Avalonians at Hinata-sō

by Pyeknu

Prequel to "Phoenix From the Ashes." When the Avalonians were liberated, a group then living in Hinata seek a place to live at the Hinata-sō, befriending Keitarō. In doing so, they give him a new sense of family…which radically changes the lives of all there. Especially when one becomes his sister and another his fiancée. Keitarō/OC, girls/OCs, no promise girl quest.

10. The Avalonians Make New Friends

Tōkyō, a suburban section of Roppongi in Minato Ward, an hour after lunch…

"…Oyabun of the Kantō Sagara-kai Hōjō Akira-sama and the Ashi'cha of the Roppongi no Avalonjin Takao Minori-sama shall conduct the sakazukigoto to swear an oath of brotherhood and sisterhood as equals. Please proceed, Hōjō-sama, Takao-sama."

With that announcement from Murata Ichijō, the ritual cups of sake were taken up by the handsome raven-haired man in the black formal man's kimono with hakama trousers bearing the mondokoro of the most powerful Yakuza clan in Kantō and the exceptionally beautiful brown-haired woman in the lovely dark blue furisode kimono depicting animals from her true genetic home world many thousands of light-years away. Both sipped the sake, then placed the cups down on the table between them before bowing low to each other. Seated in a row behind the leader of the Sagara-kai and the elder mother of the Avalonians of Roppongi were small delegations of both groups. Once they straightened themselves, the two leaders then passed the cups to their lieutenants so they could be properly handed over to the other person so that both would drink from the other person's sake to show their full willingness to share the other person's food, drink and other resources in times of trouble.

While the Yakuza knew that the Avalonians they had unknowingly associated with for the last ten years — the Roppongi observation station set up by the Niphentaxians to keep a close eye on events in one of the more popular parts of Japan's largest city had been a relatively new post — would not support everything the former group did, they knew the bioroids had come to see something incredibly special about their current leader and wanted to support him in his overall goals. Which was understandable. The unbelievable story of Hōjō Akira's surviving the genocide of Rwanda — his father had been an infectious disease specialist working for Médecins Sans Frontières when he and his wife were killed by rampaging Tutsi militiamen — in the spring of 1994 had begun to circulate when a kobun discovered a picture of the boy who would eventually become his top boss in a Ugandan refugee camp and put two and two together. While Akira hadn't confirmed it when he heard about the rumours — his subordinates clearly didn't want to ask him directly about what had to have been a very painful time in his life — that story had begun to fill the ranks of the Sagara-kai with unbelievable confidence in their oyabun.

That would help them win the battles they would all soon face as their organization moved to challenge the largest Yakuza family of all, the Kōbe Sannō-kai based in the great port city in Kansai, to remove all outside influence on their operations.

But now that the existence of the Space Angels had been revealed…

"Peace, logic and harmony to you all," Akira said as he toasted the woman before him.

Takao Minori smiled as she returned that toast. "May you find the sanctuary you have sought since the day you fled Kigali with your friend," she declared in return, which sent ripples of shock through the ranks of the other Yakuza at this public confirmation of the rumours surrounding their boss. She then glanced at Akira's former elder brother in the Hokushō-kai, Tokai Takaya, who had a look of calm satisfaction on his scarred face when it came to the man who had started out as one of his subordinates and was now his leader. "A sanctuary we will all build together as brothers and sisters."

They allowed the cups to clink as the others in the room whooped with delight. Once the ceremonial sake was drunk, everyone then relaxed. Once Murata declared the bond was formed, people then got up from kneeling seiza on the tatami mats in the primary meeting room of the mansion owned by the Sagara-kai and moved to pair off in groups as soft music began to play in the background. With that, the young leader of the Kantō underworld and the elder mother of the Avalonians of Roppongi moved to head out onto the porch overlooking the busy entertainment district near the Imperial Palace; the headquarters compound of the Sagara-kai was in the Roppongi Hills southwest of that intersection. "You were able to get all your proper internal documents from the Ministry of Justice?" he asked.

"Hai," Minori breathed out. "Delivered this morning by courier from Tomobiki."

Akira snorted as his chief lieutenant Tashiro Reiji came up with flutes of spring water for them. That particular section of Metro Tōkyō had been a practical "no go" zone to the Yakuza since shortly after the Tag Race. Now that the Urusians had been chased back to their home planet and would soon be made to agree to remain outside the solar system — Asami Chiaki passed on that titbit to his old friend the previous night — for a long time to come on threat of planet-wide destruction at the hands of the one race they were mortally terrified of, new business opportunities beckoned. Not to mention a possible direct alliance with the Moroboshi Clan of Mutsu now that it had a new matriarch in the person of Moroboshi Hiromi. Given what he had been advised about that family and their TRUE place in the real scheme of things by the long-retired oyabun of the Sugamo-kai and now effective senior statesman of the Yakuza, Ichijima Yōsuke, there was a strong possibility that his and Chiaki's dream of a "sanctuary" for all those who wanted to break free of the drudgery of modern Japanese life and make something for themselves would really go places in the near future. Especially given what the Avalonians were now envisioning if what Minori — who normally worked as a miko in nearby Hie-jinja — had told him on Thursday was true; that meeting had been a prequel to the ceremony that now bound his Yakuza clan and her extended family of Avalonians together.

"Will your mother be alright?" he then asked.

"Hai," she affirmed. Minori's genetic template/mother Takao Ameko — Akira hadn't learned her true name — had been a closet supporter of the Arch-Heretic himself. Of course, keeping silent about such "heresy" was understandable given the insane devotion leaders back on Phentax Two expressed about ensuring the masses walked the "party line." When the Noukiite Marine platoon sent to deal with her — they were now camped out in Aoyama Park close to the famous cemetery of the same name; they would soon be withdrawn from Earth and allowed to finally go home — came down Wednesday night, they found Ameko peacefully smoking a pipe at the entrance to her small home with cups of sencha spiced with red chilli pepper powder prepared by her daughter. Her statement when the lieutenant in charge of that platoon came up to her made the headlines in local papers and was still the talk of Roppongi: "It's about time you fine fellows finally got here!"

"She'll still face trial at Tengsei, but it's a formality," the shrine miko added. "Once she's declared innocent by the magistrates at Star Chamber, she'll be allowed to resettle on any of the worlds of the Outmarches under their religious refugee laws. Okā-san's not an idiot, Akira-san. She knows that there'll be a lynch-mob waiting for her back home if word ever got out — and it will — that she supported Ganzo-ojiisan."

He nodded. "And John Brown succeeded this time," he breathed out.

"Has Chiaki-san given you any idea about when the final vote on the Immigration Bill will be?"

"No, we haven't talked since last night," he answered. "No doubt, he and his friends in the Diet are busy convincing all the backbenchers in the House of Representatives to support it. I'm sure the Nineties Association will go for it as well. It's only logical."

She smirked. The gift of Avalonian technology was something NO sane person on Earth would pass up even if it seemed magical to those who had already seen samples of it like the dataPADD in action. Of course, it certainly helped matters here in Japan that one of the fifty great starships that had been built by Ki Tsukihana and Hakaru Ayami over the last year in that old Sagussan dockyard orbiting Den'sha Two had been given the most famous ship name in the history of the Home Islands: Yamato. While all the final decisions that would have to go into how such a vessel would be manned and who would ultimately control that ship would probably not be made for a month at the very least, it was already catching the interest of many in the Home Islands, even those who gladly supported Article Nine of the Constitution that loudly forbade the commissioning of what was clearly a space battleship into the Japanese Self-Defence Forces.

While the inaugural meeting of a proposed Council of Elder Mothers formed from the various ashi'cha of those Avalonians who had been on Earth before the Liberation had still to be organized — some national governments were dragging their feet about how they would officially welcome the alien bioroids living amongst them; if decisions weren't made soon, those communities would gladly vacate those countries without hesitation — Minori was determined to learn all she could about what the new matriarch of the Moroboshi Clan planned when it came to those ships and how they would be used. She would share everything she learned from that meeting and everything else her sisters passed onto her with Akira, of course. Despite his being a Yakuza with years of experience on the streets under his belt, the doctor's son who survived the massacre of thousands in Rwanda in 1994 was a man with a breadth of vision that went far beyond what might be expected of a member of the Japanese underworld. His personal quest for "Sanctuary" — a place that would allow all those who wanted to truly LIVE and make the best lives for themselves and their posterity without any restrictions getting in the way — had vaulted the man into becoming one of the most powerful gang lords in Japan while still in his late twenties! His vision — which was also the vision of Akira's brother-in-all-but-name Asami Chiaki, seeing him become the dietman for this part of Tōkyō not six years after he graduated from Tōdai! — was broad enough to accept help from others who wanted to also seek out that sanctuary and make new lives for themselves…which would eventually take many of them to another PLANET if what Otako Meinyak and her current advisory council had in mind played out in the near future!

"Hōjō-san!"

