Work Text:
It all starts with a butterfly distracting Shinsuke Techigai as he's about to (seriously) get down to work.
He’s just finished eating and he is, admittedly, too groggy to do the boring job he was entrusted with. He needs his eyes wide open for this, so he thinks that watching the butterfly might help him wake up. It doesn’t (but he knew that). It makes his eyelids a little heavier… and he closes his eyes. Just a minute. He still has time (he doesn’t, he’s awfully late). And anyway, he won’t be of any use if he isn’t completely awake (it would still be better to put out a half done job than nothing, but nothing is too tempting right now). A nice afternoon nap will do him good. So he closes his eyes, sighs out and tries to get some sleep to be fresh and ready for the boat maintenance.
Shinsuke doesn’t like doing boat maintenance. He doesn’t like boats. He’s seasick anyway; the only way he could ever get on a boat was if it was a promise to get him permanently out of the Land of the Rising Sun. It’s not that he doesn’t like it here; it’s an alright place to live, it’s all he’s known all his life… but he wouldn’t mind leaving. He has dreams. A lot of dreams. One would say he has too many dreams. and that it’s an anomaly. At this point, Shinsuke thinks they might be right: having dreams is nice, not getting one step closer to make them come true is just frustrating. Sure, there are some he knows he’ll never realize, some are impossible. But there’s one he holds onto because it is, while out of his reach, probable that one day, he might make it come true.
Shinsuke has heard about a land where magic is everything. It’s a far away place where everyone gets grimoires and spells, and the military is basically made of mages. Here, you don’t get a grimoire unless you’re from a noble family and/or intend to join the military (a military that is decorative by the way, because the Land of the Rising Sun is naturally well protected by impossible currents and whirlpools and basically no one from the exterior gets in without getting shipwrecked; also, no one survives being shipwrecked). The government argues that not giving civilians grimoires is how peace is maintained on the land: civilians don’t need to fight so they don’t need spells; they can just use the little amount of magic they have to strengthen their bodies, to make some tasks easier. Maybe it’s true. But Shinsuke still wants to go, to see that land… but he can’t.
He can’t say he has many ties to this small town; he doesn’t have many friends. But he has one tie that’s too strong to sever: his father’s shop. Shinsuke took over it when he died. Here, his father used to sell everything a fisherman needs; he used to be a fisherman himself and was well acquainted with all fishermen families. Because yes, here, in this small town, the family you are born in determines the job you’ll get. Anyway, Shinsuke’s father decided to start doing maintenance on boats for his closest friends with a discount that was terribly welcome to said friends. Fishermen are poor; it’s a well known fact. Shop owners are poor too, but Shinsuke’s father was simply too nice, too altruistic, maybe too stupid. The result is the same: Shinsuke doesn’t have it in him to refuse any favor from his late father’s old friends. And now he has one of these boats to look over, but he’s tired, and he hasn’t had a wink the night before so…
Shinsuke doesn't realize just how deep he’s fallen asleep. When he opens his eyes again, the sun is setting and he wakes up to a loud banging on his door and his heart immediately starts hammering in his chest. His stomach churns as he comes to the realization that… he’s very much screwed.
It’s the Sukehiros.
Shinsuke springs to his feet and gets to the door, only to be met by a stern and mean looking tall man of strong build glaring down at him. It’s the Sukehiro patriarch. Not that Shinsuke hadn’t guessed from how strong the knocks on the door had been or from whose boat he was supposed to work on. As said before, Shinsuke didn’t have many friends.
He swallows hard, trying his best to smile. He hasn’t finished (done) the maintenance of the Sukehiro boat. And now… he’s going to be killed.
“Is the boat ready?”
Fishermen are usually strong. They have to be strong first because of the currents they need to navigate, the waves they need to ride and also how much they have to row to get out of the whirlpools’ pulling force; second because of how massive the fish are, a result of the particularly hostile marine environment just described. So, fishermen are strong. But this man is another level of strong. This is the most intimidating person Shinsuke has ever met and he can’t do anything but lie when faced with Mr Sukehiro’s glare.
