“Welcome to Ares City, Mars!”

Kawa and James nodded their heads at the female flight attendant who was greeting… There were no passengers other than two samurais, which confused her.

“Hurry,” James whispered to Kawa. They walked faster than usual, passing the oblivious citizens of Mars. After all, they were wearing the uniforms of Martian samurais they stole from back on Ceres.

Kawa was trying to absorb the whole beautiful spaceport into his head. It was absolutely pure white no matter where they went, even though the Martian sky and land were completely red.  Almost every single citizen was also wearing white outfits; full white spandex with black gloves and boots being the most popular on the red planet.

It got even better just after they got out of the spaceport. They were staring at tall, bright, white buildings that looked like they had reached the red sky. They could not even see anything outside the huge city. It reminded Kawa of Terra City, which saddened him a little bit.

“So, have you heard from the Captain yet?” James asked hopefully.

“No matter how many times I tried to contact him and the Sora, I could not get connected to them at all.”

“So, how in the solar system are we supposed to defeat Lord Ares?” James placed his hands behind his blonde-haired head, his fingers locking each other. “Without any strategy, we won’t be able to get close to the Lord. I’m not even sure if he is in this city or not.”

“Well, we can’t just stand around and wait for them to answer though.” Kawa took a look at one of the shops through the glass window, but it was just for white clothes, so he ignored it. “It’s been weeks. I just want the war to end.”

The Wolf Samurai patted on Kawa’s back with a small smile on his face. “Me too… me too… So, should we change outfits in order to bend into the crowd, eh?”

~EARTHxMARS~

After getting the nice white buttoned shirts and very light blue, nearby white, jeans to wear, they agreed to split up and scout the city.

After making sure that he still had his precious sword by checking his holster, he decided to start with a few shopping plazas. The more people there were, the less suspicious he looked.

It was so peaceful here, compared to Earth and Ceres. It was as if the war between Earth and Mars never happened. More than half of Martians were either on their phones or tablets. The children were yelling playfully and running around. It was as if they were in their own bubbles, either not caring about or being oblivious to outside of their own world.

If he were not an Earthling samurai and his family did not get murdered, then he would love to live here instead.

He froze, stopping walking completely when he recognized a certain person walking with two samurais. Europan samurais. One of them was a female who almost went after him and James but was stopped by Akane. What was her name again?

Ah, Graciela!

“Excuse me, have you seen this woman?” Graciela nervously asked a Martian couple, showing them a picture. “Her name is Akane. We… we are lost.” She only received two shaking heads, which told her ‘no.’

“Oh shit,” Kawa said to himself. He had to get out of here like now. Just as he turned around, he bumped into one of the Martians who said “Oof!”

“Sorry,” he whispered so that Graciela did not hear him. As soon as he took a closer look at the Martian who was wearing a white hooded cloak that barely covered her face, he widened his eyes in shock. He thought that she was still on Ceres. What was she doing here on Mars? “Aka… I mean, ma’am, may you take my hand so that I can help you?”

Akane quickly grabbed Kawa’s hand with a quick ‘thank you’ and then started dragging him through the crowd of unsuspecting Martians.

“W-wait! Where are we going?”

“You asked if you could help me. So, you’re helping me by taking me to the nearest shrine temple,” Akane said. “Pretend that we are on a date.”

“Wh… What?!” Kawa yelled, but his mouth was quickly covered by Akane’s hand.

“Shhhh!” Akane shushed harshly at him and said quietly yet angrily, “You idiot! You want to get yourself killed?!”

“Sorry!”

“Here.” Akane took Kawa’s hand. “We hold hands like a couple, see?”

“I...I know that!” Kawa’s face completely reddened. 

The whole walk was complete silence. Kawa’s hand was sweating so much, but Akane did not let it go for some reason.

After a while, Akane looked behind herself one more time. She let go of Kawa’s hand and pulled down her hood. “Good. She’s gone.”

“Why are you avoiding her?” Kawa asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. “She is just doing her job. So am I.”

“You are?” Kawa chuckled in amusement. “Is running away part of your job?”

“Sort of.” She shrugged her shoulders. “You don’t seem to be from this planet. Where are you from?”

“I - Ceres,” Kawa said almost quickly. “I got a new job and moved here only a few weeks ago. I’m living with my second cousin, but as you may see, I’m pretty much lost.”

“With a katana?”

“It’s… my hobby. Sort of,” he said nervously. “And for my defense too.”

“Do you realize that you are not allowed to carry a weapon? You’re lucky that they haven’t busted you yet or else you would be in jail for at least ten years. Didn’t your cousin tell you that?”

“I… I had no idea. He… He never said anything about it.”

Akane chuckled softly, pushing her black hair behind one of her ears. It was the first time that Kawa had ever seen her smile like that.

“So, what’s the story with you and the Ox Samurai?”

She rolled her eyes at the mention of Graciela. “She was sent to bring me back here. I am supposed to report back to Lord Ares, but… I don’t want… I mean… Cereans haven’t done anything wrong. They just want to be free. But what am I supposed to tell the Lord? That dwarf planet has been under our government for five hundred years. You’re a Cerean, right? Can you tell me what we did wrong?”

“I… Uh…” Kawa said nervously. “I don’t know if I am allowed to tell you this.” To be honest, he did not get the exact reason why Cereans were revolting against the Martians. He was trying to remember… something about high tax? Or was it high tea? It did not even make any sense!

“Oh, we are here.” Akane stopped walking and pointed at a long set of stairs that led to the temple on the top. “Thank you so much for helping me out here. What is your name?”

“My name is…” Kawa scratched the back of his head, trying to come up with a name but he did not even have any chance.

“Okay, that’s fine. You can quit playing a game with me, Kawa.”

Kawa froze right there. He seriously thought he had dropped his jaw onto the floor. “Did you just… call me Kawa?”