Both turned…and then Akira laughed as a pretty girl with long black hair in a French braid tied at the crown of her head and sparkling brown eyes came up to him, opening his arms to accept her embrace. Sakura Yūka was now a sophomore attending Gakushūin Women's College in nearby Shinjuku. She was Terran-born, having undergone a "body-swap" five years ago when she had fallen sick with bird flu and — thanks to her being best friends with one of Minori's sisters, Nomura Eiko — was given a whole new life. Of course, when she had reported this event to her superiors back on Phentax Two, Minori's mother claimed the "new" Yūka was just a memory-replica of the girl…which had won her praise for her swiftness in getting a deep undercover observer right into the family of Yūka's father Shūichi, then the representative for Tōkyō District One in the Diet. Of course, Yūka had been honour-bound by giri to pay back her new sisters — she and Eiko were now marei'cha — for saving her life and support her new "mistress" in her observation mission on Earth…which really hadn't altered the life of the dietman's daughter very much given how Takao Ameko didn't see any of her charges as anything else but human. "Hey, Yūka!" he said before they kissed. "How are your classes?"

"Trying," she admitted. "But I think I'll be able to form my own 'political studies group' there by the time I graduate." And with that, she winked.

Both Akira and Minori laughed at that oblique joke towards what the former's friend had been doing at Tōdai after his graduation: Running a political studies group whose members at the time served these days as part of his office staff…which had been a martial arts club in all but name! "Well, you'll succeed," he noted. "I'm sure Chiaki will gladly give you all the tips you need to get it off the ground."

Yūka beamed. "Dōmo!" She then slipped her arm around his as Minori moved off to meet with Akira's under-bosses back inside the meeting hall. "By the way, how are things between you and Kyōko-san?" she quietly asked as she gave him a concerned look.

Akira mock-winced. "Itte! You really hit below the belt, Yūka-chan!"

Both of them laughed. "Well, given how much she loves you…!" she noted.

He sighed. "She's a police superintendent, Yūka. I'm a Yakuza oyabun. That's not compatible."

"So Eiko-vayae and I can take you to bed?" she coyly asked, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

He laughed. Back during that small campaign three yeas ago to get Yūka's father to finally resign from his seat and clear the way for Chiaki to take his place in the 2009 elections, Akira had attended swimming lessons with the then-high school senior. Yūka had acted like any starstruck teenager would when it came to a handsome, older man; she had flirted with him and did other cute things for him like bake cookies. Of course, on learning Thursday morning that Yūka had known all along what the future oyabun of the Sagara-kai had planned thanks to her telepathy, Akira had been stunned by how good an actress she was. As the dietman's daughter — who had accompanied her group's ashi'cha to that first meeting with Akira that day as a way of keeping the peace between the Sagara-kai and the Roppongi Avalonians in the wake of Wednesday evening's revelations — would later explain, she had long known of her father's infidelity when it came to her mother Chiyo and had been totally sickened by it. "I just became a legal adult, Hōjō-san," Yūka said when he had asked her about how she had really felt when it came to his literally helping ruin her father's life. "That means I can vote. Why should I vote for some idiot who — after marrying a wonderful woman who supported him through thick and thin for YEARS! — can't keep it in his pants and needs to chase down young women to see if he's still 'manly?!' At least your friend Asami-san is SINGLE, so it's okay for him to sleep with people like that hot American trade representative he met before New Year's!"

"Well, I…" He then sighed. "You're serious?"

"Not now. You still haven't conquered all of Japan yet." As Akira grinned in delight at her show of support for his goals, Yūka then sobered. "But I do worry about you, Onii-chan. You're taking on a pretty nasty bunch in Kōbe; my sisters down there all know about the Sannō-kai." A disgusted snort escaped her. "We've even seen them here in town. Some are okay, but the rest think they're the personal warriors of the Shōgun!" She shook her head.

"It won't be too bad. If there are smart people down there advising Ogata-san, they'll see what advantage your sisters will give them, then grasp it. If they don't…" He then smirked at her. "Well, we can repeat this ceremony…"

"Hōjō-sama?"

Both turned as Reiji came up to join them. "What is it?" Akira asked.

"We just got a call," the other man reported. "From Sōsō Mōtoku."

Yūka gasped as Akira's eyebrow arched. "I see…"

---

Hinata, in a cave under the Ōgusu-jinja east of the Hinata-sō, that moment…

Urashima Keitarō was trying NOT to scream his head off.

It was hard though.

Very hard.

And it would have been understandable if he did give full vent to his emotions, the elderly kannushi in charge of this small shrine on the western slopes of Ōgusu-yama mused as he watched the young manager of the Hinata-sō stare in disbelief at the two nude women in their storage chambers. This cave under the shrine grounds had just been discovered by two of the Hinata Avalonians, Tōdō Mika and Hironaka Norika. Both girls — when they didn't attend high school; Mika and Norika were seniors at the Mikasa Girls School in Yokosuka — volunteered as miko at Ōgusu-jinja, assisting their elder sister Akae Ayako and the other shrine maidens in various ceremonies. Both had been cleaning out one of the storerooms at the side of the shrine grounds when they discovered a hidden trap door leading into a cave. Going down into it to ensure it was safe, they made their way into this chamber, soon discovering what lay within.

Given what was here…

"They are Steel Angels."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

"S-s-Steel Angels, N-n-Negako-sensei…?"

That was a still-weeping Maehara Shinobu, who hadn't left her beloved sempai's side since they had come here from the new Hinata Creek Apartments. At the time Mika and Norika had made their shocking discovery under the shrine grounds, Shinobu had been visiting Ōgusu-jinja with her girlfriend Kashiwamura Moe to pray to the Kami of Ōgusu-yama to bless their relationship before Moe would get her sisters' help in preparing a new Avalonian body for Shinobu so they could become bond-mates as physical equals. Sensing their sisters' shock, Moe and Ayako raced off after them, using a tricorder and their empathy to track down where Mika and Norika were. Shinobu had gone with them — which had been utterly reckless in the eyes of the kannushi, but understandable given the adventures the poor girl had endured at the hands of her co-tenants at the Hinata-sō over the last year — into the cave…only to discover that one of the two just-revealed Steel Angels in this hidden storage space had been an older physical replica of HERSELF!

That had sent the poor girl fleeing back to the Hinata-sō in tears.

Especially given what the other combat gynoid from decades before now looked like.

"Yes, Shinobu, your sister and Kaolla's sister are both Steel Angels. Of the same type of advanced model that had been designed in the early 1930s before all production work was finally stopped as the girls then active allowed both Deannette Raeburn and I to deactivate them and place them in storage," Moroboshi Negako stated as she gently probed the various ki meridians of the sleeping gynoid before her.

That made Shinobu gape. "My SISTER?!"

Ayako — who had been doing a telepathic scan of the adult version of Kaolla Su now standing beside Shinobu's replica; this particular version of the Molmolite princess looked no different than those gynoids Keitarō's fiancée had dealt with on Thursday afternoon — sighed. "Hai, Shinobu-chan. Both of them were programmed with detailed copies of your memories and Kaolla-chan's memories. No doubt, given what Negako-sama just reported concerning the extent of Kaolla-chan's metahuman abilities, she used her powers to finish moulding their bodies into what they look like now at the same time she found a way to replicate her memories and obtain a copy of your memories to give them their own living souls. I would say this was done around the turn of the New Year."

"WHY, Ayako?!" Moe — who was also comforting her girlfriend — demanded. "What would possess that de'ne to invade Shinobu-vayae's privacy like that?!"

"Because she was afraid that the man she loved would never know true love."

People blinked. "Me, you mean," Keitarō stated.

Ayako nodded. "Hai, Keitarō-kun. At the time this happened, the 'adult' side of Kaolla-chan was coming to realize that you were getting nowhere in your pursuit of Naru-san. You really didn't care at all for either Mitsune-san or Motoko-san…and Kaolla-chan and Shinobu-chan were just too young for you, never mind the whole issue of Kaolla-chan being informally engaged to her cousin." She then sighed. "Fearing that if she was taken back to Molmol, there would be no one left behind to truly love and care for you, Keitarō-kun, she decided that she would mould these two as adult versions of herself and the one person who loves you unconditionally." She indicated the wet-faced girl in Keitarō's arms.

As Shinobu blushed on hearing that public acknowledgement of her deepest feelings for the landlord of the Hinata-sō, others took a moment to consider that. "What happens now, Negako-san?" Keitarō then asked. "I know how Steel Angels are to be fully activated. You need a person who is very powerful either spiritually or magically to bestow a kiss on one of them to activate their Angel Hearts and secure the loyalty locks to make them serve their 'goshujin-sama.'" The others in the room were quick to sense the disgust in his voice on saying that particular title. "After all we just went through with Ayako-chan and the others, I don't want to have these two enslaved to me!"

"They will not be enslaved to you, Keitarō," Negako calmly stated.

People gaped. "How do you know that, Negako-sama?!" the kannushi, Moriyasu Jin, demanded.

