Nishida entered the bar, threw 3 Koku onto it and said: "Drinks on me tonight, but if that walking pile of shit called Bayushi Akagi enters here i want him to be greeted with crab fists, is that clear?" he said to the bartender and ordered 3 cups of sake, opening a fresh pack of cigs and began smoking one.

Tetsu joins his clanmate, throwing some coins onto the counter. "I want to get drunk Tomo-san. Very drunk"

Nishida pushed one of the skae cups in Tetsu's direction.
"Tetsu" he just said, not having the strength to keep up formalities.
He was tired and angry, so unendingly angry.

"Nishida" Tetsu thankfully accepts the cup and downs it. He places it back on the counter and motions for a refill.

"You look like I feel" Crab weren't big on manners, but the pair of them at least had made at least an effort on the trip. At this point, neither of them, at least not Tetsu seemed to care.

"I swear, if this would be a crab planet this fucker would be sleeping with the fish" he said with clenching teeth, downing a sake and ordering two more.

Tetsu blinks. He himself felt like he had been run over by a boulder, but hearing Nishida talk like that was a shock. "Didn't see it coming either did you?"

"No, if i had i would've taken precautions. I would've i would've,.. I!" he slammed his fist onto the bar and clenched it, then reaching for the cup again.

"It's a Scorpion. We know we should expect to be stung and yet it surprises us just the same" Tetsu down another, maybe not as fast as Nishida, but with a similar spirit. "Remember that first night here, when I was all moon eyed over that one? She vanished. Completely gone from the program with no explanation. Ghosted me on dinner too..."

"One day we will get back at these backstabbing dogs. Bayushi Akagai will damn the day he took the one who touched my heart." his eyes got hard and cold.

"And if it's the last damn thing i'll do!"

Tetsu makes up for not ordering more at once by continuing a stream. He somberly holds out a cup, staring at the surface. "Is it better or worse to have them happy with the other guy? Because if they're unhappy, the other guy is a bastard who stole a chance at true love. If they're happy then you're the bastard and you were never even in the race at all."

"..." there was a moment of silence and another shot taken before Nishida spoke again.

"She felt the same like me. That bastard stole her out of the blue. No matter what, i'll never forgive him for that."

"I'll be an imperial after the marriage has been done. I will put that to good use."

Tetsu can't bring himself to look at his Clanmate. "I've...I don't think I've ever felt this before." The drink has taken the edge off his self control. "A slick black ichor of hatred, a forge furnace of fury, and not a kami damned person to rightfully place it. Reason screams in my ear, my lessons hammer in my skull that nothing was done that I shouldn't have been prepared for, that I didn't make out that bad. That I should be satisfied with a duty properly done."

Tetsu drains the next cup. "I want to choke that voice. I want to see ships burn in the vacuum of space, to hear my boots splash in blood, to watch worlds blaze...and me roast marshmallows over it."

He finally can move his gaze away. "I think I finally got it. The thing that lets men build monstrosities of war."

Nishida nodded. "I received a grim reminder that just because the scorpions give us their koku, they would stop stabbing us in the back"