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Tomobiki High School, Monday, an hour before supper...
"Hey, Ryū-chan! How are you?!"
Fujinami Ryūnosuke gaped in wide-eyed disbelief as the woman who had been born a man named Moroboshi Ataru walked into the cafeteria, dressed plainly yet stylishly in a pair of form-hugging flexible jeans, a button shirt and a matching jean jacket. In this woman's hand were two slices of what looked like black forest cake in sealed plastic containers. As Kasuga Ayumu and Tsuruya Rumiko smiled on seeing the boy-turned-girl who had changed their lives much for the better walk in, the "heir" of Hamachaya squawked as Tariko Katabarbe came up to give her a one-armed embrace. "Finally, I can help you!" the adopted native of Kabe-koli said as she pulled back before leaning in to kiss the understandably flustered Ryūnosuke on the cheek. "Oi! Nagisa! How's the new body?!"
A gay laugh answered her before running footsteps nearly saw the newcomer speared by a very excited Shiowatari Nagisa. As Ryūnosuke snared the cake — which was VERY important to be welcomed "into the club", her old lover warned her — the sobbing native of Fujisawa nearly broke the reality warper's back with the strength of HER hug. "Oh, Tariko-sama! Arigatō! Arigatō! Arigatō! This is a dream come true for me!" the battle doll — female at that! — holding the soul of the "late" beach tea shop waitress sobbed as she showered a storm of kisses on Tariko's face. "You wonderful...AWK!"
"Oi! No being grabby with Teitoku-san, poi!"
Tariko sighed. She had forgot she hadn't come alone. "Kodachi?"
"Poi?"
"Let her go."
A hum escaped the fourth of the Shiratsuyu-class destroyers as Nagisa warily turned to gaze into a pair of glowing chestnut brown eyes, then she pulled her hand back. "You're the one who came back from the dead to be with Ryū-chan, poi?" Hamamoto Kodachi asked. Seeing the boy-tuned-girl rapidly nod as she let Tariko go — allowing the adopted native of Kabe-koli to take in deep breaths; she HATED it when battle dolls forgot their damned strength! — the adopted native of Sasebo relaxed herself.
Once able to take a look at the foxy blonde in the dark jumpsuit, Nagisa was quick to see her chest symbol. "'Yūdachi'?!" she read before her eyes went wide. "Dai-Kuchikukan Hyakuhachijūku-dai?" At Kodachi's nod, she beamed. "My great-grandfather sailed on you!" she announced.
Surprise crossed the blonde destroyer's face, then she grinned. "Oh, Shiowatari Sanjurō-san!" At Tariko's and Ryūnosuke's questioning looks, the Wolf Storm of the Night added, "He was one of my boatswain's mates! He knew how to till my rudder really good, poi!" As Tariko smirked on hearing Rumiko suddenly cough in flustered embarrassment from the potential meaning of THAT phrase, Kodachi reached over and nearly crushed Nagisa with her own hug. "It's always good to meet up with family, poi!" she cooed as she wagged the poor tea shop maiden around like a ragged doll.
"Oi! Oi! Kodachi-chan! Stop that!" the Infinite One bade as she came over to join them, waving the adopted native of Sasebo down. As Kodachi yelped as she let Nagisa go — which only let the woman drop to the floor in a dazed heap at such a show of strength — the native of Wakayama added, "Ya gotta be careful! People like Nagisa-chan aren't like those meanie-meanie kaijū Naomi-chan got rid of by sending them to Phentax Two, ya know! After all, you can lift over five billion tonnes at full power...!"
"'Five BILLION tonnes'...?!" Ryūnosuke and Nagisa croaked as they stared wide-eyed at Kodachi.
"...so you gotta be careful when you hug people, okay?" Ayumu finished before she gestured, helping Nagisa back to her feet telekinetically, causing the boy-turned-girl to blink in surprise. "Now, c'mon! Here's the good part of all this: Having Tariko-chan's cake! Even better, thanks to Yomi-chan, you don't need to worry about your dork father showing up telling you stupid stuff like the chocolate's going to turn you into a boy or make you weak or something really dumb like that! C'mon!"
"Eh?! Ryūnosuke-san's father said THAT to her, poi?" Kodachi gasped.
