Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Brave Soldier ❯ Hello Dear Brother ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight: Hello Dear Brother:

I hadn't expected to see anyone from my army days again. This just happened by chance. I think Yumi and I were out shopping for dinner. We were out of tofu, if I could remember correctly. Yeah, that had to be it. The other batch went bad last night. Yumi was devastated. I rubbed her shoulders as she looked so upset.

“It's okay,” I said. “It's okay. It's okay.” She looked up but said nothing. There was only one way to fix the situation.

So here we were. Yumi and I didn't speak. She had calmed down some by then. I didn't try to say a word. What was I going to say to make it better? We just had to go by the tofu and go home. Fine by me. Anything to keep her happy.

We ended up at the local tofu shop. This was where I found myself for quite the shock. Just standing here made me feel so old.

“Whoa! This takes me back,” I said with a whistle. My fianc�e turned her head with a confused look on her face.

“Why? We come here every week,” she said. I tilted my head.

“We do?” I asked. She nodded at me. All I could do was shrug. Okay, I guess. I stopped questioning some things that came out of her mouth at that point. It'll probably come back to me later and I'm going to kick myself. However, that thought didn't linger on my mind. Yumi pushed open the door.

“Hello?” she asked. “Is anybody here?” I followed her inside. A man in his twenties walked out from the back. He had to duck down when he walked up to the counter. When I locked eyes with him, my jaw dropped. I covered my mouth.

“Hojo?” I asked. The man froze when we locked eyes.

“Toshiki?” he asked. So many memories came flooding back. Hojo was one of the few guys that I got along with during our training days. He still had a bit of a boyish face. That beard couldn't make him look any older if it tried. He used to be much thinner back then. The guns on his arms made me do a double-take. I could still tell it was him from the scar on his left forearm. Yumi looked between us as we stared at each other. Hojo let out an excited shout.

“Holy shit! Toshiki, is that you?” he asked.

“Yeah. What are you doing here? How long have you been in town, man?”

Hojo counted up in his head. “About three weeks.”

“Three weeks? Why didn't you call me?”

Hojo put up his hands. “I didn't know you were in town. Why didn't you stop by?” I shrugged my shoulders. Fair enough.

“I didn't know you were here either,” I said. Yumi frowned as she looked between us again.

“Can somebody tell me what's going on?” she asked. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about her.

“Oh. My bad, this is Hojo Takeru,” I said. “He and I were on the defense forces together back in the day.”

“Nice to meet you,” Hojo said with a little bow. Yumi finally perked up for the first time today.

“My name is Yumi,” she said. “Nice to meet you.” She bowed with grace like she was the princess I sometimes pictured her to be. Hojo took a moment to look at her before he cleared his throat.

“How can I help you today?” he asked. Yumi lifted her chin.

“Three blocks of tofu, please,” she said.

“Soft or firm?” Hojo asked. Yumi took a moment to think.

“Do you mind if I look around for a bit?” she asked.

“No, knock yourself out,” my buddy said.

“Thanks,” she said with a bow. The whole time, I had questions for my friend. How had he been holding up since the war ended? It had been years since we last saw each other. We're part of a small number who survived the war. I couldn't remember who was still left. I hadn't tried to contact any other survivors in the two years that I have lived with Yumi and her family.

“How have you been?”

“Huh?” I looked up to see Hojo staring at me. I stood there blinking as the question worked its way into my brain.

“Oh! Good, good. I work at the Community Center across town,” I said.

“Wow,” Hojo said. “I see.”

“How have you been? We haven't seen each other in years.”

“I'm getting by. I just came back to town to help my girlfriend's grandparents run this shop.” He chuckled as my jaw dropped.

“Wait, wait, wait. When did you and Sae get back together?” To say that he and Sae had a roller coaster relationship did it no justice. She was too independent and he was a stubborn little shit. None of us could see Sae as the type to settle down and become a housewife. Hojo thought that he could turn her into the ideal Japanese woman. And that was just one of the verbal tangos they got into during their high school days. They broke up before we were shipped off to war. Despite this, Hojo was still in love with her. He wouldn't shut up about her. He showed off many pictures that he still had of her. He even considered getting back together with her when his duty was complete. We would all force ourselves to smile and nod every time he brought her up. Hojo rubbed the back of his head as he laughed.

“Over Christmas,” he said. He busted out laughing again. I resisted the urge to ask who made the first move. Turns out, I didn't have to ask.

“Shortly after I got back home, I decided to see how Sae was doing,” he said. “I called up this tofu shop because that I was the only number I still had. Her grandfather and I got to talking. Did you know she moved away while we were at war?”

“No,” I said.

“Her father got a job overseas. That was probably why I lost contact with her during training. Anyway, I got her new number from her grandfather. To make a long story short, I called up Sae, and we got to talking whenever we could for six months. The whole time, I hoped that there was still a chance that we could get back together. She came back to Japan for Christmas. I met her at the airport and we spent the day together.” There was a twinkle in Hojo's eyes.

“The sparks came back to life and the rest is history.” He grinned and pumped his fist in the air.

“I still got it.”

“Wow. I don't know what to say. I'm really happy for you.”

“I'm planning to propose to her this fall. I don't have the ring, but I'm working on it.”

“I see.” I nodded as I said that. “What?”

Hojo smiled like there was one more thing that he just had to say. He leaned in as he beckoned me closer. I complied with a curious look on my face. There was more? What else could he have to say about him and Sae?

“Sae's pregnant,” Hojo whispered. I stumbled backward as my jaw dropped.

“What?!” I shouted. He grinned as his face lit up.

“Yep. But don't say anything. She wants to make it through the first trimester before she makes the announcement,” he said. I nodded as I zipped my lips. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Still, I was happy to see that my army buddy was doing well. He got his girl back, and he was going to be a father. Hojo looked over my shoulder at Yumi's back.

“What's the story with her?” he asked. “She a family member of yours or something?”

“Well…” I began to say. I still couldn't come up with a way to describe what I had with her without sounding weird. Yumi walked up to the counter with her tofu in hand.

“Here's what I want,” she said. Yumi had a big box of tofu in her arms. I whistled to myself. Guess who was going to be the one to carry it home.

“Sure, let me ring that up for you,” Hojo said. I stood to the side as he rang up the box.

“Hey, Toshiki,” he said. “Sae and I are having a small dinner party this weekend. We would like it if you came by.”

“Sure,” I said.

“Great, I'll let her know,” Hojo said as he finished ringing up Yumi's purchase.

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“Come back again, sometime!” Hojo shouted as we walked out of the store.

“Sure will!” Yumi shouted as she waved. I didn't mind carrying the box home. My mood brightened as we walked down the street. I smiled and shook my head. I was happy to see that Hojo was doing good for himself.