Chapter Text
Soshiro has always prided himself on being an observant person. It didn't take much, after all, to notice that the rookies are behaving strangely around you. Furuhashi, especially, seems to spend his free time either scrolling through his phone, and acting like a scared ant whenever you are nearby. He did not mind any of his officers’ crazy antics and tendencies to gossip, as they were terribly entertaining to eavesdrop. It was the latter issue that he very much minded.
You and Soshiro entered the Defense Force in the same year. While he ranked above you in the fitness exam, you breezed through the aptitude exam with ease, utilising large, heavy artillery mostly meant for Honju. You ended up defeating the test Honju with little help from the other examinees. Soshiro, on the other hand, had only focused on eliminating the band of Yoju that had spawned nearby. Thus, he did not expect you to approach him after the exam had ended. After all, why would the top examinee talk to the guy who brought swords to a gun fight?
“Hi, Hoshina Soshiro-san, right? You're the one who ranked first on the fitness exam!”
“Yes, and you're Fukui Miwa-san? Congratulations on defeating the Honju,” he said warily. Was she coming to mock him? It wouldn't be the first, and definitely not the last, if he was planning on getting accepted to the Defense Force.
“I didn't know people still used swords to defeat Kaiju! You were so cool! I dealt with a Yoju at the beginning of the exam, and I swear it nearly killed me five times in a minute. If you didn't defeat all the Yoju around, I think that Honju would've never been defeated. I really need to thank you for that,” she grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.
Oh. Well. Huh.
This was uncharted territory. Soshiro had been prepared for mockery, or for judgment over his choice of weapons. Not gratitude and admiration, which you were showing him with no restraints. Granted, it came with a subtle “You'll be flattened against a Honju”, but he didn't mind it. It was true, after all.
“Thanks, Fukui-san.”
He didn't really know when he started falling for you. Maybe it was when you had the highest release on the aptitude exam. Maybe it was when you defeated the Honju. Or maybe, it was when you came up to him after the exam, and gave him the most important compliment of his life.
By a funny twist of fate, you both ended up in the Third Division, under the captaincy of Ashiro Mina. You had said to him then, that the number three was your lucky number, and you were glad to end up in the division.
A few months later, he was called to Captain Ashiro’s office. She offered him the position of Vice Captain. While half of him was overjoyed by the offer, the other half wondered why, exactly, the Captain had chosen him.
“Officer Fukui Miwa is stronger than I am, Captain. I believe that she will be a greater asset to the team than I am.”
“Fukui’s specialty is very similar to mine, Hoshina-san. Though she is an extremely important asset to our team, I would like my Vice Captain to fill the gaps in my power. Your specialty in using blades, and defeating smaller Kaiju, is the perfect match. I hope you will accept my offer.”
He did accept the offer in the end. After all, this was what he strived for when he decided to join, didn't he? And yet, a part of his brain felt guilt gnawing at him. He felt like he was taking a position that was meant for someone stronger. Someone like you.
All that guilt was quickly shattered when you came to find him at dinnertime. He never saw someone so happy at another’s achievements. You clapped his shoulder, and congratulated him for becoming the Vice. She said that she knew it would happen, that his skills was bound to get noticed by the Captain.
“Fukui-san, don't you want to be the Vice Captain?” he asked her.
“Yuck. Blegh. No offense to the Captain, she's amazing. But me? In a leadership position? You must be kidding. I'd drive half the division to death within a month.”
“You're one of the strongest officers here beside the Captain. I thought she would choose you instead,” he answered her, frowning in confusion.
“Well,” you frowned, “the Captain did offer me to lead a platoon, but I refused. I think I'd be better working under someone, rather than leading others around. I'm not fit for that, you know. The Captain made a wonderful choice picking you, Hoshina-san. You're perfect.”
He's what?
“For the position, I mean,” you quickly clarified, giving him a small smile, “I'm glad to be one of your officers, Hoshina-san.”
Soshiro would forever pretend you meant everything about him was perfect.
-
Back to the matter of hand, however. He was definitely getting to the bottom of this issue, whether Furuhashi would like it or not. During lunchtime, he walked near the rookies’ table, with Furuhashi, as usual, glued to his screen. With as much subtlety as he could muster, Soshiro takes a peek at Furuhashi’s phone. He quickly recognized it as a social media application, one that he seldom frequented. The issue however, was the post Furuhashi was looking at. If his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, it seemed to be a paragraph about how “cute” a couple you and Furuhashi would make.
