“Did you wait long?” the man asked.
“Not especially,” the younger man replied. “What happened?”
“Admiral Borda’s secretary, Jackson—Mr. Zinc, as your people call him—has been captured. I didn’t tell him what my squad was doing, so he got sloppy.”
“Excellent work.”
“Was it? You could have helped him escape, if you had wanted to.”
“If I had, we’d be trying to kill each other right now,” the young man said jokingly, then sipped from his glass. “Still, I am tremendously honored that you agreed to meet me, Major Andrey Kalinin.”
“Leonard Testarossa-kun,” Kalinin observed thoughtfully, “I’ve heard all about you.”
The waiter brought vodka, and the two men raised a ceremonial glass.
Epilogue
The withdrawal went smoothly. Mao’s team hauled out the machinery hidden in the vault’s back room, carried it onto the helicopter, and then took off. Clouseau’s team apologized profusely to the crew and passengers, then quickly left the ship. They’d thought about taking a few of Harris’s co-conspirators from the security team with them, but decided against it; these men didn’t know much about Amalgam.
The Pacific Chrysalis was taken in by the coast guard in the wee hours of the 25th, and then entered the Port of Yokohama early that morning. When the press rushed them with cameras flashing, the students of Jindai High shamelessly flashed peace signs, earning scowls from those with better sense.
The only person with serious injuries, Commander Killy B. Sailor, was saved “thanks to swift first aid by the terrorists,” and quickly became a media darling. He asserted, “It wasn’t the terrorists; it was the captain who shot me!” and cruise line representatives struggled for an explanation before eventually sweeping it under the rug as being an ‘accidental discharge.’
An outraged Commander Sailor wanted to tell reporters about the mysterious girl he’d met and everything else, but the Navy brass stopped him: Don’t think about it. Just tell them “I did my best” and accept your hero title. Sailor tried to refuse, but they threatened to ‘promote’ him from his beloved captain’s chair to a desk job at the Pentagon, so he’d had no choice but to stay silent. The incident left a bad taste in his mouth.
Captain Harris, still missing, was savaged by the press. It was decided that, shaken by his “accidental discharge,” he’d taken a boat and tried to escape on his own, before going down somewhere in the middle of the ocean.
Sousuke and Tessa were taken right to the Tuatha de Danaan after the helicopter picked them up. He didn’t have time to return to the cruise ship and talk to Kaname.
Two days later, the squad held a late Christmas party on Merida Island, and celebrated Tessa’s birthday at the same time. She was genuinely surprised by the surprise party.
Mardukas, stoic in his party hat and Groucho glasses, handed her a bouquet. Kalinin, who arrived late from Sydney, gave her a red brooch, saying it was from an ‘acquaintance.’ Mao gave her Dior lipstick and said, “You’re becoming a beautiful woman. Cheer up.”
Tessa was delighted by her subordinates’ plan... but a part of her remained melancholy.
After finishing his debriefing, writing his report and participating in the party, Sousuke finally returned to Tokyo three days after Christmas. They were called to school on the morning of the 28th, and naturally, the seajacking was all anyone could talk about. A good portion of the class hadn’t taken part in the trip, so those who wanted to share their experiences didn’t lack for a willing audience.
Perhaps because there were no casualties, the newspaper coverage had been relatively restrained. Apparently, that same night, a member of the US cabinet had been assassinated with a bomb, so that was taking the lion’s share of the media attention. The students of Jindai High found that very upsetting.
Their homeroom teacher, Kagurazaka Eri, announced to the classroom, “Excuse me! Through some strange twist of fate, we ended up in another awful situation, but I’m glad you’re all fine! If, knock on wood, this happens a third time, I urge you to refrain from flashing peace signs to the media! Is that understood?!”
“Yes ma’am,” the students replied obediently enough.
“Fine. Have a happy New Year, then!”
The homeroom session lasted a little over ten minutes. “Why would you call us out here for that?” the students grumbled, and began noisily preparing to head home.
Kaname rushed out of the classroom to see to an errand, then returned ten minutes later to find everyone already gone—everyone except for Sousuke. He was leaning against the wall by the window, as if he’d been waiting for her return. “Did you finish what you needed to do?” Sousuke asked, with a strange stiffness in his voice.
“Yeah,” she said. “What about you?”
“I’m free at the moment. But... do you remember what I said on the ship?”
“Er... y-yeah...” she stammered. This was their first time seeing each other since the cruise. He’d said ‘I want to talk to you when this is over,’ and that was that. Kaname suddenly felt nervous all over. “So... what did you want to talk about?”
“Ah. Well...” Sousuke hesitated. “It’s just... what I wanted to talk to you about is... well...” He looked around nervously, head bowed, then wiped at his forehead and let out a big sigh. There was a faint flush in his cheeks. “Damn. A day really does sap the determination...” he whispered as if to himself.
“So, what is it?” she asked insistently.
“Ah, sorry... The thing is, I know I caused a lot of trouble for you the other day. I know it’s not the right time, but... this is for you.” As if to force a change in subject, Sousuke reached into his collar pocket and produced an unset stone. It was a round, smooth oval, reminiscent of the sea with its deep blue color. A striking spiral of black ran through it, as if it had the sea currents themselves sealed inside.
“What is it?” Kaname wanted to know.
“A lapis lazuli,” Sousuke said.
