Chapter Text
Like he has every morning, for as long as he can remember, Eijirou wakes up to the sound of a rooster’s crow.
Most days, he has trouble waking up; he’ll groan, and try to fall back asleep, and wait for a few more crows until Red finally gets impatient and licks at his face to force him up.
Today, though, his eyes shoot open immediately, and he sits up so quickly that he jostles the still-asleep Red a little bit with the movement. The red heeler is curled into a tight ball on top of Eijirou’s bed covers, and her ears twitch a little bit in annoyance as she’s bounced.
“Hey girl,” Eijirou calls gently, reaching over and ruffling Red’s back fur, “Time to get up!”
Red makes a grumpy little mrr sound and raises her head up to blink at him.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t do this to me every other morning,” Eijirou scoffs, ruffling Red’s ears and smirking at her.
She just yawns directly into Eijirou’s face in response.
“Bleh, dog breath.”
Eijirou flips his covers off the rest of the way and jumps out of bed, stretching his arms over his head in the early morning sunlight streaming in through his window.
Summer is Eijirou’s favourite season on his little farm. The vegetables he planted in the spring are starting to bear edible produce, the sunlight is coming in through his window by the time he gets up, his house is warm and inviting instead of chilling his bare feet the moment he touches them to the wooden floors.
“You excited to go into town today, hmm?” Eijirou asks Red as he splashes water on his face in preparation for shaving.
He doesn’t need to shave often – he inherited his grandfather’s inability to grow much more facial hair than a pathetic little goatee – but he wants to look his best today.
As good as he can get it, anyways…
He studies himself in his warped metal mirror; thick, black hair, getting long enough to flop into his eyes again (probably need to cut that soon…), crooked, overlapping teeth, prominent scar on his right eyelid, perpetual freckles liberally splattered across his dark-tanned skin. He’s definitely muscular, a natural consequence of working every day on a farm; and he’s not exactly tall, but he’s sturdy…
Sturdy…what a catch. He sighs, blowing it up at his bangs a little.
“Don’t look at me like that!” Eijirou huffs at Red as he makes his way into the kitchen to light the stove for his morning coffee. She seems to have a sense for when he's being negative about himself.
The red heeler just tilts her head and blinks at him.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Eijirou nods, turning back to his coffee. “Man, I’m so excited to see Mina again! I wonder if she’s still dating that boy…Augh, I can’t even remember his name, now…”
Eijirou pours his coffee into his mug, fills up Red’s bowl with her food, and then steps out on his porch to breathe in the morning air, Red padding out after him and sitting herself down at his side.
“I think today is gonna be a good day,” He says as he sets down her bowl for her.
Her only answer is enthusiastically attacking her breakfast, but he’s pretty sure she agrees.
Eijirou finishes the rest of his morning chores, and then prepares for departure.
“Are you ready to go, Riot?” Eijirou says gently as he attaches his horse to her cart.
Riot is the only horse he owns; she’s a slow, deliberate lady, dependable and steady, with beautiful bay colouring and a thick, shiny mane and tail.
She pushes her nose into his hair and whiffles into his ear in reply, and he laughs. “Hey, that tickles!”
Red jogs alongside the cart as they go, her little stump tail wiggling happily as she weaves in and out of the path. For probably the thousandth time, as he watches her go, he wishes that whoever Mina’s dad had gotten her from hadn’t docked her tail; he would have liked to have seen it wagging in its full glory, but…What’s done is done, now.
He loves Red just the way she is, anyways.
“Kirishima Eijirou!” Mina shrieks as soon as he pushes the door to the Woodwind General Store open, flinging herself at him in a flying leap and wrapping her arms and legs around him in a full-body hug. “It has been way too long!”
“I know, I know! I missed you too,” Eijirou laughs, squeezing her back and spinning them both around a few times.
“My visit was weeks ago, I almost doubled up on you again, but you get so weird and guilty when I do that, I tried to resist this time…” She grumbles into his hair.
Eijirou sighs. “I’m sorry. I know it’s been a while.”
She huffs, still clinging to him like a squirrel.
“Your hair, though! It looks great!” He says brightly, trying to lighten the mood again.
“Thanks! I wanted to change it up a bit!” She chirps, instantly radiant again.
The last time Eijirou had seen her, she had her dark curls braided down against her head in rows. Now, her hair is free and fluffy in a dark cloud around her face, with a handful of the thick strands twisted around pink ribbons, matching the pink cotton dress she’s wearing.
“I love the pink,” Eijirou says, still smiling brightly as she hops down and holds his shoulders out at arm’s length.
Mina beams back at him, her white teeth brilliant against her dark skin. “I felt like it was my colour.”
“It suits you.”
