(OOC: Welcome to the anthology for the War of Seikan - the most relevant historical point for modern day Shimajiro. Anybody is free to get involved where necessary. This RP will take place throughout the early 1960s to late 1990s, and will document primarily the lead-up, cumination, and fall-out of the War of Seikan).
Tanghar Port, Ebigaki Island Prefecture, Shimajiro
Late May, 1972, 8:42 A.M.
It was raining heavily in Tanghar Port. They had been used to the rain, and the gloom of the overcast, for many centuries now. Ancient prophecies had told of the curse of the land, never to see sunlight again. But the people did indeed see the sunlight, albeit in its rarities. The blue skies were as uncommon as ever under the Shogunate. A regime, so bitter in nature, had appeared so strong. And strong it was, and the people knew this. In fact, the regime was so strong that it was almost impossible for its subjects to imagine a life in which it didn’t moderate their very existences. But the prophecies were false, the residents of Tanghar had seen the sunlight not only yesterday evening.
Sui felt the raindrops on the kitchen window as if she could feel them on her skin. The faint crackles felt so loud, it was as if they were piercing through the glass and landing on her cheeks, dampening her blonde hair. She stared blankly at the white tiles ahead of her.
“It’s been a year, now…” she uttered, the words struggling on her lips, “…since… Hideyoshi went missing.”
Light tears swelled in her eyes. What tears she had left, after spending the previous year wailing for her sweet husband. A man so caring, so loving, that she had forgotten herself, and he occupied her mind like an unforgettable dream. Hideyoshi Yoshino had been an accomplished businessman. It was difficult to ‘make ends meet’ in a political climate such as the regime of the Shogunate, and yet, Hideyoshi had managed everything under the sun to achieve everything he wanted. It was this triumph that attracted a twenty-year-old Sui to him. And the two were undeniably destined. That was, until last year’s fateful spring.
Sui’s train of thought came to a grinding halt to the sound of her sister, Kayoko. Her older sibling had been making the two green tea, and was preparing to sit across the table from Sui.
“My love”, she had always called Sui her ‘love’, “you can no longer let him haunt your mind.”
Kayoko sat down, placing the tray of tea on the table with her, and pushing a warm cup towards Sui. She took it, and stared down at the hazy green glaze beneath her. She gloomily swirled the teabag around with her spoon.
“I… I know,” she said, reluctantly, “it’s just… Riku…”
“Riku is only two years old. It will be a fading memory for him. The worst thing you can do now is go digging deeper searching for something you’ll never find. You-”
Kayoko paused for a moment, and then continued, hesitantly.
“You don’t want to end up like poor Hideyoshi, do you?”
The mention of the name stabbed into Sui’s heart, like it always had. She had remembered his final message to her, her sat next to the landline phone in her kitchen, hearing his fuzzy voice one last time, before being dragged to… wherever the hell they took Hideyoshi. It was the first time in her life Sui felt truly powerless.
“I want the boy to grow up in a land where he can be free. Where he can achieve… great things.” Sui responded.
Kayoko budged, grasping her tea mug with two hands and sipping from it anxiously.
“Yes, I know. And he will. You already know things are happening over in Morstaybishlia. We need to stay put.”
Sui looked up at her sister, and then back down at the green liquid that inhabited the silicone mug in front of her. She took a sip, savouring the sweet, warm taste. It reminded her of the way Hideyoshi made green tea. And she turned this reminder into a stone cold hatred. She felt furious at what the Shogunate had done to Hideyoshi, her sweet, brown-eyed Hideyoshi. The same brown eyes that Sui imagined when looking down at their son. She had always remembered her love for her husband through Riku.
Kayoko sighed, and stared deeply at Sui.
“I’m heading to the post office tomorrow,” she insinuated. “They have something for me there.”
Sui glanced up at her sister, and then glanced out of the window at the glistening of the raindrops on the glass.
“You need to be more careful, Kayoko.” Her eyes met her sister’s gaze as she said her name.
“I know, Sui. I will. I promise.”