Atria rubbed her eyes as the 4:00 AM bullet train sped towards Osaka.  The JSDF had booked them an entire car, and a bleary-eyed Atria, Stella, Adam, Captain Infinite, and Alice, along with a couple of junior officers, had filed in at the station, all carrying duffel bags.  Atria had wished for two things as she sat down on her seat – that her replacement uniform would have been ready, and for more coffee.

    She glanced around the car.  Stella had gone back to sleep leaning against Adam, who stared out the window.  Cap and Alice chatted away quietly.  Atria smiled – it was good that they had finally cleared the air between them.  Her mind went back to the previous day, full of the administrivia of setting her up as a liaison with the Japanese Army.  The paperwork had been extensive, dull, and boring.  The tour of the base by Colonel Sato, on the other hand, had been pleasant and interesting.  Sato took particular pride in showing off his brigade of Type 10 tanks.

    “They are the best my country has to offer,” he had declared with a smile.  “What do you think?”

    Atria had smiled back.  “They look wonderful.  You are right to be proud.”

    The memory brought a grin to her face.  If only she had been able to show him what Volandpanzer could do.

    Cap’s voice brought her back to the present.  “So, that flying you do – how does it work?” he asked in English.

    Atria blinked.  “Sorry?”

    “That thing on your belt that makes things fly,” Cap said.  “I was wondering how it worked.”

    “It’s just an antigrav,” Atria said.  “I don’t really know how it does what it does.  It can lift up to 350 pounds, and on a full charge can last about three hours at full load.  What about you?  How does your flying work?”

    Cap shrugged.  “Don’t know.  I just do it.  I tried to figure it out once, while I was flying between Chicago and New York.  My mind started wandering, and before I knew it, I was thinking about how flying worked.”

    “And?”

    “And, it turns out it’s sort of like flexing a muscle,” Cap said.  “The more you think about flexing a muscle while you’re doing it, the less you end up doing it.  After a while, it’s all thinking and no doing.”

    Atria blinked.  “Meaning...”

    Cap grinned and nodded.  “I hit that farmer’s field at about a hundred and fifty miles per hour.  Didn’t hurt – I’m Captain Infinite, after all.  But, it took me half an hour to fill in the furrow...and I think I spent about $150 to replace all that corn I wiped out.  Money went further in the 1950s.”

    Atria laughed.

    “And, you know, it’s like golf,” Cap added.  “Always replace your divot.”

    “What’s golf?” Atria asked.

    Cap cocked his head.  “You haven’t played golf?  That’s a shame.  It’s a game where you use a club to hit a ball into a hole.  Done right, it’s really relaxing.”

    “Sounds nice.”

    “I’ll tell you what,” Cap said.  “After we’ve found this Daiki Yamato guy, we’ll get a group together and play a round of golf.”

    Atria nodded.  “Okay, I’m in.”

    Cap turned to Alice.  “You in?”

    Alice nodded.  Cap turned to Adam.

    “I’ll play a round of golf with Captain Infinite,” Adam said with a grin.

    “And Stella is...still asleep,” Cap said.  “Okay, we’ve got a group.  I’ll caddy.”

    “Caddy?” Atria asked.

    “Carry the clubs for everybody else,” Adam explained, then turned to face Cap.  “But why not play?”

    Cap smiled sadly.  “I’m still Captain Infinite.  The key to a good swing is the speed of the club head, not the force behind it.  That means its not something I can control like I can other things.  Any golf ball I hit is going to end up somewhere in orbit.”

    “That’s a pity,” Alice said.

    Atria looked at her.  “You really don’t need to be here, Alice,” she said.  “And I can’t let you out into the field once we get there.”

    “Adam’s going into the field,” Alice stated.

    “Adam is going into the field to prevent Stella from doing anything stupid,” Atria said.  “And Stella has the experience needed to get both of them out of trouble if need be.  Cap is bulletproof, and you’re not.  So, you can stay back with the support team and help coordinate, but that’s all I can let you do.”

    Alice nodded.  “Okay.”

    “Why are you here, anyway?” Atria asked.

    Alice stared at the floor.  “After the way I treated Cap earlier, I figured I owed him some company on the trip.”

    Atria checked her watch.  “I’ll start the briefing in about an hour.  Everybody, try to get some rest.  This could be a long day.”

    Atria sat back, closed her eyes, and tried to sleep.  After a few minutes of trying, she opened her eyes and looked around the passenger car.  Cap picked up his duffel bag and headed to the water closet, mentioning something to Alice about needing to get his work clothes on.  He returned still in his street clothes, but with the duffel bag empty.

    Stella began to stir against Adam, stretching and yawning.  Atria checked her watch.  The time was close enough – as soon as everybody was awake, she’d begin.

    The rising sun was shining through the windows when she called the briefing to order.

    “Right, everybody,” Atria began.  “Our mission is to find Daiki Yamato and bring him in.  Alice will help coordinate from the Hanshin Base Corps, which we will use as our base of operations while we are here.  Cap, Stella, Adam and I will be the team on the ground.  We’ll start our search with the hostels in Osaka, as he will likely be spending the night at one.  The lieutenant will pass out copies of the pictures of him that appeared on social media.  For best results, we need to find him by 10:00 in the morning.”

    “Why’s that?” Cap asked.

    “He’s an isekai protagonist from a Japan just like this one,” Atria replied.  “His period of disorientation is probably already over.  By 10:00 the stores will be open, and he’ll be able to pawn some of his belongings and acquire street clothes, if he hasn’t already done so.  Once that happens, all we’ll have to identify him is a sword that he can hide in a bag like I have mine, his height, and a scar on his face.”

    Cap nodded.  “So after 10:00 he’ll be in the wind.  That makes sense.”

    “Once somebody spots him, they should let the rest of us know using the cell phones that you’ve all been issued,” Atria continued.  “All of us will gather once Yamato has been located, and Stella and Adam will take care of first contact.  Then, assuming he’s willing, we bring him back to Tokyo with us.”

    “What if he’s not willing?” Stella asked.

    Atria rubbed her eyes.  “I don’t know.  We can’t force him.  His creator is back at the barracks, so if he wants to meet her, he has to go through us, so that’s something.  We’ll tell him that we’re trying to figure out how to get everybody home, which is true enough.  If those doesn’t work, I guess we just give him a phone number he can reach us at if he changes his mind.  I’m sorry – I wish I had something better.  Usually there’s more time to prepare a mission than this.”

    Cap smiled.  “We’ll manage.”

    “Right now there’s no sign that the other side is operating outside of Tokyo or knows that Yamato has appeared, so we shouldn’t have to worry about any altercations.  If one does start, Cap and I will handle it, and aim to minimize casualties and property damage.  Stella and Adam are to stay out of the way and not engage.”

    Atria glanced at Stella.  Stella looked unhappy, but didn’t say anything.

    “We know what he’s going through, so that’s on our side,” Atria stated.  “And, he’s one of us.  We have an obligation to try to help him.”  The train began slowing as it approached the station.  “All right.  Let’s get to work.”