"I am very familiar with the Steel Angels, Jin. I befriended many of them in the 1920s and 1930s; one of them — Shichinohe Kaga — could be seen as my intimate lover," the ninjutsu grandmaster calmly stated. As people gaped in shock at her frank admission, she added, "The adult side of Kaolla clearly understands Keitarō far more than her less mature side does. She knows that he would not desire to have a woman enslaved to him; the concept, as he just demonstrated, utterly revolts him to the core of his very being. So she found a way to override the need for a loyalty lock in Makiko and Tamara. Yes, Keitarō — and only Keitarō — can activate them with a kiss. But both of them will be quite independent in comparison to all their older sisters."

Shinobu blinked. "She's named after my grandmother?!"

"Indeed your sister is, Shinobu," Negako said with a light smile. "It appears that Kaolla also has a limited empathic potential. Understandable; anyone under the profound influence of any form of mesonium develops such abilities. When she first met you, she sensed that you missed your grandmother very much and still — despite Makiko having passed away sometime before — hoped deep down that she might have been able to take you out of your family home when your parents moved to separate and you felt you could not live with either of them anymore. Hence, when she programmed your replica, she gave her the name 'Maehara Makiko' in your grandmother's honour. Tamara here is named after Kaolla's late mother, whom she misses very much."

Hearing that, Shinobu sniffed. "She still should have asked…"

"Kaolla ultimately suffers from ebony mesonium radiation poisoning, Shinobu," Negako calmly cut her off. "Atop that, she was raised in a society whose members all suffer from the very same affliction. Even if she gained a considerable level of ruby mesonium in her blood to better empower herself after her parents died, she cannot escape the influence of the ebony mesonium whose effects have bombarded her since birth. Because of that situation, she is not fully responsible for any of her actions."

The younger woman took that in before she slowly nodded. She then gazed on the unmoving form of her new "sister" in her storage chamber. As she had seen in pictures of other Steel Angels as they appeared before they were fully activated that the middle school sophomore had seen in history books, Maehara Makiko's body was covered in gently-sculptured runes that were designed to better enhance her many powers; those runes would disappear when she was activated, only appearing when she needed their mystical power to help her. She was as shapely as any of the older Hinata Avalonians, with perfectly round breasts and well-shaped hips; if she was organic, she would have to fight the boys — and girls who might be so inclined — back with a stick even if she was conservatively dressed. Gazing on her face, Shinobu felt a touch of envy on noting how peaceful Makiko looked now even if her body didn't move at all; it might have made her think this was a corpse if she didn't know better.

Realizing Makiko wasn't at fault for being shaped or programmed the way she was, she sighed before gazing at Keitarō. "Sempai, I know…please…?"

She then blinked on feeling Dō Karumi's hands fall on her shoulders as a wave of reassurance flooded her. Noting that, Keitarō then took a deep breath before he squared his shoulders. "Would you excuse me for a moment, Negako-san?"

The ninjutsu grandmaster nodded as she stepped clear…

---

Ōgusu-jinja, an hour later…

"Oh! This is good! Arigatō, Ayako-san."

Ayako smiled as she pulled back from placing the cup of Ceylon tea in front of Tamara Su. "You're quite welcome, Tamara-san," she said with an amused smile.

The just-activated Molmolite-form Steel Angel — now dressed in a miko's kimono and hakama, as was her sister — tried not to blush on sensing the frank look being sent her way by the dark-haired Terran-form Avalonian shrine maiden. She then blinked as she felt a hyperspace link connect into her mind from her sister. «She wants to be your lover, Ta-chan,» Maehara Makiko gently teased.

«Well, I can't fault her very good taste, Ma-chan,» Tamara sent back. «Still…»

«Hai. We will still be Sempai's lovers once we convince his fiancée of the logic of the situation. And prove ourselves by making sure that Naru-sempai and Motoko-sempai can't get anywhere close to him when they come back down to Earth.» Shinobu's sister then smiled as she felt her template embrace her from one side before she sipped the sencha that had been prepared for her. «Oh, make sure you get that sword that's on the grounds when you can.»

«Already programmed into my central processors,» Tamara stated as she gave her sister a knowing look. «Let's see how Motoko-chan likes facing the same being that nearly wiped all her ancestors out four centuries ago the next time she tries to 'punish' Onii-chan for something that really wasn't his fault. Given how shy he is…»

«Shy he was,» Makiko amended. «Given the soul-bond with his fiancée…»

The other woman nodded. Everyone was now relaxing in the shrine's haiden, the place where worshippers gathered to pay their respects to the various kami who were enshrined in the honden to their east, enclosed protectively by the wooden tamagaki fence that kept all save the kannushi and the miko from intruding in a place where they didn't belong. Ayako, Mika and Norika were busy doing snack duty, travelling to and from the kitchenette in the shrine's administrative office to the southwest of the haiden. Given the presence of one living kami — as Moriyasu Jin viewed her — in the person of Moroboshi Negako, having this impromptu party inside the worshipping hall of the Ōgusu-jinja wouldn't cause any real harm in the long term. Besides, people needed a chance to calm down and get their emotions under control after discovering the existence of Tamara and Makiko in the cave under the shrine grounds, so why not do it here?

"So that was also the place where those fembots I wrecked came from, right?"

"Hai," Tamara stated as she gazed with an apologetic look at Karumi. "Kaolla created those girls — atop their also being built to also be Onii-chan's lovers — as a way of helping her remember what she did when she underwent the Crimson Moon transformation into adult form; she always forgets what she does when she reverts back to being a teenager again. But knowing that Naru and Motoko would definitely NOT approve of Onii-chan having 'dutch wives' like that, she placed them in a part of the tunnel network under the Hinata-sō that she knew Motoko didn't know about. Shortly after that, she made the discovery of our incomplete bodies, then moved the gynoids in there."

"Which would have put them all out of Nuna-ya's sensing range," Keitarō stated as he warmly grasped Karumi's hand. "She could only sense things if they were on the Hinata-sō grounds themselves; that's how much Master Hosan's magic restricted her. And since Kaolla-chan always forgets what she does when she turns into an adult, Nuna-ya didn't know what was going on." He sighed. "Damn…!"

"We still can't let her come back here alone," Karumi warned. "That's capitulating to those idiots back in Molmol. We've got the advantage. We have to press it."

He nodded. "Agreed."

"So Kaolla-chan suffered from ebony meson radiation poisoning?" Makiko asked.

"She did," Negako affirmed. "There is a confirmed deposit of that material in the Kasi Mountains northeast of Molmol City. While I am unsure if actual crystals of that material have made their way to the surface, their influence on the natives of that island is now glaringly obvious. Not even the influence of the ruby mesonium — no doubt from a vein of that material in the Windy Desert to the southwest of Molmol City — in Kaolla's blood was enough to fight off the influence of the ebony mesonium radiation she had been subjected to since initial conception inside the womb of Tamara's namesake."

"So how can this poor child be helped, Negako-sama?" Jin asked.

"She will have to ultimately become an Avalonian."

People blinked. "What would that do to her?" Keitarō asked.

"Atop granting her the standard Avalonian abilities, it will help in the final repairs to her soul that Tāng Wéi — she is one of the Avalonians of Jǐnán in China and the current assistant to the ambassador of the People's Republic to the International Conference of Magical Communities, Gāo Xiùmǐn — arranged to have happen with the assistance of her friend Huáng Shèngyī from Luòyáng, who is one of the Avalonians native to that city and is a certified mind-healer and a trained clinical psychologist," Negako answered. "It will also allow Kaolla full control over her metahuman abilities; the ruby mesonium in the blood of her original body will shift over to her new body when the tre'cha occurs. Since there are no actual particles of ebony mesonium in her body, there is no need to fear further mental trauma unless something happens to her. As an extra precaution, she should undergo the tre'cha in a location away from the Kasi Mountains."

"Here in Hinata, you mean," Karumi stated.

"A valid suggestion, Karumi. The Hinata-sō is a familiar place to Kaolla. It is a place where she feels safe and protected from the pressures of her life back in Molmol. That will aid her in the transition into her new life."

"We still can't really give in to them like that, Negako-sama."

The ninjutsu grandmaster nodded. "Understandable. After the Avalonian-Pararakelsians helped initiate a full magical shielding system over their territory, the Avalonian-I-Kiribati, the Avalonian-Marshallese, the Avalonian-Micronesians and the Avalonian-Nauruans initiated the same sort of defensive protocols protecting their sovereign territory from unwelcome intrusion. In addition, personnel of the United States Department of Magic arranged to have Wake Island — which is under the operational jurisdiction of the United States Air Force — shielded in the very same matter with assistance of the Avalonian-Guamanians and the Avalonians of the Northern Mariana Islands. With those shield systems now active, the Molmolites cannot apparate off the island; they are effectively trapped there. Their only option when it comes to any form of magical transportation is to use international portkeys to nations that have bestowed them diplomatic recognition such as the People's Republic of China. That will make the government in Molmol City feel very constrained; the process to create such portkeys to travel long distances is quite magically exhaustive. With that, they will be forced to realize that the patience of their neighbours towards their constant show of disrespect towards the territorial and personal integrity of those nations and their citizens has come to a final end. They will have no recourse but to capitulate and agree to your demands."