"He clearly forgot the differences between boys and girls," Tariko noted as she picked up her cake, then accompanied the others to the table where the Careful Planner of the Circle of Thought was seated as she monitored a sheer ARMY of construction nanites that were now installing all sorts of interesting equipment into the school's outer fence line to ensure no more intruders coming in to wreck any of the buildings on the property, with the main element being a DNA-based force shield system that would only permit staff, students and all Yizibajohei, Avalonian and free Shōzoki residents of Tomobiki access to the grounds. While the aliens in town would be gone in under seventy-two hours, there was the chance of one final massive rampage on the part of Redet Lum's friends to show their disapproval of the presence of the Children of the Forge on Earth before they were sent home in casts or body bags.
That instantly made the eyes of the adoptive native of Sasebo flare. "Where is he, poi?! I'm gonna deliver a Nightmare Party on him for doing all those awful things to his daughter!"
As Ryūnosuke blushed, Rumiko sipped her tea. "I had Ayumu-chan's friend Yomi-chan telepathically make him head off to go find a new location for Hamachaya a week ago, Kodachi-chan," the smartest student in Japan explained as people took their seats and Tariko slid The Book of Pretty Girls over to her, drawing out a special stylus to write into it as she turned to page 100 in the main index.
A flash of uncertainty crossed her old lover's face. "Oi, Rumiko..."
"Once we go public on Friday, he'll stop at NOTHING to ensure you don't become a 'freak' like he saw Tariko-chan as, Ryūnosuke-chan," the reborn third of Yiziba's triumvirate of senior hyper-genius polymaths warned before she sat back in her chair to sip her tea. "He remembers how much the 'little freak' beat him down so easily back in 2002, then 'kidnapped' his 'boy' to bring 'him' back even healthier then ever. He doesn't want that for you. He's so far gone in his delusions about you that he'll see you CRIPPLED before you could ever hope to 'win' that stupid challenge about becoming a real girl."
As the "heir" of Hamachaya cringed on hearing that — she knew Rumiko would never steer her wrong; her old lover had gone quite out of her way at times to help explain things concerning being a girl to the beach café tomboy — her classmate pointed to the black forest cake, which was made with Yizibajohei ingredients that included a tonne of mesonium from the background environment to be infused into Ryūnosuke's body, thus forge an unbreakable link between her and the biosphere of the World of the Forge. "Once you eat this and something locks on your soul from the Great Crystal, it will be too late. No matter what he does to keep things from you, what you missed learning about being a girl because he refused to let girls teach you these things will be implanted deep in your mind. That can't easily be erased and NO ONE on Yiziba will ever help him try. Even more so, with Nagisa-san bound to the Great Crystal thanks to her being a battle doll, you'll have a partner to back you up dealing with the man. He's got sneaky tricks, like that delightful poison he tried to feed you that one time after you came here." As her old lover scowled on being reminded of that, Rumiko sipped her tea. "You'll have at least twenty LIFETIMES' worth of memories and experiences — at least HALF of them being from WOMEN — in your mind, surviving on one of the most harsh planets in Existence. Ditto with your fiancée here."
Confusion crossed Ryūnosuke's face before she nodded. "Oh, right! Most of these 'battle lines' come back as the opposite sex! Yours, Tariko-san's and Ayumu-san's past-selves were all men! Gotcha! I get it now!" She then hummed. "That'd be pretty weird! Actually getting real BOYS' memories?!"
"It's no biggie, Ryūnosuke-chan," Ayumu advised, waving her down. "Think of it as having the memories of a special uncle. That's how I look on the memories I got from Tami-ojichan — he was the last Infinity — just like Tariko-chan here got memories from Haroga'a-ojichan!"
"Except I view him as my real father even if I never knew him this life," Tariko added.
Her old classmate looked at her. "Don't you think you're going overboard there?"