What the hell?
“V-vice Captain! It's great to see you, sir!” Ichikawa noticed him, quickly greeting him, with a hint of fear on his face. Furuhashi immediately pocketed his phone, pretending to be interested in his food, though he had emptied his plate quite a while ago. Damn. Perhaps his eavesdropping and peeking skills were getting rusty, or Ichikawa was just too damn observant.
“I haven't seen all of you be this quiet in a while,” Soshiro hums, grinning widely, “was just wondering if the noisiest bunch in the Third Division caught a nasty bug.”
“No sir! We're all doing great!” Furuhashi quickly pipes up.
“Oho? So you haven't gotten obsessed with gadgets lately, Furuhashi? Like your phone, perhaps?”
Furuhashi pales considerably.
“N-no sir! I found a new interesting game, that's all.”
“Ah,” he smiles, “I'll leave you and your phone obsession alone then, Furuhashi.”
Soshiro pretends to walk away from the table, secretly listening in to their conversation, that has continued via hushed whispers as soon as they thought he was gone.
“Not going to lie, Iharu, but I'm half convinced this whole ship thing is a paid act that you made up,” Haruichi says to Furuhashi.
“Oi! It's not, you blockhead! It's not my fault that it suddenly blew up!” Furuhashi whisper-yells in response.
Having heard enough, Soshiro heads back to his office. Once he was comfortably seated in his chair, he opened the social media app he had seen previously. Clicking the search button, he looked up your name and Furuhashi’s together.
Ah. So this is what has gotten them in a twist.
ashiro mina’s gf @daikaiju22204
did not get the sudden hype abt this fukuharu thing but! they do look cute tgt lol
220 likes • 87 retweets • 19h
matsu @isseimm
hello i opened my phone and first thing i see is a rookie thirsting for his senior? LMAOOO they cute tho #fukuharu
8 likes • 1 retweet • 10m
king @tortutoru
can you STOP showing up late to all the gossip!!!
gen narumi enthusiast @narumisleftthigh
GIRL… @fukuimiwa.jakdf the way he's looking at you he has FEELINGS i fear…
980 likes • 200 retweets • 21h
gen narumi’s wife @narumisrightthighi
i'm pretty sure she's not active on socmed at all but GIRL… i wish she would turn on the app and see this mess… fukui miwa-san I Am Begging u
He found rows and rows of posts, talking about you and Furuhashi. How cute it would be if you got together. Furuhashi’s shy expressions as he was looking at you. Your laugh at Furuhashi doing stupid things. All trivial, small acts that you did with every single member of the Defense Force.
Why Furuhashi?
He soon found the answer in a post, which was one of the most popular ones you've seen compared to the others in the bunch. It had thousands of likes, hundreds of replies, and was quickly gaining in number.
jakdf updates @DailyThirdDivision
This is so cute! Some officers of the Third Division were asked about their biggest motivation in choosing the division, and here are their answers!
8,980 likes • 1,200 retweets • 22h
[Below the post was an image, showing a list of of names, as well as their individual answers. There were a total of six names, including Ichikawa Reno, Shinomiya Kikoru, Haruichi Izumo, Furuhashi Iharu, Hibino Kafka, and Kaguragi Aoi.]
Most of the recruits answered similar things, either their ambitions to become part of the Defense Force, or Captain Ashiro. Except for one, very annoying answer. Furuhashi Iharu. Most of his answers were actually more related to his own ambitions, his need to get stronger, and his wish to overcome his peers in terms of strength and skill. However, what annoyed Soshiro the most was the last sentence.
“Any division would've been fine for me, but I'm really glad I got in this division. Officer Fukui-san, especially, is one of my favorites!”
Hell no.
One measly, simple-minded, sentence like this? This blew up? This caused half the Internet to suddenly want you and Furuhashi to get together? You weren't even that close to Furuhashi. You barely talked to him. You mostly communicated with Shinomiya, the only girl in their group. He bet that he could count the amount of times you have talked with Furuhashi, both as a group and individually.
Soshiro has been an officer for years. He knows that the Internet switches their opinion every week. He has been subject to both extreme hate, and extreme love. He knows how to respond to the media, how to frame things to make people think a certain way. And he knows, especially, how to turn the public opinion the other way around.
Furuhashi Iharu won't know what hit him.