"Pity I can't make myself look like Kaolla as a child," Tamara then lamented. "If I could do that — since I have an Angel Heart built out of diamond and ruby meson; I'd be protected from the ebony meson in the Kasi Mountains — I can make myself slip into Kaolla's place while Miss Tirtha gets her to safety."

"Doing that will not teach your adopted countrymen…"

"URASHIMA! YOU BASTARD! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Everyone jolted on hearing that bellowing voice from the direction of the torii that led onto the grounds. "Who the hell is THAT?!" Karumi demanded.

Negako looked, her eyes narrow. "I believe they are the people assigned by Lamba Lu to watch over Kaolla as she lives here in Japan. Tenna is with them."

"Kami-sama!" Jin croaked out. "If those maniacs come here…!"

"Calm yourself, Jin…"

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH…!"

"…Taeko is dealing with the issue now," Negako finished as wailing screams of fear and frustration echoed over the grounds of Ōgusu-jinja.

---

Between the torii of Ōgusu-jinja and the Higashimikka-eki tram station…

"I'm SO sorry about this, Taeko-sama…!"

"Tenna-ya!"

Tenna Kan jolted. "H-h-hai…?"

Urashima Taeko gave her an annoyed look. "You're babbling!"

The Molmolite witch blinked before she nodded…and then she jerked on hearing a voice bellow out, "TENNA! DO SOMETHING! MAKE THIS MONSTER PUT US DOWN!"

She turned to glare at Janta Jan. "Are you INSANE?!" Tenna snarled. "This is the Destroyer of Kyōto here!" She indicated Taeko with a wave of her hand as running footsteps heralded the arrival of the platoon of Noukiite Imperial Marines who had been camped out on the grounds of the Hinata-sō, Peacemaker rifles at the ready. "Are you asking me to commit suicide by trying to engage in a magical duel with her?!"

By then, the lieutenant in charge of the platoon, Eyu-K'ung Chusu-Techsuo, had moved to kneel before Taeko, giving her the proper hand-in-fist salute of his people as he bowed his head respectfully to her. "My Lady Taeko, what has happened here?" he asked.

Running footsteps echoed from behind them. "What's going on here?!" someone demanded.

Taeko turned as two policemen came up, batons in their hands. "Calm down!" she scolded as she gave them an amused look before waving Techsuo up. "And get up, Techsuo-ssi! I can't stand speaking to people's backs like that!" She turned back to the just-arrived police officers, focusing on the older of the two men. "Sorry to cause a disturbance today, Tenkai-ssi, but these silly fellows here didn't like certain news they just got from their home island. They came to the conclusion that my poor brother was to blame and charged here — uncaring that this was ground sanctified by my old friend in the mountain — to upbraid him for something he simply didn't do." She indicated Tenna. "Poor Tenna-ya here tried to stop them from doing that, but they wouldn't listen to her."

Hearing that, Kana Tenkai shuddered before he glared wrathfully at the Molmolites who were now being forced to float two metres off the ground thanks to Taeko's magic; he was quick to see the glow of purple energy around her right hand. "Is that a fact?" he then calmly stated. "Well, isn't it a pity that these idiots DON'T have any sort of diplomatic immunity! We can expel them back to the Marshall Islands right away!"

"HOW DARE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU…?!" Janta screamed out…

SNAP!

"…SQUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!"

Everyone gaped on seeing that the leader of the Molmolite observers had just been transformed into a magpie, who was barking away as if nothing had happened to him. As the other observers whimpered on seeing such an impressive show of transfiguration — and Tenna was gaping in awe at Taeko at how easy the latter had performed such a transformation with just the snap of the fingers of her free hand…not to mention feeling considerable glee on seeing Janta Jan finally made to SHUT UP for a change; he had always tried to hit on her since they had come here to Hinata two years ago — the police officers and the Noukiites all relaxed themselves, though the latter group still had their weapons at the ready. Techsuo then sighed before he gazed on Tenkai. "Lord Constable Tenkai, permit us to remove these unworthy and disrespectful monsters from your beautiful spa village so that they will not disturb the Lady Taeko or those under her protection anymore. We can send them back to their petty island right away."

Tenkai hummed before he sensed the look Taeko was sending his way. He then nodded. "Hai, Chūi-san, if you can do that, it would be appreciated."

A deep bow responded. "As you desire, good sir."

Within ten seconds, the observers — other than Tenna — vanished in a flash of teleport beams. Taeko smiled as she relaxed herself before she turned once more to gaze on Tenkai and his partner, indicating the young witch in question. "Tenna-ya here is now one of the Avalonians of Hinata; when Negako-sŏnbaenim and I examined her earlier, we discovered that she and her countrymen all suffer from one form or another of ebony meson radiation poisoning." As both policemen winced on hearing that — they all knew their history and what the Black Dragon Society had unleashed on dozens of Japanese teenagers which resulted in their eventually being hunted down and killed by the War Hawks if they were ever caught in North America…to say anything of what Moroboshi Negako herself had to do on the night of 14-15 August 1945 — she added, "Thus, she is under my protection. Kaolla-ya herself is a metahuman powered by ruby meson, but is still under the influence of the ebony meson that affects her countrymen so. Once we get her back here under our charge, we'll put her through a body-swap as Tenna-ya just underwent."

"What's to stop those idiots from Molmol from sending more people here, Taeko-sama?" Tenkai's partner, Kamioka Sōsuke, then wondered.

"Well, I can set up lethal magical wards that will kill them should they ever set foot on any territory of Hinata City…but that might be just a bit too much," Taeko mused as Tenna winced on hearing such a dire threat. "So we'll just have to ask Kana-ya once she gets back from work to arrange to have the same type of monitoring system set up around Hinata that all of Molmol's neighbours have which keeps out any silly magical from entering their home territories. With that, we can have you good people deal with them since Techsuo-ssi and his friends will soon head back to their home planet once their Empress makes the silly Oni and their friends realize they're not wanted here anymore."

Both officers saluted her. "I'll inform the station chief about that, Taeko-sama," Tenkai stated. "Thanks for your help, Chūi-san, Tenna-san. Please excuse us."

With that, they turned to head back down to Higashimikka-eki so they could get the next tram back to the Hinata police box and report this incident to their superiors. After parting from Techseo and his friends, Taeko took a deep breath. "I wonder what's happening now with Hina's silly enforcers," she then wondered aloud…

---

In a warehouse in Ninomiya, that moment…

"YOU FUCKIN' BASTARDS!"

A fist slammed into the already-damaged face of Ichinosei Hikaru, hitting with such force that the tōshi calmly watching this could actually hear his skull bones crack from the blow as he — tied to a chair — was sent flying back into the side of a steel container that was set up against one wall. As the other enforcers who had been captured by the warriors of Kyoshō under Natsukimi Makoto's charge cringed on seeing the master of basics demonstrate his strength, a calming hand landed on his shoulder. "Relax, Ton," Tsukasa Torusuke stated. "These idiots are just hired help."

Makoto glared at his cousin. "What happened to Shisai is cause for WAR, Mōtoku!"

"True," the president of the student council of the Kyoshō Academy stated. "But the war is effectively over. The woman who saw to it Shisai was taken from us for forty years is now at death's very door in Belgium right now. And Shisai herself is about to marry that woman's grandson." It hadn't taken the tōshi much to get that titbit of information from their captives; a little display of a ki aura by Torusuke — not enough to unleash the dark and bloodthirsty dragon inside him of course, but still quite terrifying to the uninitiated — had them confessing everything about what had happened to Dō Karumi forty years ago at the hands of Urashima Hina. Not to mention how Karumi's engagement with Hina's grandson had thrown a massive monkey wrench into the plans the old hot springs hotel matron had for him.

Which really didn't matter in the greater scheme of things as Torusuke saw it.

Dō Karumi had graduated from Kyoshō in 1968. It was the accepted custom amongst tōshi these days that once one of their kind had graduated from high school and moved on with his/her life, they had effectively "escaped" the Fate of the Magatama and had earned the right to be left alone. Yes, ancient loyalties to friends who might not have been reborn at the same time would normally drive adult tōshi back into the wider fold of the Seven Battle Schools of Kantō, but it was not seen as an iron-clad rule. After all, look at what had happened when the Kōshi Kasshi had launched their "rebellion" and departed en masse from their schools to form their motorcycle gang. Most likely — especially now that she was engaged to marry Urashima Keitarō — Karumi would just move to get on with her life as his wife and co-owner of the Hinata-sō and be happy at that.

And with her soon to become the sister-in-law of the Destroyer of Kyōto herself…!

To say anything of the Black Death of the Martial Arts taking interest in this…!

"We'll have to keep the peace with Taeko-sama to ensure Shisai is safe."