"What? Ofukuro and Ofukun? No," the Trickster of the Show answered, a flash of bubbling resentment echoing in her eyes. "All that time that my 'wife' was here, they KNEW what I'd been involved in, Ryū-chan! They never got their memories modified like Shinobu-chan or the rest did last September! All that time, instead of putting up to the neighbours' complaining, they KNEW that all they had to do was go to the Toranoseishin Tower in town and speak to my uncle's ward Yumoa Reigi-kun about this; he's chief of operations for the Inshin Group, our keiretsu. Once Negako got involved, the memory wipes would have been dealt with and we could have sent the umale packing, including that bomb in the Ginza!" As the non-Gifted people winced on being reminded of THAT — Rumiko briefed them about the Niphentaxians — the Trickster of the Show sighed. "All that was just to get hold of the inheritance Obā-chan left me, away from what she set aside for my sisters. Just for MONEY! And even if we don't use money on Yiziba, it's her last gift to ME and it's a tidy nest egg I use when I'm doing my casting drive on Earth! Baka Aho Ofukuro and Baka Aho Ofukun aught to have learned to blame getting pregnant with me and my brother when they were in senior year here on THEMSELVES, not me!"
Nagisa moaned. "Parents...!" she breathed out in disgust with the touch of a tired groan as she leaned her chin on her crossed hands. "Hai, Otō-sama wanted a girl all along when Okā-sama was pregnant with me, but he never got angry at her because I was born a boy. Hai, I was happy to dress up as a girl and be a girl when I came to understand how much Otō-sama really wanted to have a daughter. Hai, he wouldn't think of remarrying after he lost Okā-sama like he did — that's how much he loved her — but he really wanted a daughter!" She sat back, waving to the noticeable breasts that were now masked by the strapless sundress she normally wore indoors. "Now I'm his daughter!"
Her fiancée took that in, then she sighed, leaning her head on her palm. "Yeah, I guess Oyaji was kinda the same way with Ofukuro. He did date around from what I can remember, but he never thought of marrying someone else even if it would have done me a tonne of good!" She snorted as she gazed on Rumiko. "Then again, he clearly wasn't thinking straight in the first place if what you said Yomi-san felt from him is true, Rumiko-chan." She stretched. "So what's this about, Tariko-san?"
Ayumu smiled. "Well, here's how it works," she said as she guided the cake slices over, then pulled the covers off them while floating a pair of forks over for the two to use. "You eat the cake, which puts a lot of meson into your body from the soil that covers Yiziba. That is fed from the Great Crystal of Power. Once it's inside you, it'll clear up all the old wounds in your body while your subconscious mind looks for a good Gift seed to absorb into your mind. Once the seed transfers over, you're Gifted."
"Place soundproofed?" Tariko asked.
"Of course," Rumiko assured her.
"Why soundproofing?" Ryūnosuke asked before she perked. "Ah! Lum-san! Gotcha!"
"Don't you have this friend who can stop her from using her time-travel device?" Nagisa asked.
"Hai, but getting Haruhi-chan involved just complicates the plot too much," Tariko answered. "Besides, we got Prince Useless upstairs..." — she thumbed up in emphasis — "...who will come in tomorrow morning to 'sweep her off her feet' and carry her off to Muzlim Madiina on Yaminokuni, where he lives!" she then finished with a mock-romantic flourish, earning her laughter from Rumiko and Kodachi.
Ryūnosuke blinked. "You're gonna let her be KIDNAPPED?!"
"Hai!"
"Why?! Instant Mendō and Megane's gang hear what happens, they'll freak!"
The Trickster of the Show sighed. "Doesn't really matter," she admitted as she sat back. "Look, it's not because I HATE Lum, Ryū-chan! She's the second entry in here!" She indicated The Book in emphasis. As her latest potential recruits nodded — Rumiko explained to them about that fateful encounter eleven years before — she shrugged. "But she's way too much like Shūtarō! She doesn't know when to start cleaning up her messes! Believe me, there's a tonne of people here in Tomobiki and elsewhere who are ready to deluge Shūtarō and Satoshi and the guys for all the crap that's happened they had a hand in; that thing about al-Qā'idah wanting to turn them into air pollution with a guy wearing a coat from DuPont isn't the ONLY real threat to them, much less everyone else in town who've backed Lum! You know how much Ataru changed when he got separated from me and was able to remember things, right? He grew up. They haven't! Lum hasn't! Unless it's a dire emergency or it's one of the girls in The Book, I don't fight other people's fight scenes! It's time for Lum to learn she's got responsibilities! Look how much she's been willing to let things slide over the last year, huh?!"