“Yes, Mr Sukehiro, of course the boat is ready!”
The boat isn’t ready at all. Sure, Shinsuke has briefly taken a look at it; he would’ve seen if something was blatantly wrong; but he still hasn’t done anything to that boat. But why would that be a problem? 99,9% of the time (maybe less), maintenance isn’t needed. Plus, the Sukehiros have been fishermen for generations, they know how to take care of their boats. Chances are, this boat is good as new; it doesn’t look like it’s suffered many outings. So everything would be fine. Anyway, accidents are rare and no one would ever venture as far as to be caught in the dangerous currents, especially with such a small boat. If anything was to go wrong, Shinsuke would repair the boat, so why worry?
“It’s Yami’s first outing alone at sea,” the man says proudly, as he lands a heavy palm on his son’s head. The patriarch’s face lights up and somehow softens in ways Shinsuke has barely ever seen him. He’s just turned infinitely less intimidating and for a second, Shinsuke thinks about telling him that he hasn’t finished and needs more time, before remembering that no, this is still Sukehiro, this is still the man who, albeit a fisherman, somehow owns a katana and Shinsuke wants to live.
So instead, Shinsuke looks at the boy. You can never tell with Yami Sukehiro whether or not he’s hating everything or loving everything. He always looks straight up indifferent. Briefly, Shinsuke wonders if he’s like him. If he has no choice but to become a fisherman, if he’s never been asked what he wants to do. He wonders if Yami has another dream, if there’s anything else he would like. Shinsuke wonders if he, like him, would like to sail the sea on this boat and never come back. But Shinsuke doesn’t ask. Because it’s how it is in the Land of the Rising Sun. You don’t ask questions, you don’t have other ideas, you don’t have dreams, you live like your father did, you don’t sail the sea and you’re satisfied with everything you have.
As Shinsuke stares at Yami, he decides that no, Yami isn’t like him. He seems to like it here; or more, he doesn’t seem to mind. And Shinsuke somehow finds it sad. He doesn’t know why, but he’s always felt like Yami could do so much more than just catch some fish.
“I’ll deliver the boat back to you in a minute.”
“Thanks, Shin.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Really, do not mention it. Shinsuke hasn’t done a thing on this boat.
He watches father and son as they walk away and he breathes out heavily. Welp, time to bring them their boat back…
As he stares at the untouched boat, Shinsuke briefly wonders if it’s alright. He knows it isn’t but… it’s just a small lie, it was just a small nap, it was just a butterfly distracting him, briefly.
What could possibly happen?
♣
♣ ♣
“Yami?” Charlotte says suddenly.
Yami groans as an answer. He visibly was very close to falling asleep when she talked, but Charlotte just realized something and she needs to ask him.
“What would’ve happened if you had never washed on Clover shores?”
Yami doesn’t talk much about his life before arriving in Clover. He’s not reluctant to talk about it; it feels more like he doesn’t see the point. He very much lives in the present whether it’s a way to cope or because that's his character, Charlotte still hasn’t determined.
“Dunno, don’t care,” he answers groggily.
“Where would your squad members be?”
“Dunno.”
“Dead, in prison?”
“Nah, they’re good guys and they’re strong. They would’ve had another captain. They would’ve been fine without me.”
Charlotte remains silent. She’s not convinced.
“If I hadn’t though…” Yami says suddenly, “There would have been no problem with the three Spade psychos.”
“Maybe they would’ve found another dark magic user. What about my curse?”
“You would’ve found a way.”
“Maybe not. Where would we all be if you hadn’t gotten lost at sea and arrived here?”
“Who cares,” he mumbles sleepily.
As Charlotte lies back down, she realizes just how much impact Yami had, on Clover, on his squad members, on the Magic Knights as a whole, on her too. She can’t possibly imagine how it could’ve been.
“I’m here with you right now. That’s all. Let’s get some sleep.”