“And is that my favourite puppy?” Mina cries when she spots Red padding in through the open door. She kneels down and opens her arms, and Red runs to her, licking her face thoroughly as she laughs and ruffles the heeler’s ears. “Ohhh you’re such a good girl, aren’t you? Does Eiji feed you enough? I don’t think he’s been feeding you enough, has he. What a mean boy! I’ll have to grab you something special from the store, then.”
“What am I, just chopped liver, now?” Eijirou snorts.
Mina looks at him, deadly serious. “Compared to her, yes.” Eijirou laughs.
“Is that little Eijirou?” A deep voice booms down from the stairs at the back of the store. A large man appears at the bottom of the stairs; dark skin like Mina’s, broad shoulders with an ample midsection, a closely shaved head and a bushy, black mustache.
“Mr. Ashido! It’s wonderful to see you again!”
Mina’s father waves his hand in the air dismissively. “There’s no need to be formal here, boy, just call me Genji!”
“Of course, sir!”
Genji sighs and chuckles, shaking his head fondly. “You never change, do you, son.” As soon as he gets close enough, he sweeps Eijirou up into an enveloping hug, his body and arms at least twice the size of Eijirou’s own.
“I like your mustache, by the way, sir,” Eijirou adds when Genji releases him again.
“Ah, thank you! I decided to grow one again, you know,” He shrugs. “It’s been a few years.” He laughs, his stomach shaking as he does. “I trust you’re staying for dinner, then?”
Eijirou almost considers saying no; it’s a two-hour ride back to his farm from Woodwind, and knowing Genji and Mina, they’ll keep him until the late hours of the evening. Their home is welcoming and bright, and it’ll be almost impossible to force himself to leave again.
“Yes, please, if you’ll have me?”
“Of course we will, you’re welcome any time, you hear me?” Genji booms, clapping Eijirou heartily on the shoulder and turning to head back up the stairs. “And don’t let him distract you too much, today, dear!” He adds, winking at Mina before disappearing again.
“Ugh, dad…” Mina rolls her eyes. “Sorry about him. He’s still convinced that we’re gonna magically start dating any day now!”
He and Mina were just sixteen that day, when she had specifically asked that he come into town alone. Normally she just waited for him to come in with his grandpa when they ran their errands, so this was a surprising change.
They spent the day together as they usually did; exploring in the forest, swimming in the river, but when the sun was beginning to set, standing on the bridge in the twilight, Mina had confessed her feelings for him.
‘I just think it would be wonderful, you know, if I got to end up with my best friend…’
‘I’msosorryMina I’m gay’, he replied, frantic and urgent, the words tumbling out of him before he could stop them. He’d never told anybody before, and he hadn’t since; but he couldn’t think of anything else to say to her but the truth. ‘But can we…we can still be best friends, right…?’
He’d frozen in horror, then; suddenly terrified that he was about to lose her completely, friendship and all.
‘You butthole!’ She shouted at him. ‘If you’re not my best friend for the rest of our lives, I’m gonna be furious at you!’
He spluttered and sobbed in relief, and she held him while he cried, and after that day, they’d been closer than ever.
“I just wish we could tell him, you know?” Mina says with a hum, resting her elbow on the counter and propping her chin up with her fist. “Otherwise he’ll never stop…”
“I know, I know, but I just…I can’t,” Eijirou mumbles. Not everyone in Arma was as accepting as Mina. Genji loved him like a son, he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to take the risk on it. “Wait…does this mean you broke up with…uh…”
“Pfff, you don’t even remember his name? Eiji!” Mina splutters with laughter. “It’s Kotaro, and yes, we broke up about a week ago. He just…he didn’t get me, you know? He wanted to get married like…tomorrow, and I’m just…I’m not ready yet.”
Eijirou raises an eyebrow at her. “We’re already twenty, you know…”
“And what’s that s’posed to mean, hm?”
“Nothing, nothing! I just mean, twenty isn’t a weird time to be thinking about marriage, that’s all.”
Mina sighs. “I know, I just…I want to see some stuff first, travel, fly in an airship, before I settle down and have kids and be a wife…bleh,” She sticks out her tongue in mock distaste.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But anyways, you know that stuff’s dangerous now; the war with Domara is heating up, they were going to stop air travel at some point, right?”
“Jeez, Eiji, you’re a little behind on the times…they did that months ago. But yeah, your point still stands…” She sighs again. “Don’t you ever get bored of the farm, though…? Being out there all alone…”
Eijirou’s heart clenches. “Please…don’t…don’t ask me that…”
She turns to look at him, her face serious and concerned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I know it’s…I know what it means to you, I just…”
Eijirou smiles around the pain in his chest. “It’s okay.”
“But speaking of the war and you being an uninformed bumpkin…” Mina ignores Eijirou’s indignant ‘hey!’ and carries on seamlessly. “Canton is gone.”
