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May 8th, 1945
“Hey guys, get a load of this, the krauts finally put in the towel, It’s the end of the war!”
Cheers could be heard from beyond the barracks as Shin tightened his necktie infront of a mirror. His face was freshly shaven and his jet black hair was cut short like most soldiers. Instead of his usual olive drab field jacket he was wearing his dress uniform, his coat and belt behind him on the table.
“Tojo still needs to be toppled in the Pacific doesn’t he?”
“He means for us Rito, we get to stay here on occupation because the idiots in the white house think we’ll turn coat.”
“They could change their minds, couldn't they?”
“Doubt it. Anyway, we’re still getting paid for just doing patrols and inventory so its a win in my book.”
Shin pulled the sleeve of his jacket over his right arm and did the same with his other side. On his left sleeve was a depiction of a hand holding a torch surrounded by a blue and then a red hexagon. Below that was two vertical bars adjoined by two smaller horizontal ones, marking him as a Captain. Finishing his look off with his peaked officers cap, he grabbed his small bag of belongings before leaving his cabin.
Shin stepped out into the hall of the barracks, these all belonging to the officers of second battalion, 442nd regimental combat team. Being a commissioned officer came with benefits including mostly a better paycheck but also such as having a room to yourself.
He passed pair after pair of closed doors, their inhabitants not present. While some were continuing to oversee the surrender of Germans while most were either already on or about to go on leave. Unlike the previous few weeks, all he could hear was his own footsteps and the elated cheers of his comrades. However even with their victory in Europe, Shin had his usual poker face on. Some in F company joked that even at his wedding he would be wearing it, that was to say that he always had it on.
As Shin stepped out of the building, he was greeted by a familiar face. Theo seemed to be heading in His direction so Shin stopped near the foot of the small staircase to still allow people to get in and out. Most of the Admin and Logistics details were filled out by other officers in the company so the only reason why he would be coming over to talk would be because..
“Hey Shin, you’re finally going out with Lena tonight aren’t you?” He said, cutting off Shin’s train of thought.
“How do you know that?”
“Well … let’s say I have my sources.”
Shin thought back to some idle chatter a days ago, some soldiers of the 442nd where celebrating the surrender of german troops in the area as well as Hitler’s suicide and had had a bit too much brandy. Shin after a few seconds finally replied. “That Signals girl you’ve been sleeping with… isn’t she a friend of Lena.”
“Now how do you know that?”
“Connected some dots myself but mostly a drunk Corporal Keets.”
“Great, let me guess he was also talking about how Annette is flat as a board?”
Shin paused before continuing, “So what did you come to talk to me about.”
“If I was Daiya I would be wishing you good luck and giving you pointers but no, I’m just delivering some things Raiden wanted to give to you.” He said while pulling out a few items from his pocket.
He handed Shin the loose items from Raiden. There were a few square packages as well as a folded note. Shin opened the folded piece of paper, in First Lieutenant Shuga’s handwriting was the words “Use protection!”. Shin closed the note, his expression not changing.
“He’s off doing inventory of Kraut weapons so he asked me to give it to you. Wait, you know how to use one right? I mean the size of her…” He said, cutting himself off as Shin’s face slightly twitched, now giving him a death glare.
Theo took three quick steps back making them two meters apart and getting him firmly out of punching reach. “Well that’s all from me, have a nice evening captain Nozen.” said the slightly nervous Theo before quickly making his escape.
As the orange sky started to turn from dusk to night Shin was walking along the streets of Sorrento. Even though the scars of the war were still far from healed in the peninsula, the walkers he passed had smiles on their faces, ones free from the fear of death. Instead of the sound of anti aircraft guns all he could hear was the faint sound of live music and the footsteps of others.
As Shin continued through the coastal city the peace and quiet felt off to him. His days of leave were mostly unused with him always either being on the frontlines or in a nearby aid station. The deep rumble of tank engines and crack of rifle fire were more familiar to him than music or singing for many years at this point.
As he walked, the small piece of undamaged tile he was walking on felt as uneven and unstable as the hastily made replacements that surrounded it. It was as if he could still feel the weight of his M1 rifle as he caught sight of a bombed out building far down another road. Shin felt as if he were walking in a fake world, a very poorly made one. One where you could feel how much of a facade by how much of the real world leaked in.