Torusuke turned to gaze on Tsukasame Yoiko, who was currently being accompanied by the woman who had — in a violent overreaction towards being raped by several classmates the previous year — accidentally cut her legs off, Sakan Somumi (Ten'i). "Hai, you're right," he breathed out. "I don't cherish doing anything with someone as powerful as T'aeja of Chosŏn herself so close to me…to say anything of Moroboshi Negako being in the area." The room instantly chilled on his saying that name. Even now, three centuries after the last incident where a tōshi had fallen at the hands of the host of the Saikō Jinseijutsu — who wouldn't actually become her own being for a century yet! — as dispatched on the order of the Imperial Court then in Kyōto, the bowel-loosening terror many of the reborn warriors of the Three Kingdoms of China felt for Earth's first true artificial intelligence was burned right into their very bones. "Still, it does indicate one small thing," he then added.

"What's that, Mōtoku?" Kuruwa Yoisuke asked.

"The Moroboshi siblings will be probably staying at the Hinata-sō until things with the Avalonians settle down and Otako-daitōryō gets her government organized. Or at least visiting that place frequently to spend time in the hot springs there to spend some time away from the bioroid factory," the leader of Kyoshō stated. "Understandable given what Negako-sama revealled to the media yesterday."

"So why don't you tell the people in Tomobiki where that idiot is?"

Eyes locked on San Tokutarō as several of the tōshi found themselves quietly admiring the young Zainichi Korean's guts in speaking out like that after seeing his own group leader nearly killed by Makoto. "Why do you propose that?" Torusuke wondered.

A snort answered him. "You'd actually WANT to let that skirt-chasing fool running loose down here?!" Tokutarō demanded. "Especially with someone like Ten'i-san there?!"

The tōshi all stared in shock at him before Makoto shook his head. "Mōtoku, did you see the same damned news show on NHK I did?!" the master of basics then demanded. "Because I sure as hell heard Negako-sama specially say that Ataru killed off…!"

"Three thousand, five hundred and seventeen," Yoiko supplied.

He nodded. "Right! Three thousand, five hundred and seventeen people that had the ill-luck to get on the bad side of the last host of the fuckin' Black Death herself!" Makoto walked over to glare intently into Tokutarō's wide eyes. "You want to know what being the host of someone like Negako-sama does to somebody, pal?! It makes them fuckin' invincible! The only person who'd stand a chance against her is none other than Major Raeburn herself…and I'll lay pretty strong bets that when she comes back to Earth and finds out her friend's finally got her own body after 202 years, she won't do a damned thing about it!" He tapped the former Yakuza kobun on the forehead. "Take the soulsword. It's a sword made out of fuckin' anti-ki! Get touched by the tip or the edge, you're dead before your head hits the ground!" He gave the Yakuza kobun a gentle slap to the cheek. "Get hit by the flat of the blade, your brains are fried natto and you're in a coma for the rest of your life!" He then pointed to Tokutarō's heart. "Then there's the Heart-Blast Touch. Hit the right shiatsu point and thirty seconds later, KA-POW!" As the captive former kobun winced, the master of basics grinned. "Your heart blows up in your fuckin' chest! That's a pretty painful way of dying, believe it or not!" He then cackled. "'Sides, after rescuing the Space Angels, why the hell would Ataru want to satisfy himself with just a NORMAL Earth girl?! Have you seen pictures of some of those Avalonians?! Whoo!"

The other tōshi laughed…just as the door into the warehouse opened. "Sōsō-sama, Hōjō-san just arrived," one of the tōshi keeping watch outside reported.

All the conscious kobun winced on hearing that name. "Send him in," Torusuke ordered.

"Hai."

A moment later, a handsome man in his late twenties walked in, dressed now in his normal white business suit with a matching white overcoat draped over his shoulders. Accompanying him were several people…which, much to the surprise of all the tōshi from Kyoshō, included two women in dark business suits with slacks, though they all had the multi-coloured shirts under their jackets that matched that of Hōjō Akira's male companions. They also possessed the insignia of the Kantō Sagara-kai on their jacket collars, which really surprised the tōshi. Seeing women wearing the insignia of a Yakuza clan was a very rare thing; that normally happened when female relatives of the oyabun or the senior under-bosses were forced to take over the clan or parts of the clan before a new man could be promoted into place.

Deep down, Torusuke was impressed. Yoiko had kept him fully appraised of the massive shakeup in the local underworld that followed in the wake of Hōjō Akira eliminating his predecessor as head of the Sagara-kai two years ago, then moving to subvert the two main rival clans in Kantō within a year. The survivor of Rwanda — Torusuke knew of THAT little tale — hadn't done much beyond that save for his giving under-the-table support to his very good friend Asami Chiaki to allow him to become a member of the House of Representatives for Tōkyō District One in last summer's general elections…but there were rumours racing about these days that Akira was about to face off against the most powerful Yakuza syndicate currently active in the country, the Kōbe Sannō-kai.

Given what Akira had lived through in his childhood, the leader of Kyoshō gave him excellent odds in either toppling the Sannō-kai or at least winning an alliance with them as equals while he — through his former elder brother, Tokai Takaya, who had come today as Akira's chief escort — moved to formalize relationships with the Yakuza in Kyūshū.

Akira came up, bowing respectfully to his host. "Sōsō-sama."

A respectful bow was given back, equal to equal. "Hōjō-dono. We apologize for intruding on your business today, but we found these five gentlemen about to make an attack on a lost sister of ours now living in the city of Hinata down the coast from here."

"Holy damn…!"

Eyes locked on Tokai, who had his normal devil-may-care smirk on his face. Seeing that, all the tōshi grinned as Akira tried not to sigh. "Tokai-san…"

"Chill, Boss," Tokai said before he walked over to stare intently at San Tokutarō. "It's been a long time, San. What the hell are you doin' pissing off a tōshi of all people? Didn't the idiots in the Dōmon-kai warn you ahead of time about that?!"

"It's not our fault that the bitch wouldn't back away from marrying our new boss-lady's elder brother forty years ago and stealing the family home from her!" Tokutarō snarled back.

Tokai blinked. "Forty years ago…?"

"Turns out that Shisai — that's her battle name, Tōgai Shisai; she graduated in '68 — was trapped in the tunnels under the Hinata-sō behind blood ki wards in hopes of killing her," Makoto explained. "That was done by Urashima Hina. That ended up breaking the heart of Hina's brother Kyōsuke — he was Shisai's boyfriend at the time — and seeing him die shortly afterwards. Shisai survived somehow — we don't know all the details — then got rescued on Thursday by old lady Hina's grandson Keitarō and the Space Angels in Hinata." He smirked. "We know who he is, don't we?"

Laughter filled the room from both the tōshi and the visiting Yakuza. "Explain something to me, Kakōton-dono," Akira then asked. "What are 'blood ki wards?'"

"They're ki fields used to protect or seal away something, powered by a person's very blood," the master of basics answered. "Creating them takes a special type of knowledge that's only possessed by one martial arts school in Japan: The Moroboshi-Hana Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū. That's the home school of the Black Death of the Martial Arts, Moroboshi Negako-sama herself. To you guys, she's Imperial Special Agent #49."

"Was the Destroyer of Kyōto involved in this as well?" Akira asked.

"Who?!" a confused Tokai demanded.

"She was, Hōjō-dono," Yoiko answered. "To answer your question, Tokai-dono, the Destroyer of Kyōto is a Korean version of a tsukumogami who was born five centuries ago in a fireplace poker an ancestor of Urashima-sempai's stole from a house near Sŏul and brought back with him to Japan during the Bunroku War. He was a minor samurai, a retainer to Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself. He switched allegiances to Tokugawa Ieyasu after Toyotomi died, then fought at his side at Sekigahara. He lost his sword there…"

"Should'a fuckin' committed seppuku for losing his damned sword!" Tokai snorted as he lit up a cigarette.

She nodded. "Agreed…especially given what happened next. The fireplace poker with the spirit of the tokkaebi — that's what they call tsukumogami in Korea — inside it was made of the same type of good steel that can be hammered into a katana. He had the poker reforged as a katana in the Muramasa style." As the visitors winced on hearing that, Yoiko smirked. "T'aeja — that's her name — didn't care for that. When she got the chance, she possessed the samurai, and then 'did a Tokai' on Kyōto in 1603. I think you've heard the story of what happened in the Great Fire that year."

Tokai winced…though part of him was actually quite flattered that the Kyoshō Academy's number two girl knew of him personally and knew of his brash, overtly destructive, in-your-face style of doing things when it came to pressing his and his clan's goals. They didn't call him "Crazy Tokai" for nothing after all! "Damn…I'd like to meet this lady!"

"All you have to do is visit the Hinata-sō, dude," Makoto said. "She's now one of the Space Angels. Same situation as Negako-sama herself, in fact."

"Not to mention that she's about to become the future landlady of the Hinata-sō."

Eyes locked on one of the two women who had come with Akira. A pretty brunette with dark green eyes, she now had a rectangular piece of slate crystal in hand as she tapped on its upper surface with her fingers to draw up a holographic image of what looked like a woman a little older than any of the tōshi present today, dressed in traditional clothing. As the tōshi all gaped in shock on realizing that she — and most likely the other girl who had come with the Yakuza today — was an Avalonian, Akira smiled as he pulled up a cigarette and moved to light it…before he nodded his thanks as Torusuke used a little of his ki to get it going. "What can you tell us, Reiko-san?" he asked.