"Yeah! Especially these Niphentaxian jerks!" Ryūnosuke muttered. Rumiko showed her the "Book of the Holy Friend Fujinami Ryūnosuke" in The Book of Lum to let the beach café tomboy understand how much the majority of an ALIEN RACE saw her as "divinely blessed"...even if a lot of words from copies of her own DIARIES stolen by those people were twisted around to continuously project the "party line" about the "great evil". "Oi, is it true that Lum-san was told by her dad to never tell shit about this Ōgi guy to you or your brother?" Seeing Tariko nod, the other woman threw up her hands. "What the hell?! What would have happened if Ōgi got it into his head to ASSASSINATE you?!"
"Oh, Lum would have probably tried to save me so that she could 'prove her love' to me!" the adopted native of Kabe-koli noted as a slight look of disgust crossed her face. "But something like THAT would have been very LOUD for people like Ayumu-chan here..." — she thumbed her oldest friend, who looked sheepish on being reminded yet again of the fact that everyone who had been Gifted because of Tariko hadn't thought of trying to find her for SEVEN MONTHS until the issue with Elle exposed things — "...and that would have REALLY upset a tonne of apple carts. There's no way in Hell that Ōgi would pass up bragging about killing the 'Great Evil' to the galaxy, which would have brought EVERYONE down on his head!" As Ryūnosuke and Nagisa winced, Tariko hummed. "If this happened AFTER Elle but before D-Day, we would have had our Mother of All Fight Scenes on those dorks earlier and Ataru would have 'died'..." — here, she mock-sniffed as a sympathetic look crossed her face, she wiping a way a fake tear from the corner of her eye — "...and Lum would have gone home brokenhearted!"
Rumiko looked over. "You know how harsh life is, Ryūnosuke-chan. So do you, Nagisa-san. All this is going to do..." — she waved to the pre-Gifting snacks her friend prepared for this special occasion — "...is give you extra tools to learn how to survive it no matter where you go."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
The couple exchanged looks. Even if they had been together for about a month, they had surprisingly developed a strong rapport. While Ryūnosuke was hesitant at first about living with a man in her "apartment" set up in one of the school's ground floor storage rooms — cross-dresser or not — she quickly learned that Nagisa really did care for her, was quite patient with her and always took her side in the many arguments the "heir" of Hamachaya had with her father before he headed off on his quest for a new base for their family tea shop. Even more so, Ryūnosuke had been able to teach her "fiancée" some things, especially how to use Nagisa's sumotori-level strength with the close-quarters free-form martial arts that Ryūnosuke was forced to learn since she was old enough to walk.
And Nagisa HAD come back from the DEAD for her.
That said something.
Forks were picked up. "Itadakimasu...!"
Meanwhile, three blocks away at the Nippon Okonomiyaki Restaurant...
"Ah, it's looking quite good..."
Hearing that from the beautiful female replica of her old boyfriend seated at the bar of one of the more popular eateries for the local high school crowd, Miyake Shinobu nodded. "Hai! Hopefully, Master will be able to pass on his skills to his son when it comes time for him to take over the restaurant."
As the elderly man moving to prepare the savoury pancakes for his guests blushed, Shinobu turned to gaze on the woman seated beside her. She first met Moroboshi Hiromi in the early part of summer vacation just passed when the latter was out shopping in the town Ginza. At first believing this being to be yet another byproduct of Moroboshi Ataru's continued interactions with Redet Lum, she was soon proven right when Hiromi invited her to this very restaurant for what she termed an "apology date".
As many of her classmates now knew, Hiromi was created after the first weekend in March when an alien movie camera was loaned by Lum to help members of the then-Class 1-4 complete a film project on school violence. When something in the camera malfunctioned, replicas of the people performing in said movie — Moroboshi Ataru, Redet Lum, Miyake Shinobu, Fujinami Ryūnosuke, Mendō Shūtarō and Shitto Kōsuke — came into being, their life forces born from the large pool of magic and mana that seemed to permeate Tomobiki according to Sakurambō Sakura. While it was believed that said replicas had simply vanished after the camera lost power, their souls — effectively copied from their templates — remained in place until the mysterious "angel" that rescued Ataru from being forced to marry Lum over a month later found a way to allow the film replicas a chance to live real lives.