“Wait, ‘gone’, what do you mean…”
Her face falls, expression somber. “Domara, they…they dropped something on it, some super bomb…they wiped it out. It happened about two weeks ago. It’s just rubble, now. Apparently, there was a dogfight between our planes and the enemy before the bomb was dropped, so a lot of the people were able to evacuate with warning but…”
“Shit…” Eijirou breathes. “But Canton, that’s…that’s pretty far in from the border, how did they…get there?”
“I dunno.” Mina shrugs.
Woodwind and Eijirou’s farm are about as removed from the war as one can get in Arma, deep in the forest and far from the border, but news of it still shakes Eijirou to his core.
“Well, anyways, enough of that. I think it’s time for me to give Queen Red her dues.” Mina giggles, and then skips off to grab a dog treat off one of the shelves of the store.
“Ack, don’t give her too many of those! I do feed her, and she’s gonna get fat if you’re not careful!”
“Oh shush, I’ll play fetch with her all day if I have to. She can sweat it off.”
“You mean I will, since you’re working!” Eijirou huffs, but Mina ignores him. “And dogs don’t sweat…”
“We’ll keep you healthy, won’t we, sweetie?” Mina kneels down and gives Red her treat, ruffling her soft ears as she wiggles her little tail stump.
“How’s the farm, then?” Genji asks, passing Eijirou a bowl of curry so he can dish up his plate.
The Ashido house is small and cozy; a few minutes’ walk from the General Store, filled with colourful cushions and rugs. Eijirou has always felt at home here; he can barely remember a time when he didn’t know Mina and her family.
“Oh, you know…I’m okay. The cherries are looking good this year, so I think it’s going to be a good harvest.”
“You know you can come here any time you need,” Genji says kindly, and Mina nods in agreement as Eijirou passes the curry bowl over to her.
Eijirou smiles gently. “I know.”
Genji sighs, clearly holding himself back from mentioning Eijirou’s grandfather. They’d been close friends, before he died…he probably misses him as much as Eijirou does.
“So, have you seen Yaomomo lately?” Eijirou asks Mina, pausing with his spoon half-way to his mouth as he realizes he hasn’t spoken in a few minutes.
Mina snorts. “God, that nickname! I just call her Momo now.” Then she nods. “Yeah, I saw her…hmm, I think just after I broke up with Kotaro. I had to deliver some goods to Westridge and I got to stop by!”
Genji gives Mina a look when she mentions Kotaro’s name, and then eyes Eijirou with a sidelong look. Mina quickly clears her throat and Eijirou tries not to react strangely.
“Ah, one of these days I really need to meet her! I’ve heard so much about her, it’s like I know her already.”
“I keep telling her to come visit, Westridge isn’t that far away. I’ll just introduce you then!”
“You’re both welcome to stay at the farm, although I only have one spare bed…”
When Eijirou finally leaves the Ashido house – stuffed so full of Genji’s cooking that he can hardly walk straight - it’s only about two hours until sunset, just as he predicted.
“Oh, Eiji, I’ll come visit you soon, okay?” Mina says tearfully, throwing her arms around Eijirou’s shoulders and squeezing him tightly in a hug.
“Oof, gentle, please-”
“Ah, sorry,” Mina says, loosening her grip and holding him back so she can see his face.
“You don’t have to rush on my account, you know,” Eijirou says, smiling softly at her. “You have a life here, too.”
“I just miss you, you know? It’s kinda lonely here sometimes, too, just me and Daddy, and I can only imagine how you feel…”
“I know. Thank you.” He blinks back the sting of tears, and he has a feeling Mina is doing the same.
Mina nods firmly, and then lets him go.
“We always love having you here, son,” Genji says, smiling warmly as he waves to Eijirou from the porch.
Eijirou gives Mina one last hug, and then turns to leave before he’s even more tempted to stay.
But he has to get back to the farm. It’s going to be dark soon, and he still has his evening chores to finish up before he goes to bed.
Red rides in the cart this time, curled up on the seat beside him. The forest is peaceful, alive with birdsong and the humming of summer insects, but Eijirou can’t help but feel the loneliness crushing him like a vice, the closer he gets to his farm.
He takes a hand off the reigns and strokes Red’s soft fur, lost in his thoughts.
Eijirou makes it home without incident.
He brushes Riot and gets her all set for the night, finishes up his remaining chores, takes one last look at the sky before he heads inside, and sees…
A plane…?
Huh…that’s weird…the army planes don’t usually fly this close to us…it’s kind of the middle of nowhere…but…now that he looks closer at it…
The colour is wrong. Arman planes are blue, and this one is tan…
Domaran…?
Eijirou squints, trying to see it through the waning sunlight. Is that…smoke coming from it…?
The plane circles, and on the next pass, it comes down lower, and that is definitely smoke trailing from the back of it. Red barks, a little yip of warning, and Eijirou watches, glued to the spot, as the plane dives out of the sky, closer and closer.
Finally, it crash-lands in a dramatic plume of dust and smoke, right onto the border of Eijirou’s farmland.