Toshiba Reiko smiled. "Urashima Taeko, alias T'aeja of Chosŏn, alias the Destroyer of Kyōto. Non-physical sentient manifestation of the Te'a — what you would all call 'kami' here in Japan — sub-type 'tokkaebi.' Believed to have become fully sentient circa 1500 C.E. within a fireplace poker at an unidentified residence on the slopes of Namhan-san. Was kidnapped by Urashima Tadaoki in 1592, taken to Japan with him as war booty during the Imjin War; the Bunroku War as it's known here. Her physical body was reforged into a Muramasa-style katana — later known as the 'Yōkatana Hinata' — at the request of her captor when he lost his katana during the Battle of Sekigahara. She possessed him in an attempt to return home to Korea, initiating the event known today as the 'Great Fire of 1603.' Killed approximately 100,000 people until the body she was using was killed by Thoughtmaster-prime Hosan Hirosuke. She was then enslaved with magical spells which channelled her power for the use of any acknowledged member of the Shinmei-ryū — they suffered nearly ninety-five percent fatalities during the Great Fire trying to put T'aeja-sama down — and entrusted to Tadaoki's widow and her family for safekeeping when not in use. Eventually wound up in the Hinata-sō in the city of the same name in Kanagawa Prefecture. Befriended Urashima Keitarō in 1995; when he learned her story, he adopted her as his imaginary elder sister. She reciprocated his feelings. On Thursday, she was convinced to become a Terran-form Avalonian to free herself of what Thoughtmaster-prime Hosan forced on her all those years ago. Her body was cloned from Keitarō-san's DNA. She is now seen as the effective manager and landlady of the Hinata-sō; such will be legalized on Monday morning at the Kanagawa District Court when Keitarō-san submits a request to become the legal owner of the property so that he can ensure it remains within his family due to property tax issues, not to mention his grandmother's attempted murder of his current bond-mate and fiancée, Dō Karumi, alias Tōgai Shisai. Karumi-san herself is now also an Avalonian." As the tōshi all gaped, Reiko breathed out, "Wow! A cross-gender bonding?! That's…oh! Keitarō-san got a blood transfusion from Taeko-sama in return; he's one of us by blood-adoption as Ataru-kun became when he was on Okusei." She then deactivated the dataPADD.

"A soul-bond?!" Yoisuke exclaimed before he whooped. "Way to go, Shisai!"

The other tōshi all bellowed their envy and delight at their once-lost sister's success when it came to landing a wonderful spouse — like a lot of people across the southern part of the Kantō region, all of Kyoshō respected Urashima Keitarō very much because of his tolerance of the behaviour the current tenants at the Hinata-sō demonstrated to him that saw him often flung for kilometres through the air…and surviving such journeys without much of a scratch! — in something as intimate as that! As the Yakuza all clapped their hands in a show of respect for their hosts' joy on learning the true fate of their lost schoolmate, Akira then gazed on the captured enforcers. "So why are they here now?" he wondered.

"We caught 'em moving to spy on Shisai and Taeko-sama," Makoto answered. "When we saw the irezumi on their backs, we thought they were affiliated with you guys. Since we've no time to get into a rumble with you now moving to take on Kōbe…"

"They ain't part of us."

Eyes locked on Tokai. "So who did they belong to?" Yoisuke asked.

"Like I said before when I recognized San here. They're all ex-Dōmon," Tokai answered before he gazed on Tokutarō. "What happened to you guys anyway?"

The young Zainichi Korean breathed out. "Hina-sama took us in after the Dōmon-kai was totally wrecked by your boss. We've been keeping an eye on the Hinata-sō — and Keitarō-sama — ever since that time. Hina-sama wants to see if he can both run the Hinata-sō AND get into Tōdai while winning the love of his promise girl, Naru-sama."

"Narusegawa Naru, you mean," Torusuke moved to confirm.

A tired nod answered him. "Hai."

Tokai hummed. "Isn't she one of the bitches that keeps punching…?!"

"HEY!"

Everyone jolted on hearing Tokutarō glare at Tokai. "Oi, man! Cool off!" one of the other former Dōmon kobun hissed out. "You realize who you're talking back to?!"

"Relax," Tokai declared with a smirk. "I've always liked San's balls! So what's the whole damned thing about Narusegawa and that kendō chick that lives at that place anyway?! How come they're always pickin' on that poor guy all the time?!"

Tokutarō blinked as he considered what to say, then smirked to himself. If he could unleash Crazy Tokai on Dō Karumi and get the tōshi bitch killed off, that would get rid of one major problem standing in the way of Keitarō fulfilling his promise to marry Naru. "It was an accident," he stated. "When Hina-sama called Keitarō-sama over to the Hinata-sō last spring, she never warned him ahead of time that the hotel had been transformed into an all-girl's dorm house. He got into a very embarrassing accident with Naru-sama and the others in the hot springs there. Ever since that time — though I will say all the girls are warming up to him — whenever he's got into embarrassing situations with them, Naru-sama and Motoko-sama have lashed out at him."

A snort answered him. "'Embarrassing situations?' 'Lashed out at him?' Man, what the fuck's the matter with you?! You all on something?!" Tokai demanded. "Haven't you heard how far that guy was sent flying by the kendō bitch?! Four times to Tomobiki, at least a half-dozen times I know of to Nerima, TWICE right into the Boss' compound in Roppongi…!" He shook his head. "It's a fuckin' MIRACLE he SURVIVED all that! Think it through, huh?! How could any person — even Moroboshi Ataru — survive all THAT?!"

"Simple, Takaya-kun! He had Taeko-sama protect him with her magic."

That was the other Avalonian who came with Akira today, Ikuyama Maiko. She had brown-striped blonde hair in a short, shaggy halo around her head and blue-green eyes, which gave her a wild look from a distance. As the others gazed on her, Akira smiled in delight as she came up to slip a warm arm around Tokai's. Maiko was one of a dozen girls among the Roppongi Avalonians who always made themselves available for Tokai Takaya to unleash his considerable sexual urges on; ever since he had lost his beloved wife Yūko thanks to a rival gangster ten years ago, Tokai had been a wild boar when it came to the fairer gender, gladly pillowing anything young and pretty that crossed his path. However, after his latest time in prison — which had been instigated ultimately by his wife's death and his seeking vengeance over that tragedy — the "wild boar" of the Sagara-kai had calmed down somewhat when it came to spending time with women. That, Akira knew, he could credit to Maiko and her sisters.

Indeed, it had been very wise to make an alliance with the Roppongi Avalonians.

He would have Tokai suggest doing that with the Avalonians to those of his friends down in Kyūshū when he went back to rejoin Wòhng Jiyèuhng in the enveloping campaign to wean the local Yakuza from the subordinate position they had been forced into years ago vis-à-vis the Sannō-kai. But that didn't mean that "Tokai's Angels" — as the lower rank of kobun had long come to jokingly nickname the beautiful girls the man often bedded…though never to the man's face; Tokai was VERY overprotective of Maiko and her sisters! — couldn't be allowed to unleash themselves. In fact, when Akira had spoken to Maiko herself late on Friday evening after Tokai returned from Kitakyūshū and the Angels all cornered him for a couple hours of celebratory "intimate therapy" after his adventures in Hong Kong and Okinawa, she volunteered her group — who had clearly picked up on a lot of things from their shared lover thanks to their telepathy — as a potential deep-cover reconnaissance force whenever the leader of the Sagara-kai needed that sort of work done and it would be the wrong thing to do to send obvious Yakuza kobun down to do it.

"Maiko-san? Tokai-san?" he then called out.

Both looked at him. "What is it, Boss?" Tokai asked.

"Can I speak to both of you in private?" Akira wondered.

Both nodded as they walked over close to the main entrance of the warehouse. As all the tōshi watched, Akira and Tokai offered their hands to Maiko, who warmly grasped them. "Holy shit!" Yoisuke hissed out after coming over to stand close to Torusuke, Yoiko and Makoto. "They're allowing her to probe their minds?"

"Are there any of the space babes here in town?" Makoto asked.

"Not that I know of," Yoiko affirmed. "But they'll come down soon. The bill our friend's oath-brother in the Diet proposed will pass by Tuesday at the latest. Once they're down here and forming a community close to us, we'll need to make friends."

"Agreed," Torusuke mused with a nod.

Within a minute, the psychic "discussion" between the leader of the Sagara-kai and his two subordinates was done. Maiko then walked over to stand before San Tokutarō. "Now," she said as her eyes glittered with a strange reddish-gold fire that made the Zainichi Korean pale in horror. "How many others of your old organization are down in Hinata City right now?" she calmly asked as she held out her hand, fingers splayed.

He gargled before shaking his head. "You can't…!"

