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“Rooftop lunch again, huh? Kind of feels like it’s straight out of an anime or something…”
It’s not the first time that Kafka and Mina have eaten together on top of the base.
It’s, uh, the second time.
A few months after the first. A lot’s happened. Recruits have gained strength. Kaiju have been defeated, slowly.
Kafka’s become more comfortable with using his newfound powers.
Sometimes, he even feels like he stands a shot at truly, finally, becoming Mina’s equal once more.
But that’s neither here nor there.
“Hmm,” Mina grunts, acknowledging him. “I suppose so.”
They eat in silence, for a few moments. Kafka finds that the barbeque pork buns he packed for himself are as excellent as always.
“It’s peaceful here,” he says. “As always, I guess.”
“Mmhmm,” Mina wordlessly replies, again.
Another silence. Not an awkward one, more so one of mutual understanding. Kafka finds that he could rest in it forever.
He doesn’t. “Feels… kinda weird, honestly. To know that we’re getting closer to making this permanent.”
He looks around. “We’ve defeated so many kaiju… they’ve really begun slowing down, huh? It’s been… what, five months since the last one?”
“January 2nd, was when it was defeated,” Mina helpfully supplies.
“Yeah. Now there’s only number 9 left. Even if another kaiju shows up, it still feels like we’re close to ending it. It’s… a weird feeling.”
Kafka sighs. “We’ve never had light at the end of the tunnel before.”
Mina’s silent for another moment. “In all my time here… I, too, haven’t felt this way before.” She thinks for a second. “The idea that it could be finished once and for all… it feels liberating to me, I suppose.”
“Yeah,” Kafka agrees. “But then… what are we gonna do afterwards?”
Another silence.
“To be honest… I didn’t have a backup plan,” Mina sheepishly admits, her face reddening a tad. “This was always the goal.”
“And…”, she continues, trailing off for a moment, “I never actually thought we would get this far. That there could be a possibility of a conclusion to all this. That there could be hope.”
She looks over at him. “I feel that… a part of me expected to die in this job.”
The silence is a lot less comforting, now.
“I…” Kafka attempts to begin. He pauses, gathering his thoughts. “I think it’s become harder on my body, the transformations. I think that, if it happens enough, eventually I’ll become a full kaiju. Unable to transform back.”
“But,” he says, smiling, “if we can finish this quickly, it might not happen at all! So that’s a worry I’ve felt a lot better about.”
Mina nods. “I’ve noticed that I’ve become significantly more comfortable speaking to you in earnest recently. I feel that, in part, that’s because of the hope that the slowing kaiju attacks have given us. I feel like a weight is beginning to be lifted off my shoulders, I suppose.”
“What weight?”
“The weight of expectations. Of always being the most powerful. Of being responsible for the lives of all who serve under me. Of being tasked to take down kaiju, at all costs. Now that we are nearing the end, I feel relieved that these responsibilities will soon no longer be mine.”
Kafka can relate to that. He wants to go back to not having to use his kaiju powers.
(He would like to go back to not having them at all, after this, but he suspects that things won’t be so simple.)
“I suppose”, Mina continues, “that it’s let me loosen up. Think about the future. Socialize with others. Not be the stoic commander everyone expects of me, all the time.”
Kafka smiles. “That’s good!”
Mina returns the smile in turn. “Indeed it is.”
She looks out below the roof. “I think I would like to run a coffee shop, once this is over. Challenging, and accordingly invigorating, but still quite a peaceful life.”
A snort. “I do drink way too much coffee.”
Well, that’s one thing Kafka has over her. Still… “You know, that doesn’t sound too bad. I think I’d like to join you in that!”
Mina looks into his eyes. “Is this another promise?”
Kafka’s eyes widen. He remembers the first promise they made, quite intimately. How he initially failed to keep it. How she felt that he had failed her. How it crushed her inside.
He can’t do that to her again.
Never again.
He smirks. “Hell yeah, it is!”