacher with a soothing personality and a kind of pacifistic world view that was an odd choice in the sea of warmongerers.
She was dressed in what might be the most ‘traditional’ Japanese outfit that she might be willing to accept as if to hide her own plans that involved very little of such culture beyond the modernity that came without being under the thumb of the shogunate back home instead of the much more progressive shores of America.
Like putting lipstick on a pig that was her Japanese identity.
“You’ve heard?” There was an odd energy to her that required to strike fast before he might come to a different conclusion.
In his view it was odd for her to be moving fast in such a scenario when all that they were doing was having a polite discussion between friends and yet she was treating Ei’s ideas as if they were direct policy from his mouth when it should be clear that this was also his first time if Thoma had reacted as anyone would when it came to the idea fo foreign adventures after just now establishing a country.
At the very least she should be giving more breathing room when it came to such a ridiculous proposal that one of the two of them was always proposing even if he might’ve favored her choice of actions by paying them off in a measure to avoid needing to deal with those natives in their little homelands. You give someone an inch and now they would be demanding that full mile just because he promised to kick that can.
“Not until right now.” It was the honest to god truth, something that she noticed at the exhale of a tired man.
Things were supposed to be easy enough until she had gone and dropped a bomb on the negotiations turning a nice little meet cute into the kind of political arena that only the brave or suicidal dared to enter. If he was forced to be brutally honest no other pair of words could describe their conflict that was giving him a headache and a desire to make sure someone would get everything if they didn’t work it out now.
“How did you find this… information?” It was time for him to go on the offensive for the very least to hear her instead of himself, and she was the one looking nothing like the woman she knew to be a fine enough speaker to get those natives away even at the promise of whatever it was those luddites needed.
“You know them.” How oddly vague…
There weren’t many of those that he might consider agreeing with the kind of mission that Ei was proposing in the future that was not already publicly aligned with the sisters, even as Makoto seems as confused with the rest of them, and yet there was someone that he would recognize and come to accept the logic?
“So detailed too?” It was something that could only come from the highest of trust to have something with such details down to the exact path that might be taken along the currents and weather.
“Only in military terms.” There was something almost quaint about her questioning Raiden Ei's intelligence even as their plans were if nothing at least more detailed than even his books had been on warfare as a concept.
Still she couldn’t resist the ways to which one could dig the knife of subtle sniping at one another in a manner that left him with the bag.
“And you have… concerns?” Critiques might’ve been the closer word yet there was something to his word choice as she of course only ‘offered’ ways to which her plans might be improved on a method of ‘sustainability’ compared to the ‘recklessness’ of her plans that ignored the ‘realities’ that came with violating the space of those living on those islands along with those that had the opportunity to gum up the works of Ei’s plans.
It was good as a counter factual to her plans of a straight shot towards the islands without much concern for logistics and the chance for chaos to hurt the navy that would be needed for such an adventure cross the globe in the middle of both treacherous waters and whatever natives might get the idea to attempt and settle whatever issue they had with the westerners by accidentally attacking the Americans.
Did they even understand flags and such symbols?
“Wouldn’t the Europeans notice these new weapons?” Instead of the kind of open warfare that might be favored by EI there was something more methodical to her attempts at raising the flag upon friendly shores all for the low low price of basing rights and the kind of favorable trade that could only come from liberation under a new master.
Such moves would be observed by those colonial governors that rested in the area but there remained some time between a sent message and the mustering of the forces both on the island and those upon the metropole, not to be entirely accurate but close enough, it had taken time for Washington to realize anything was even wrong when it came to the west yet they had the civility argument to be pragmatic in their response.
No one was willing to drop chemical weapons on the population beyond some rumors across the state because there was at least the nominal acceptance of everyone’s loyalty to the concept of America and the rules and regulations that led to such a weak government in the first place.
“There are many ways to get passed protections, many locals would open their networks to us at the promise of flowing weapons.” There was a confidence bordering on the suicidal upon the works of those on the ground that might well appreciate modern weapons and up to date information by playing both sides for trade yet she had that kind of vision that unnerved him almost as much as Ei’s plan for overwhelming force.
“And you, believe you can, are the one to spearhead such an effort?” There was almost a sign of something else in her nod, as if she was daring him to look over her previous effort with a critical eye.
The one that had saved them all tons of effort.
