Clearing the Air (Yosai-Inimicus)
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Tokyo 12:00pm
Secretary of State Yuichi Matsuda was sitting in the office of General Secretary Junichi Watanabe on his office sofa the two of them were discussing the visit of another guest coming to Tokyo. Junichi Watanabe was puzzled.
“I don’t…Understand this” Junichi said.
Yuichi Matsuda replied, “Well its simple Emperor Artabanos wants to visit us.”
“Yeah Ok, but why though?”
“Who knows. I mean they are allies with that prick Jesús Aguilar.”
“Yuichi may I remind you that you are our head diplomat. Besides, our nations have settled our dispute, so I’ll have less of that talk.”
“Relax sir I was joking…Kind of…Besides it’s not like I would say that in public.”
General Secretary Watanabe sighed in frustration “I suppose they want to…What? Mend Fences?”
“Well, our ambassador was rather vague about it, all they could tell me is that he wishes an audience with us.”
“Well fine then. I guess we can bread in Ishiguri Garden. When is he coming?”
“Next week.”“Wait…What?”
A week later General Secretary Watanabe was waiting at the private terminal at Haneda international airport where he was expecting the Emperor of Inimicus to arrive.
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Vicarius Wilfred Cocx had warned Emperor Artabanos not to go to Yosai Himself, but to send someone lower down the food chain in His stead, just in case there was "trouble". Trouble, Artabanos had asked, what trouble? For some reason, Inimicus and Yosai had developed a purely hostile impression of one another without actually ever having been in a direct confrontation. 'It's the Straits', thought Artabanos as His jet -- which, on the Inquistan Archbishop's advice in their new group chat, He had had decorated with pink stripes -- began its final approach into Tokyo. The Straits, and Inimicus's implicit support for Spanish rights inside them, that had caused this antagonism.
Nevertheless, that crisis was solved now, apparently. He didn't quite know why or how, but it had been solved. And what better way of re-approaching Inimicus-Yosai relations than to visit Himself, as a gesture of goodwill, to establish some common ground. He'd seen pictures of General Secretary Watanabe, and was sure they'd get along. If they'd both been twenty years younger, thought Artabanos...
The Imperial Jet touched down at Haneda International Airport, where Artabanos saw a significant contingent of plane spotters looking strangely at His new plane decorations. "One for the road, gents?", He asked His attendants, who immediately provided Him with several small bottles of drink, of which He swigged three. "Right, off we go". He entered the terminal building and greeted General Secretary Watanabe warmly.
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General Secretary Watanabe replied "Mr Artabanos, its good of you to come. This way please" He said with a slight smile on his face as he greeted him with a light signature Yosainese bow. He then directed the Emperor to a luxurious Mizoiyo ML5 as well as many heavy cars and bullet proof vehicles around it as they made their way to the Executive blue manor.
The both got out of the car and sat in Ishiguri Garden
"Alright Mr Artabanos , I have to admit that we are rather perplexed as you why you are here...So I have to ask, what brings you to Yosai?"
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"I must say, this is a highly inspirational setting", said Artabanos to the General Secretary as He admired the surroundings of the blue manor. "It's such a calming atmosphere -- perhaps I shall have a garden like this installed in Telum somewhere, for My own enjoyment. I don't even feel the need to dri-- I mean, I don't feel the need to be at all stressed. I can understand why you bring your guests here, General Secretary. Most satisfactory."
Artabanos sat down, and soon decided that if He was going to install a Yosainese garden in Telum, He would have to ensure His own standard of seating comfort would be included. "Anyway, yes, I understand my request to meet you here came as a slight shock to you. After all, our nations have kind of been at odds with one another for the past few months, if not years. I suspect - as a matter of fact, I know - this is because Inimicus supported the Kingdom of Spain in its claims on the Adventuranza Strait. However, I want to assure you that those responsible for sending a large contingent of the Imperial Navy into the Strait have, in fact, been immediately dismissed, and you will recall that as soon as they were, I ordered our vessels to stand down and withdraw."
In fact, of course, the Defence Officer responsible for sending the Imperial Navy into Adventuranza was none other than Boris Mancov, who now sat on the National Imperial Council as Drone Commissioner, but Artabanos chose to forego that detail in His plea. "I guess, what it boils down to is this: the Empire of Inimicus has no gripe with Yosai. I wish no animosity between us. And I realise that, given what happened in the past, it will take time for Yosai to realise that Inimicus is not its enemy. But my goal in coming here today is to begin that process. This morning, I ordered My Foreign Officer, Sarah Gladwell, to remove any and all Inimician travel and business restrictions that were in place for Yosai, and I hope that, through assurances and, perhaps, tentative agreements, made today between ourselves, we can start healing the rift between us. Does that make any sense at all?"
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General Secretary Watanabe sighed in a mixture of relief and exhaustion. "Well I can't argue the reasoning behind that Mr Artabanos. I can't stand in the way of reconciliation. I suppose now what we need to discuss is moving forward, seeing as you lifted your restrictions we can remove ours, and let relations evolve organically on their own. Normalisation I believe is what its called. So my question to you Mr Artabanos is what does that look like for your country?"