She smirked. "I've been Takaya-kun's lover for two years, Tokutarō-san," Maiko stated. "I was there for him when he got out of jail after he was made to rot there for over a year after doing his best to seek vengeance for the loss of his wife. One day in the future, he'll give my bond-mate and I children. We Avalonians are no different than the Vulcans from Star Trek…and much that I would normally like NOT to do this, I will." She then winked. "Besides, do you really want to piss off an A-rank tōshi AND the Destroyer of Kyōto…to say anything of Imperial Special Agent #49 herself?"

He blanched before slowly nodding as he slumped in defeat…

---

Molmol, the Royal Hospital in Molmol City, two hours later (local time: An hour after supper)…

"CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING?!"

Surya Patha took a deep breath before she turned to glare intently at Panda Gan. "If you would stop yelling at me, young man, I might be able to do something!" the Royal Wizard snarled at the Grand Chamberlain, which made his knees go weak as her dark eyes flashed with outrage at being interrupted in her magical examination of the transformed Janta Jan.

All of the observers dispatched to Japan to keep a close eye on Kaolla Su — save for Tenna Kan; noting the absence of the one female member of the group, Surya prayed that the young witch was alright — were now in intensive care having multiple shattered bones and severe concussions dealt with. When the Noukiites — as it was now suspected since it was known that the Avalonians made use of a matter-energy conversion transport unit similar to the transporter system in Star Trek…though they called their system a "materialiser," spelling it using British conventions — transported the observers back from Hinata City, they had aimed at the wrong point with their teleporter device. The poor men had been teleported to a point a half-dozen metres ABOVE the front patio of the Royal Palace, sending them falling face-first into the hard concrete below! And while none of them would die from such injuries, it would be a while before anyone could get any story out of those poor men.

As for the leader of that group…

"Whoever did this was a master at transfiguration, Mistress," the young apprentice now helping the Royal Wizard in her examination of the transformed Janta, Carra Nat, said. A very pretty girl who had graduated a year ago from the Dejima School, she had the typical dark skin and raven hair of a Micronesian, though her eyes were bright blue. She was busy trying every counter-spell she could think of to revert the poor man back to normal. "The magical energy behind this is just overwhelming!"

Surya sighed. "The Lady Taeko, Carra?"

The other woman blinked before she nodded. "Yes, Mistress. It has to be her."

"Then we have to strike back at her!"

Both gazed on the Grand Chamberlain. What on Earth possessed the King to appoint this idiot into such a position in the first place?! Surya wondered to herself as she tried not to sneer at Panda. While magical, the man who was the senior officer serving the Throne at the Royal Palace had never been trained at any proper school like Salem, Dejima or Hogwarts. Much to Surya's surprise, he was self-trained since his father — who HAD gone to Durmstrang in Norway when he was younger — had insisted that his eldest son learn how to use his powers via home-schooling; at least Panda's brother Ganda had the chance to go to Seven Hills in America to learn his magic under the tutelage of proper teachers. When Surya had once asked why Panda had never been sent abroad — even to his father's old alma mater — Anda Gan claimed that he never wanted his sons to be exposed to the "idiocy" of Europe since he viewed their actions during the Nineteenth Century as the ultimate cause of all of Molmol's present problems vis-à-vis the rest of the world. Of course, anyone with any real sense of modern history would laugh at such an assertion, thus question the competency of Anda and his sons…but since they were cousins to the current king's maternal grandmother, Anda had been able to secure top positions in the court for both his children.

Which was never really earned by this idiot, the Royal Wizard mused as she took a deep breath. "So you wish to try to attack a woman who — four hundred years ago — killed a hundred thousand people? While she was possessing someone at the time?"

Panda jolted. "Wh-what…?"

"Obviously, your father's lessons never taught you a thing about the Destroyer of Kyōto," Surya coldly stated. "I took a whole semester on her at Dejima in my magical history classes, as did Carra here. You wish to square off against someone who has more than enough reason to defend her new home against what she sees as outside intrusion by a nation that has not won the favour of their Heavenly Sovereign? To defend her adopted brother — the man who gave his very blood to see her free of Master Hosan's magic! — from what she views as a reckless child who has attacked said brother again and again over the last year without just cause? Who now is, no doubt, protecting some of those poor alien women who had been enslaved by the monster who shot OUR princess down in cold blood…and soon to welcome more of them at that old hotel in Hinata once the Japanese government allows it?" She then crossed her arms. "Go ahead, Panda. Go try to fight Lady Taeko. I wish you luck. But I also advise you to write your will before you head off to Japan." She turned to continue her examination of the transformed Janta. "IF you can get there, of course."

THAT made Panda jolt. His brother had been trying to apparate over to places like Pararakelse and Tarawa — even going so far as to visit Majuro in the Marshall Islands proper! — for the last day or so ever since he had been shot in the back by some strange woman in John Fitzpatrick's office and sent back by means that still had many officials in the Royal Ministry of Magic scratching their heads. Try as Ganda might — and try as others might — they couldn't get anywhere; any attempt at leaving the island via that form of teleportation was turned back by what had to be powerful and wide-scale anti-apparition wards set up around all the nearby islands. Even an attempt at using a portkey to get to Pararakelse City had failed, which meant that anti-portkey wards were up also.

Molmol was now effectively cut off magically from the outside world.

It wasn't as bad as some might think, of course. Normal flights in and out of the airport hadn't been affected and the island's large fishing fleet could still transit in and out of local waters. Atop that, long-distance international portkeys could still be used to get to places like China. But since many Molmolites were magical and happy to make use of such power to get whatever they want, that they were now virtually blocked from using apparition from going anywhere they desired — even if most of them never travelled beyond the shores of their island — would make many of them nervous; they were still haunted by memories of the Greater East Asia War and the blockade of their island by the Americans after the attack on Tarawa. Those had been lean times for the natives of this island despite what Surya and those of her friends had done…and noting that THIS time, it was a MAGICAL blockade of sorts around Molmol…!

"We must do something!" Panda snarled. "I must speak to the King!"

With that, he stormed off. "Yes, you do that," Surya muttered under her breath before she slipped her wand into her robes. "Let's stop, Carra. If this was done by the Lady Taeko, I doubt we'll get anywhere trying to change him back today. I'm tired."

Hearing that, Carra nodded as she drew back her own wand. "I understand, Mistress."

With that, both moved to clean up. Janta had been stunned unconscious when he — on being returned home — discovered he was now a magpie; he would remain under magical stasis for the time being. Once all was restored to where it should be, Surya and Carra headed out of the room, proceeding down the hallway towards the room where Kaolla Su was still recovering. Much to the surprise of the Royal Wizard, Tirtha Sapta was seated in a chair across from the closed door leading to the princess' room, reading a book. "Tirtha?!" Surya called out, making the former royal governess look her way. "Why are you still here?"

The lovely woman smiled as she rose to her feet and grasped the hand of the older woman. "Since I came all the way down here to look in on Kaolla, I decided to stay here as long as I could to make sure she's alright," Tirtha answered as she put the book aside. "I heard the old bear yelling from down here. What's wrong with him?"

"He's moaning about the fact that one of the observers we sent to keep watch over the Princess in Japan was transformed into a magpie before they were all sent back," Carra explained. "He's also mad at the fact that no one's been able to apparate off the island for a whole day now."

"Oh, so his idiot brother can't go bother peaceful people in other countries like he's done in the past?" Tirtha asked with an arched eyebrow. "I remember what the moron was like when I was in the Palace. Goose-stepping around like he was one of the idiots who fought under Hitler or Grindelwald, believing himself to be the king of the whole world."

"I've tried to warn people about that attitude when it comes to foreigners, but they just simply don't listen," Surya noted as she moved to open the door into Kaolla's room.

Carra and Tirtha followed her, the former blinking in surprise on seeing the young princess' gynoid replicas seated around the bed, as still as mannequins. Stepping around the feet of several of them, they moved to stand to Kaolla's left — with Tirtha, after she closed the door behind her, moving to stand behind the two wand-witches — as the Royal Wizard moved to do a diagnostic. After a moment, she then nodded. "Did Wéi do something when you were here?"

"Actually she did…which means you can't be allowed to help heal Kaolla."

That made Surya blinked. "What…?!"

Hands then clamped on the place where the necks of both magicals flowed into their shoulders facing away from Tirtha. "I'm really sorry about this, but I can't allow you to hurt Kaolla more than you already have," the former royal governess said as both women croaked out before they collapsed into her arms. Grasping Surya's dropped wand, Tirtha then called up towards the ceiling, "Do you have a materialiser lock on me, Wéi?"

"Locked and ready, sister," the voice of a certain Chinese sorceress called back.

"Three to beam up! Energize!"

"Energizing!"