Enter Moroboshi Hiromi.
Not to mention Redet Danu, Miyake Saiko, Fujinami Tatsuko, Mendō Tachiko and Shitto Nijiko.
While Shinobu's new "twin" sister had been busy elsewhere doing something important for the Inshin Group — the keiretsu with headquarters split between Sendai and Tomobiki that had been owned by Ataru's late grandmother Nagaiwakai and was currently under the control of his paternal uncle Komeru even if Sukeyama Sakuya ultimately called the shots — it was for something important for humanity. After asking Hiromi what that was, Shinobu got an answer that truthfully surprised her:
"Wouldn't you love to see the aliens forever gone from Earth, Shinobu-san?"
That had made Ataru's former girlfriend sit back and THINK for once about what had been happening to everyone in Tomobiki since the Tag Race the previous fall. While there were times Shinobu was swept up in the circus-like atmosphere that descended on the town in the wake of Lum's coming to Earth, she soon had to admit that the aliens' presence here was doing much more harm than good. If it wasn't Lum's frequent temper tantrums that unleashed torrents of bio-electricity that could hurt people metres away from her if she truly lost control, it was Seq Rei's coming to virtually eat every restaurant in town to effective bankruptcy. If it wasn't some strange alien coming to the planet for whatever reason — Shinobu still had nightmares about what Hirosaki Chikage did to the Memni who tried to set up a base for conquest at the school, all in response to their temerity of publicly shaming her brother darling — it was Lum's many spats with Aruka Ran. If it wasn't Shigaten Benten coming to Earth looking for a party or a fight, it was Lum's cousin Redet Ten causing issues because he didn't have anyone to play with. And to top it off, there was Lum's desire for Ataru as her husband even after forcing him through ten days of HELL in the Tag Race, which effectively started the "circus" for everyone else!
Thinking on that, Shinobu slowly came to the realization that ever since the encounter with Ataru's other "fiancée" Elle de Rosenbach, the man who had the fate of Earth slammed down on his shoulders the previous October had changed in a way people in town found hard to understand, much less adjust to. That Ataru had stopped hitting on girls was one thing...but to totally turn around and treat them with cold indifference at times — save for Tsuruya Rumiko (who was a lesbian) and Inu Chigaiko (whom Shinobu still often thought of as "Yon-san" even if the curse that hurt the basketball team forward had been eliminated in August while the school building was rebuilt after the Pseudo War) — had been jarring, especially to Shinobu herself; ever since that time, it had always been "Miyake-san" from Ataru and not "Shinobu-chan". That Ataru was moving to leave his parents in answer to their selling him off to Lum was yet another thing...but to see him express JOY whenever some thing came along to hurt Moroboshi Muchi and his wife Kinshō made Shinobu cringe. That Ataru was being VIOLENTLY vicious towards Lum...and now had friends among cruiser shipgirls that moved into town in May — prompted by the living soul of his granduncle Kyōsuke's ship made human the spring just past — was one very BIG sign that he wanted the aliens forever gone despite Lum's adamant claims that he still loved her.
Thinking about that, Shinobu often asked herself this:
What was WRONG with Lum...?
As Shinobu engaged in her own long mental debate over what had been happening in Tomobiki since April, she went on "dates" with Hiromi, usually a dinner get-together followed by evening shopping or going to a movie. Since Shūtarō was still pining for Lum, there was no sense she was cheating when she was alone with Ataru's replica. Even during the time Shinobu found herself YET AGAIN in intensive care at Nishitōkyō General Hospital thanks to the Pseudo War, Hiromi visited daily, delivering fresh food from her sister Osamu Shirayuki. Considering what happened at the end of that incident, Shinobu found herself NOT blaming Ataru's eldest half-sister Sukeyama Sakuya for siccing nineteen destroyer shipgirls on everyone who had been caught up in that fight that later tried to attack Ataru ultimately for his not wanting to help Lum...whose very presence in Tomobiki had effectively STARTED that mess!