“Alright.” He almost regretted setting the Gordian knot for her at her lit up face.
“Talk to Ei, this is her plan in the first place.” At least he was no longer playing blind.
“What has she told you?” Unlike the others that had waited she had come in without so much as a knock that Makoto was sheepishly apologizing for something that did not matter as much as her plans being leaked for the invasion of the homeland that she was planning for the future instead of the kind of decorum that was to be taken between lord and vassal.
As far as vassals went Raiden Ei might be potentially the worst and also the most predictable as there was a genuine question if she ever thought of subjects outside of war and the ways to which one might go about funding the war machine that was needed in the name of Ayato if she could not have her own victory.
Satisfaction might yet be in her hands.
“Many details.’ It was as she feared for her project over the Pacific, all she might yet do was to come with a plan that might serve the interests of them both through that every present spectre haunting the globe long before they were born away from the ancestral homeland that was suffering under weak rulers.
As expected the first volley in their parlay was the reality of what they might as well face when it came to the rest of the world that would not take their ascension well in the manner of official policy and while the system of capitalism was supposedly their ally in normalizing relations as it continued to gut the souls of every human being currently being exploited under the guise of resources they could not overcome the centuries of suspicion and racial chauvinism that guided their birth to these shores.
In response to the troubles with the Europeans currently reconsidering their relationship with the resource rich land of America and the kind of barriers that were sure to come the prudent thing would be to look for other resources that could come from those that would look towards those offering the kind of weapon of liberation perfectly crafted for their needs with gratitude and a willingness to engage in the kind of trade that came from a beneficial relationship.
And unlike certain ‘others’ there was something to be done about picking the right kind of ally in the region that was united by ‘liberation fronts’ that in many ways would break out into the kind of fighting that was sure to end in some dictator taking the reins of the state were they not the ones to vet and choose those that would be amenable to American interests in the region even if only for their potential as docking bases.
For the moment the only kind of area with any immediate potential for returns beyond sending the entirety of the excess weaponry in some odd scheme to drown the soldiers with enough guns to go around for every child on the island to have enough bullets to last a lifetime seems to be the Kalimantan Liberation Front: otherwise known as Borneo.
Due diligence must be done into the nature of their leader, seemingly Anakletus Tjilik Riwut, yet their remains an easy enough avenue for cooperation if only for their desire to remove the Dutch from their colony of the West Indies, along with removing a lifeline towards the Dutch concession on the Japanese mainland there was of course the resources that would be useful for trade in the future of the archipelago.
Meanwhile the Europeans may laugh at their failures in colonialism but remain blind to the reality of their rich patron that desired the island freed and was shelling out the money for liberation instead of inane strategies of ‘luckily’ having these weapons full upon the shores of the front.
It was like a veil was lifted upon the eyes of her lord as he looked between them both before settling upon her sister.
Her sisters plan was a good outline for the first steps towards this plan of Ei’s that had been cooked up in the backrooms of dissidents and those with information of the homeland however out of date that it may be, and now she was giving it the bones it needed to be something other than a reckless gamble on the events of the island turning towards its own downfall through the words of the newer exiles.
She supposed there might’ve been some kind of misconception of Raiden Makoto’s own will and desire to break from when she had an idea too crazy for even her sister to support but she would take the unfortunate task of trying to figure some way for Ei’s crazy plans to come to pass even as they seemed like nothing more than a series of ever escalating gambles on the part of his strongest vassal.
No reason not to continue on the path of hammering his mind with actual sound arguments for this campaign of hers with Makoto by her her side just as she trusted her subordinates to have the artillery in place for her campaigns across the great plains that had those that hid their potential under the illogical guise of racism and other ills of the mind that were the reason why it had been so easy to campaign.
Despite the heart of such a man being a mystery to everyone, but perhaps Thoma remained an exception, there was a kind of glory chaser in a man that traded his own identity for the new one that would be his legacy instead of the legacy of a broken and exiled clan on the coast of America.
Trading away the very decadent culture that was the homeland for a new one not wholly Japanese but bringing the best parts of loyalty and honor to a free and wild land in a rebuke of the system that was supposed to have eaten people like them for breakfast and left them with nothing but scraps to attempt and claim a legacy, in some ways it was almost more offensive than any cries of ‘liberation’ and yet there was a strength to argument and character.