And with a shower of energy, the Elder Mother of the Avalonians of Molmol was whisked away with her unconscious prisoners, leaving a sleeping princess be…

To be continued…

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WRITER'S NOTES

1) Translations: Ashi'cha — Elder Mother, the spiritual leader of a Sagussan community; Avalonjin — Japanese way of saying "Avalonian"; Sakazukigoto — Literally "business cups," this is the formal ceremony Yakuza perform when doing things such as cementing relationships between clans, confirming succession, adopting new kobun into the overall family and adopting people as spiritual siblings; Mondokoro — Clan crest; Furisode — Literally "swinging sleeves," this is a kimono type with long sleeves ranging from 85-114 centimetres in length, which is normally worn by unmarried women in Japan; Giri — A Japanese value roughly corresponding to "duty", "obligation", or even "burden of obligation" in English…and most often defined as "to serve one's superiors with a self-sacrificing devotion"; Haiden — The oratory of a Shintō shrine; Honden — Literally "main hall," this is the most sacred place within the grounds of a Shintō shrine, meant only for the use of the kami and closed to the general public; Tamagaki — Literally "jade wall," this is the demarcation line that protects the honden from unwanted intrusion; Tre'cha — Literally "the passing on," this is an act that signifies when a Sagussan/Avalonian shifts his/her soul into a waiting receptacle like a friend or healer/nurse due to impending death…and could easily describe the shifting of a soul into a replacement body ("body-swapping") to allow a person to physically become an Avalonian; Nauruan — Demonym for a native of the Republic of Nauru; Guamanian — Demonym for a native of Guam; Torii — The main gate of a Shintō shrine; Irezumi — Literally "inserting ink," this is the common name for tattoos worn by Yakuza in Japan, which normally cover the person's back, shoulder and arms in a very decorative and colourful picture…which is a common sign that the person possessing such a tattoo is a criminal, thus would be normally denied basic customer services at places such as bathhouses and hot springs.

2) Sanctuary character notes:

Murata Ichijō (the given name is my creation) is a veteran member of the Sagara-kai; he first appeared in the manga story "Balls" (manga episode #13). He was the man who made sure that Hōjō Akira's move to eliminate the former oyabun of the Sagara-kai went over well. He has no desire to become oyabun himself, but serves as Akira's senior adviser.

Tokai Takaya (the given name is my creation) was, as noted above, Akira's "elder brother" in the Hokushō-kai ("Clear North Society") when the latter joined the Yakuza after dropping out of high school. Tokai first appeared in the manga story "Bomb" (manga episode #9). He is a gruff, crude and not so intelligent man with a hair-trigger temper who is passionately loyal to those who win his respect…and brutally dangerous those who piss him off. He is also quite vulgar when it comes to women, gladly forcing himself all over them at the first opportunity…but given the death of his wife Tokai Yūko as depicted in one of the background scenes of the manga story "Dreams" (manga episode #12), such near-brutality flows from a lot of personal pain.

Tashiro Reiji has been Akira's chief lieutenant since the latter took over the Hokushō-kai from Tokai; he first appeared in the first manga story "Sanctuary." He came to the Yakuza — as depicted in a flashback scene in "Dreams" — to get money to save his young son Tashiro Koichi from a fatal childhood sickness…and Akira gladly helped him, winning Reiji's eternal gratitude, not to mention that of Reiji's wife Tashiro Yumi.

Ichijima Yōsuke first appeared in the manga story "Japan" (manga episode #18). As noted above, he was the godfather of the Sagumo-kai (the organization name is my creation), the Yakuza clan that helped support the rise of many dietmen — including his old friend and Asami Chiaki's penultimate opponent, LDP Secretary-General Isaoka Norimoto — who struggled to rebuild Japan from the ashes of World War Two. Because of that, he is seen as the senior statesmen of modern-day Yakuza. Akira won the old oyabun's favour by promising to "turn Japan upside-down" because Ichijima's generation ultimately created a country that "couldn't create men."

The Nineties Association is my renaming of the Seventies Association of baby boomer dietmen led by Kariya Hisao, who tried to lead a revolution in politics during the 1970s, but failed to get anywhere and wound up becoming nothing more than yes-men to Isaoka's generation of leaders. In the universe of this story, the Nineties Association rose in the wake of the crash of the real estate boom in Japan during the 1980s in protest over corruption and spending excesses in government…but haven't really got anywhere thanks to the vise-like hold Isaoka and his cronies have on the levers of government.

Sakura Yūka first appeared in the manga story "The Young Girl (manga episode #3). Akira used the potential threat of Yakuza interest in the then-high school senior to try to force her father, Sakura Shūichi, to eventually give up his seat in the House of Representatives and make way for Chiaki…though the sixty-eight year-old LDP veteran would still hang on even under the threat of Akira coming after him personally until Chiaki used incriminating pictures of Shūichi two-timing his wife Sakura Chiyo — which had been obtained by Akira's people — to make him finally resign his seat.

The "Kyōko" that Yūka speaks to Akira about is Police Superintendent Ishihara Kyōko, the deputy chief of the Roppongi station of the Tōkyō Metropolitan Police; she first appeared in the first manga story. Pursuing Akira as part of her duties, Kyōko soon finds herself overwhelmingly attracted to the young oyabun because of his single-minded drive in pursuit of his goals. In the latter part of Sanctuary, when Akira fully legitimizes the Sagara-kai and ceases all illegal operations, he and Kyōko begin a relationship.

The "hot American trade representative" Yūka also speaks of is Ms. Bissett (in this story, her full name is Veronica Elizabeth Bissett), who first appeared in the manga story "Decision" (manga episode #42). She is a hard-core supporter of American industry who views Japanese imports into her country with great distaste…but after an interesting demonstration by Asami Chiaki, she soon sees that the people she's fighting for need to stop being lazy and make themselves more competitive. Chiaki even challenges her to seek out the Presidency of the United States, promising that he would be Prime Minister of Japan when that happened.

And Wòhng Jiyèuhng is an ambitious up-and-coming member of the Chinese syndicates from Hong Kong that Tokai eventually befriends in his flanking campaign to help the Sagara-kai conquer all of Japan; he first appeared in the manga story "Hong Kong" (manga episode #25). When he was first introduced in Sanctuary, this man's name was translated into the Mandarin reading of the characters 黄志陽 (Huáng Zhìyáng). However, as Cantonese is the standard language in and around Hong Kong, the man's name was properly rendered in that language in later chapters of the manga (note that I use the Yale Romanization of Cantonese here, using the same type of tone marks that is used in the Pīnyīn Romanization of Mandarin).

3) Médecins Sans Frontières (literally "Doctors Without Borders") is a French-based secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization. Once awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a group, MSF is best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. Its headquarters is located in Geneva. The organization was first formed in 1971 by a small group of doctors and journalists who believed that all people have the right to medical care regardless of race, religion, creed or political affiliation, and that the needs of these people outweigh respect for national borders. In 2007, over 26,000 people — mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, logistical experts, water and sanitation engineers and administrators — provided medical aid in over sixty countries. These doctors decided to volunteer their time to solve issues of world health. Private donors provide about eighty percent of the organization's funding, while governmental and corporate donations provide the rest, giving MSF an annual budget of approximately US$400 million.

4) Article Nine of the 1947 Constitution of Japan states as follows (in the official translation): "Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. To accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized." Because of this particular article, the Japanese Self-Defence Forces — formed in 1954 — have always existed under a cloud of suspicion by those who support this particular part of the nation's basic law. Thus, while forces that could be used in the self-defence of the nation would be permitted — as some see the JSDF as a natural extension of the nation's police forces — to protect the sovereignty of the nation and its citizens, something like a battleship would clearly raise a lot of questions in a lot of people's minds.

5) In the history of the universe of this story, the Steel Angels were first developed during the time of the Taishō Democracy after World War One as a living symbol of peace and prosperity for all the nations of the world, not to mention allowing both cutting-edge magical technomancy and newly-developed technology to merge together into creating true artificial intelligences in the forms of young women who would symbolize their nations and national armed forces in peaceful competition such as the "Steel Angel War" depicted in the early volumes of the Kōtetsu Tenshi Kurumi manga. In effect, these beautiful gynoids were to sub in for normal troops since women like Kurumi could resist things like machine gun bullets and mustard gas. When they were constructed, the Steel Angels were all programmed to serve human masters with high magical or spiritual potential such as the young onmyō-ji priest Kasuga Nakahito. Also, as noted in the first chapter of the manga "Kurumi Activated!", a Steel Angel was designed to only be activated with a kiss bestowed on the lips by a potential master or mistress. In conjunction with that, Steel Angels were programmed to never bring harm to a human being if such could be avoided; this is what drove them all — as noted in Part 52 of Phoenix From the Ashes — to ask Dean Raeburn and Moroboshi Negako to help deactivate them all and hide them from potential abuse on sensing the coming of World War Two. Naturally, development of the technology that created girls such as Ayanokōji Kurumi — I gave her the family name of her creator, Professor Ayanokōji — would continue to advance between 1920 and 1937, thus making girls like Maehara Makiko and Tamara Su far more advanced in fighting capabilities and sheer power than older girls such as Kurumi and Shichinohe Kaga.

6) Ikkitōsen character notes:

The Kōshi Kasshi are my own creations, based on the Yellow Turban rebels who went to war against the Imperial Hàn in 184 C.E. Their modern incarnations first appeared in Part 21 of Phoenix From the Ashes.

Ten'i (Sakan Somumi) first appeared in manga episode #54. Her story is described in Part 16 of PFtA.