His Warrior Queen: A Haikyuu!! Novel (Tsukishima x OC)

Chapter 85: Dance With Me

Nakano lay on her bed, thinking.

She knew she should be getting ready - after all, her dad had told her and Amalie that their escorts would be arriving in about an hour - but she just couldn't find a whole lot of enthusiasm in herself for the idea.  Nakano sighed; she was freshly showered, and if she lifted up her head just a little, she could see her beautiful new forest green dress hanging in the front of her closet.  It was a long, slinky affair, with a scoop neck and long sleeves and just enough of a flair to the bottom of the dress that her braces would go undetected.  It hugged her curves beautifully, and her heart ached knowing that it would not be Kei seeing her in it this evening.  She had asked her handsome boyfriend to return the Evenstar pendant to her so she could wear it with the dress.  It seemed the perfect choice - the dress itself was unadorned, so the large pendant would take center stage, resting against the deep green background and reminding her of the young man who gave it to her.  She intended to tell anyone who mentioned the necklace the entire story of how she got it, making sure that the unknown young man taking her to this dance tonight knew exactly who was uppermost on her mind.

She sighed again.  She could give herself five more minutes.  Five more minutes to just lie here on her bed and psych herself up for this.  She needed to dry off completely before getting dressed anyway, right?

Right.

Her thoughts wandered back to the conversation she'd had with her mother as they'd shopped for the dress she was about to put on.  Emiko had been very sympathetic, commiserating with her daughter about the trials and tribulations that you had to deal with when you were part of a career Navy family.  

"I can't say I was too surprised when your father said your escort for the dance had already been chosen, Naka-chan," Emiko had said when Nakano had asked her if she knew why Kei was not allowed to take her to the dance, "Admiral Iida has been talking about setting you and his youngest son up together almost since the day he found out you and Eijiro are the same age.  I guess your father never really took him seriously...until suddenly he had to."

"But why couldn't he just explain to the Admiral that I've already got a boyfriend, Mom?"

"Oh honey, sometimes...especially in the Navy...you just have to go along with what your superior officer wants, or it's just going to make way too much trouble for you later on.  I know it shouldn't be that way, but it is."

"Kei thought it might be something like that.  But I still don't get it!  Admiral Iida has always seemed like such a nice man.  Why would he do this?"

Emiko had shrugged.  "Naka-chan, sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and bear these things, because you love your dad, even if this is making you unhappy right now."

"Have you ever had to put up with something like this, Mom?"

Emiko had snorted, making Nakano raise her eyebrows.  "I had to put up with much, much worse, Nakano, believe me.  I'll show you when we get home."

And sure enough, after they'd finished all the shopping, Emiko had sat Nakano down in the dining room with a cup of tea and a small photo album.  "When your father made Lt. Commander, he was assigned to serve under an older captain - Captain Asui.  The captain had a reputation for enjoying his pleasures - good food, good sake, and pretty women, in particular - and he always invited his senior officers to enjoy these things with him.  Of course, officially, these gatherings were nothing more than friendly get togethers with charming hostesses.  Scuttlebutt said otherwise however - that the captain paid for young ladies who would...please his officers in any way the men wished," Emiko had said with a bit of a blush.  "Well, at first, your father tried to politely decline his captain's invitations, telling the man he had a wife and two young daughters at home, which was true, of course.  Every time he'd say that, the captain would tell him he should loosen up a little - that a man who was too tied down to his home life would never get anywhere in the Navy.  Well, it soon became obvious what he meant.  Your dad was passed over for promotion three times before he realized that he was going to have to join the captain's little party club if he ever wanted to make captain himself.  So, he did."  So saying, Emiko slid the little photo album in front of her.