Others may find weakness in an inability to break away from the culture in such a way that she might be forced to give credit to Kokomi of all people but there was something that burned in the heart of herself and Ayato over the fate of the ancestral homeland that found itself being exorcized in different ways.
Something must’ve been in the air for this conclusion but it was not exactly hidden that this had been some machination of his even before the gates were thrown open for them all to rush in and hold the government hostage, just as he looked forwards and she looked towards the past there could be no doubt that at the very least they were unified on matters of nationality and the kind of strength that it took to fight against the course of fate that it seemed to try and whisk them aboard.
Always arguing the case even when outnumbered and outgunned.
Were she to allow herself to dream there would be no better administrator than a man who she could count to do the right thing when it came to such matters especially considering there was no military blood in his veins to sully the kind of eyes that would be needed for the world ahead of them in reorganizing an ancient society and preparing it for the world outside that would not sit and let them be.
There were those she trusted to kill yet there were those that saw every problem as a nail and the army as their hammer for such problems, it seemed even in this way she could see the wisdom in his warnings before them all, for now they would only be her problem as the secretary of defense but there would be hell to pay if she caught any of them failing to realize the honor they had been given.
A fine man indeed.
She’s scared.
There can be no recognizable reason for her anxiety over the horrifying aspect of being seen once more by her brother and yet there remains his spectre upon her shoulders of unrepentant positivity and support that was a crutch on the harshest of times upon which she relied even as they coupled the government to her shock.
Kamisato Ayaka is nothing more than the sister of the president and yet there was a tension as she went around the country on something of an attempt to understand the country she had never truly explored back when the forces of reaction existed and would frown on her career much less the fact that she had one in the first place.
The eyes of the nation are upon her when she walks with the confidence of a nervous wreck in a high pressure situation because she is no longer just the sister of a teacher at the prestigious school for people like them instead now she is an extension of the emperor's will, to borrow some of the wording from her brothers lessons.
Nature calls for her to return home to the northwest where she might fall into the arms of her lover and ignore the expectations that are supposed to come with honor and loyalty and love for her brother.
But what she does is not for love or expectations as a noble, only through that kind of primal responsibility does she continue on her path towards something better than the lives of their ancestors even as she would leave them in the past like her brother.
Arriving on schedule for the meeting that she scheduled with the president, still something odd to think even now, there comes her guards and such to escort her towards the new residence of her brother.
A structure she had always read of without much interest when the actual power of that institution just as with congress was something negligible compared to the state legislature back home, she hoped he had not left his mark on the office yet.
Wherever he went she followed but this kind of thing needed a woman's touch that would be honest when he might be considering a design truly awful that was only accepted by Thoma of all people, and not to speak for Raiden Ei or Kokomi but those two could not handle beauty if it punched them in the face.
They were much too focused on the conditions to which they blew up buildings and people in a manner that they might describe as beautiful to which there was a euphoric expression that she only had after spending the night with her lover who was an actual person unlike whatever love might be made with an explosive.
Familiar footsteps great her when she sees a sight for sore eyes, looking a lot more invigorated instead of the depressed face she saw on television, all wrapped up in those uniforms of those that were to be the highest of honor guard for those in leadership but especially for Raiden Ei combining that rising sun with those symbols of America that she knew so well.
Ayaka was happy for her even if she seemed content with serving in the army rather than doing anything else with her life beyond following authority once more and the kind of code of conduct that she imagined was supposed to be incompatible with the kind of asymmetric warfare that was practiced in the rest of the world.
One nod and they are off into the the quiet air fo the capitol that was waiting for them to go and make their own destiny without the say of others that had need for the status quo before her brother had gone and smashed fate into something radical, an idea she never would’ve imagined from her brother of all things.
Inside the halls of such a ‘sacred’ institution she could already see the ways to which these visions clashed even just in the attempts at slightly obscuring the kind of symbol that was sure to become common under Thoma’s ideals along with the kind of military discipline and symbols from Raiden Ei.
At least he hadn’t allowed them to touch the paint.
Ayato was sitting at that desk with a kind of look as though everything was a dream that he was tired of already, she could only do her responsibility and help him by distracting him from the work that could always be pushed aside for time spent with his favorite sister. No grand scheme or whatever prank her friends might’ve imagined came to mind as she simply walked in on his moment of weakness quickly replaced by shock and then finally a weight lifted off his shoulders.
Simply said…
“I’m home.”