As such "dates" continued, Shinobu found herself rediscovering all the reasons she had fallen for Ataru in the first place. Despite the toxic home life he endured with his parents and his "wife" — which went a long way to explain why he was such an idiotic girl-chaser in the past — he was a man capable of vast passion. Given how much he felt betrayed by people he was supposed to trust — and Shinobu now knew she was seen at being near the top of THAT list — it was rare to see him be so open with his feelings. That he totally focused such passion on his sisters — who were by far a much BETTER family for the man — and the shipgirls wasn't such a surprise given how much they had been quite open with him in turn, never mind their standing at his side again and again against those who wanted to either use or abuse Ataru for their own purposes...chief of which being one Redet Lum.
While Shinobu hadn't tried to make any move towards properly reconciling with Ataru himself — even now, he was still quite closed off to his peers in Class 2-4 save Rumiko and Chigaiko...though his treatment of Marubeya Momoe, Arakida Yui and Gekasawa Kumiko (all three of whom had been Shūtarō's followers for the longest time) earlier in the day had been quite surprising — she found spending time with Hiromi to be a perfect substitute. The would be guidance counsellor (that had been Ataru's rôle in the film) didn't seem to carry her brother's quite volcanic anger towards how much Fate had played around with his whole life. Unlike Ataru, Hiromi was willing to judge Shinobu without the many past issues between the latter and her old boyfriend influencing the situation; that had been QUITE the refreshing change from dealing with Shūtarō after she dropped Ataru, Shinobu later concluded. While Hiromi was still obviously a man deep in her heart — as witness the countless times she blushed madly whenever they had gone to fashion shops like Esmeralda's to buy clothes, then tried them out in the change rooms — she clearly wasn't interested in Shinobu in any sort of romantic sense; given how beautiful in her own tomboyish way the would-be guidance counsellor was, Shinobu often found herself experiencing some saucy wet dreams about actually taking Hiromi as Tsuruya Rumiko had taken Fujinami Ryūnosuke before Shiowatari Nagisa came into the latter's life.
Still somewhat caught up in her self-reflection, she nodded her thanks as the plate of shrimp-and-vegetable okonomiyaki was handed to her before Hiromi paid the bill, then they headed to a table at one corner of the quaint little eatery that had been one of the locations involved in an infamous "food fight" during winter term just past. Relaxing themselves, they waited for a waitress to bring some tea for them, then they dug into the food. "Much quieter than January," Shinobu noted.
"Hai, Onsen-kōchōsensei and his peers were determined to keep everyone in their classrooms, ne?" Hiromi noted as she used her chopsticks to cut up her own shrimp-and-beef dish.
That earned her a laugh. "Why do you call Onsen-sensei that, Hiromi?!"
"He'd be a much better principal than the lunatic that's currently in charge, Shinobu!" Their relationship had clearly evolved beyond the need for suffix honorifics as was normally done even between friends.
"He's not that bad!"
"Oh? Obstacle course swim meet, the whole thing with Keppeki Girl's Middle School..."
Shinobu jolted before she sighed. "Ah, good point!"
Both women then laughed before they moved to eat their dinner. "So how was the encounter with Rupa-sama today at school?" Hiromi asked. "Onii-san, Sakuya-chan and Haruka-chan were rather scant with details. Does Lum-san actually show any interest in this fellow?"
A snort responded. "Of course not. It's your brother and only your brother. Even if Rupa-san gave her a nice ring, Lum won't hear of anything concerning marrying him. Even if this honour debt is there..."
"Yaminokuni are like Klingons in Star Trek in some ways when it comes to that sort of thing. Or our own samurai like Yoiko-san," Hiromi warned, earning her a surprised look from her friend. "True, trying to make good to a debt that's over a CENTURY old is one thing, but if Rupa-sama does have positive feelings for Lum-san, it may be the one thing that could persuade her from stop chasing after Onii-san like she does. After all, her whole claim of marriage towards Onii-san is a big lie."
Confusion crossed Shinobu's face. "How do you know all that, Hiromi?"
An eerie look answered her. "Spoilers," Hiromi promised, winking.
An arched eyebrow answered her...