As he turned around the corner he realised that he had finally reached the place he had been walking towards, or rather the person he had been walking towards. Standing near a handrail a girl had her gaze directed at the sea and the setting sun. Her silver hair still visible in the fading light of the sun.
“You know the sunset from inland is nothing compared to the coast, don't you think? ” Lena said as Shin walked up beside her.
“I’ve never really thought about it. I wasn’t the type to watch the sunset back home.”
“Really? I find them quite beautiful, the most beautiful part of the day. I’ve never bothered to ask you this but where are you from? Compared to this the sunsets in Detroit look like poor drawings done by an ameture.”
“Honolulu, Hawaii. Now that I think of it, I remember watching a sunset once with my family when I was younger.”
Lena turned her body, now her attention directed towards Shin. “I can’t remember how old I was or what was the occasion but what I can remember most of all was that I was with my family.” Shin said, a bit of emotion finally creeping into his speech. “Now that they’re all gone, that’s one of the few memories I have of them.”
Lena stayed silent, the air between them becoming cold. Hin seemed to be in thought, his face with a slight frown on it. “Sorry for ruining the mood … do you want to head to dinner now?” he finally said.
“That would be nice, do you have any place in mind?”
“No, I was thinking we could just look around.”
The sound of music, clinking of glasses and idle chatter could be heard in the restaurant Shin and Lena were dining in. The medium sized room was packed to the brim with every table occupied. The rationing of clothing meant many military personnel could be identified in their dress uniform, celebrating the death of the third reich with pasta and wine. Across from Shin, Lena who was in a very similar uniform to him was looking through a menu.
“So what are you doing now that the fighting is over?” Lena asked as she put down the menu.
“Not much really, we’ve mostly been stationed as occupation forces so our jobs are mostly doing patrols and processing German prisoners. How about you?”
“Even though the fighting’s mostly over we still have plenty of casualties coming in. Yesterday we had an 18 year old who had a grenade detonate on him,” She said, a slight frown creeping onto her face. “We were able to stop the blood loss and remove all the shrapnel but we had to amputate his right hand.”
“Was he right handed?”
“No… I think I remember seeing him writing a letter this morning,” Lena replied a bit confused. “Anyway, what kind of question is that?”
“Once he’s released he’ll still be able to write and do some tasks, sure it’ll be hard but he’ll be in a better spot than if he lost his left hand.”
Lena paused before replying. “Yes I guess that’s true, still though losing a hand must be rough.”
“He’ll learn to live with it.” Shin said, looking down at the table.
Lena winced, realising how Shin could relate to having major challenges. Being part of an ethnic minority must have come with a range of challenges especially since they were still at war with Japan.
A waiter, a girl who looked to be in her early 20’s dressed in a white shirt with a black bow tie arrived to take their order. “Good Evening, sir, madam, may I take your order?” She said in English with a slight Italian accent.
“I’ll take the spaghetti all von-go-... number 21.” Shin said, attempting to say the name but giving up.
“The Spaghetti alle vongole? Good choice and you madam?”
Lena quickly reconsulted her menu. “I will have… the margarita pizza.”
She scribbled something on her small notepad. “And any drinks for the two of you? May I suggest a glass of the house wine for each of you?”
“We’ll take that, lucky you can speak english, even though there’s some english in here names are still a handful.”
“Oh well actually I’m the only one here who can speak english. All evening I've been serving anyone with an American or British uniform. Oh right, by the way, thank you both for your service. My boyfriend was serving with the co-belligerent army and I was so worried about him but with the war over we can finally live in peace so thank you. I hope you two enjoy your food and have a nice evening.” She said with a bow, leaving.
Arriving back a few minutes later, she carried with her two glasses as well as an olive green bottle of wine. She poured the deep red liquid into the glasses, recapped the bottle and headed towards the kitchen.
On the table beside them the two occupants, both in civilian dress. They clicked their glasses of red wine together, most likely celebrating the end of the fighting. Lena picked up her glass. Lifting it slightly off the table, it caught Shin’s attention. “How about a toast?”
“What would we toast to?”
“How about the end of the fighting?”
Shin paused, his poker face flickering like a damaged film reel. A slight frown could be seen on his face as he went deep into thought. Lena put down her glass and reached over. Gently clasping Shin’s hand in her own, he was snapped out of his thoughts. “Is everything alright Shin, was it something I said? ”
“No, I mean kind of but not really…” He replied, pausing in a way that implied he had more to say. “.. Lena, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Yes?”
“I’m going to be transferring to intelligence services. I heard they’ll be needing more linguists for the invasion of Japan.” He stated.
“But why?”
“Well with the ideologically loyal Japanese civilians I imagine they’ll need a lot of convincing to…”
“No, I mean why are you transferring?” She asked with a concerned tone.
“What do you mean?”
“Well it’s just that we treat you so terribly. Back in the states we call you names, ban you from stores and send you to internment camps just because you look different to us. And even after all that you still choose to fight for us and go out of your way to keep fighting for us… why?”
Shin didn’t immediately respond. It was as if he were getting up after only an hour of sleep, gathering the strength to face something he didn’t want to face. The silence between them was filled with the lively chatter of the room.
“Did I ever tell you I had a brother?” He finally responded, answering without answering.
“Yes, you’ve mentioned him a few times.” She said looking back on her memory. “The first time you got injured in combat, you said the purple heart you received looked familiar, that your brother received one… Does that mean your brother also served in the army?”
“Yes he did, he was one of the original members of the 100th battalion.”
“What does he have to do with you ?”
Shin sighed, pausing as if he were checking his notes before answering a question in a test.“My brother was what you would call a patriot, he would celebrate the 4th of July as if it were his birthday and he signed up for the national guard the second he turned 18. After Pearl, me and my brother were called names, labelled as the enemy. At the time I couldn’t understand why he still wanted to fight for a country that was treating us so I snapped at him...”
“Shin, if this is digging up uncomfortable memories you don’t have to continue.” Lena started, a pleading tone in her voice.
“No, it’s fine. I also haven’t gotten to why I signed up yet, did I? You still want to know why I fight, don't you?”
“Yes I do but…”
“Then just listen.” Shin said, sighing. “In my anger I ripped a US flag in front of him, I called him an idiot, a blind believer, that our country had done nothing for us… that was the first time he got mad at me. Rei shipped out the next day without a word.”
“Did he ever send any letters to you?” Lena asked.
“No… I never received any letters from him except the one announcing that he was Killed in action. It arrived with a purple heart as well as a distinguished service cross; it said he died covering his unit's withdrawal.”
“I think… I think my brother hated me to his last breath. My brother believed in this country… In the American dream where anyone can do anything… I know this country is a far cry from that but I also know that Japan stands directly opposed to them. “ Lena stayed silent considering this as Shin paused, catching his breath. He stared blankly at the table cloth as his face remained blank. “Rei always took care of me and I… I returned the favour by disrespecting the thing he held most dear. I need to see this through to the end, to pay him back for all he did for me.”
Scratching his head he looked away from Lena not meeting her eyes. “So… even if that means I’m fighting a country that doesn’t want me, so be it. Again I’m sorry” he said before being stopped by Lena.
“Why are you apologizing Shin? ”
“I thought you would want to go back to civilian life… on the frontlines most of the deaths on the frontlines I see are dead in under 10 seconds but for you, I can’t imagine it would be easy seeing people bleed out day in and day out.”
“That is true, I’ve seen my fair share of death in the backlines away from all the fighting but I like to think the lives I’ve saved makes it worth it.”
“Now that you asked me… now it my turn, why did you sign up for the medical corps Lena?”
“Well my father served as the commanding officer of a coloured unit during the great war. He told me stories on how the soldiers he had commanded, the ones put through the same hell as any other American infantryman, were treated terribly after the war.” She said resolutely. “I signed up in hopes that I could help people. One day I hope for the kind of racial injustice people like you face to be a thing of the past. A time where we just think of other people as another person and not anything else. ”
Shin paused to consider this. “I see… sorry for making that assumption then, I guess in a way you still have a war to fight as well.”
“...Hey Shin, how about we make a promise with each other?”
Shin looked up from the point on the table he was watching, his blood red eyes met Lena’s silver ones. “We’ll both keep fighting this war, we’ll see it to the end and make this world a better one, one your brother and my father would want. Then after that, well we’ll celebrate then.”