Meanwhile, at geosynchronous orbit at the meridian of Tōkyō...
"So you were able to put the ring on her finger?"
"Yes, Great-grandfather," Rupa Namabin stated with a content smile as he gazed on the image of his relative on the main view screen on the bridge, said transmission coming from the main castle in Muzlim Madiina, Yaminokuni's capital and the only place possessing a spaceport that could be linked into the warping network developed by their people based on the Ancients' network of Stargates. The signal was secure against eavesdropping by the local powers, though Rupa was more than sure that naval signalmen on USS Enterprise and the other United Nations starships keeping watch over their homeworld were listening in. Besides, given the incredible level of cooperation between the Kingdom of Yaminokuni and natives of the Free Planetary State of Yiziba, it was just being prudent.
"Good, good!" the aged First Patriarch breathed out, his hand trembling. Seeing that made Rupa wince; that was the visible sign that Upa was succumbing to Rekki's syndrome, a crippling and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disorder that would destroy the old leader's higher brain functions and kill him within the next five seasons. Hence, his hard drive to see his great-grandson finally married to settle the debt with Redet Traveller before his soul was drawn finally into the Dark Grove.
"What was in that ring, anyway?" the crown prince asked. "You never told me."
Upa perked, then he chuckled. "Ah, sorry! Sorry!" he apologized as he rubbed the back of his head cloak. "As you know, Oni-Urusians shed their horns when they achieve adulthood; it's like any animal that has such an ability moulting their skins or pelts for new growth."
"That would make Lum temporarily helpless."
"Yes! Given her quite stubborn behaviour concerning young Patriarch Ataru this last season and more — even if such might be influenced by the spirits of Tomobiki that Master Undertaker has promised to remove — I feared that she would fight with her powers to resist marrying you." As Rupa nodded — he would have been at the receiving end of Lum's "divine punishment" hadn't Kistiñe Heermann y Brown and a well-aimed fist stopped her — the old patriarch added, "I had the bud of a hairefure mushroom put into that ring. Once she tries to use her powers on it, it'll send seedlings into the air for her to breathe in. That will cause her horns to be dropped from her head within a half-day."
"So tomorrow morning?"
"Yes! Do it before she can try to seek safety among her local friends."
Rupa chuckled. "Don't worry about that, Great-grandfather. Just as I was leaving, Matriarch Sakuya went to ensure her brother was taken out of that school. I was telepathically told by Mistress Karen that Madame Sage is one of Lum's classmates, Mistress Tsuruya Rumiko. She will use her technology to repair the damage that fool Mendō helped me accidentally unleash on the school building, then seal the grounds off from all non-Terrans save Yizibajohei, Avalonian and free Shōzoki. Given the sheer NUMBER of free Shōzoki lovers that Patriarch Ataru gained since he was freed from Mistress Tariko's mind several months ago..." — he ignored the twitched eyebrow on his great-grandfather's face on mentioning the name of HER rescuer — "...with well over HALF of them being Gifted, there is quite the deterrence force ready to move in case Lum tries to hide from her obligations."
A tired nod answered him. "Good! Good! Bring her home, son..."
Rupa nodded. "You get some sleep, Great-Grandfather."
"Yes...yes, I need sleep..."
At the third Sol-Earth libration point...
"He is dying."
The command crew of Tennō Heika Uchūkan Yonaga — along with the great starship's own reborn warship template — nodded at that quiet yet sage observation from the true architect of the Pearl Harbour attack. "Hai, Admiral, he is," Captain Ogawa Gotō declared as he gazed on Admiral Fujita Hiroshi. "This disease that the First Patriarch has is similar to Alzheimer's in its effect."
"According to the intelligence we received from Madame Wakefield, Admiral, he's only got about five years left to live," Chief Medical Orderly Horikoshi Eiichi — who had come with Yonaga's chief medical officer, Surgeon Commander Hoshino Ryōtesu, to this meeting in the starship's Flag Plot, now filled with artifacts from its counterpart on the ship now living as Itō Yoiko — declared before he added, "I admire the man for wanting to settle his debts before he faces the 'Dark Grove'; that's their version of Heaven." As the others nodded in understanding and approval, the deckhand-turned-medical apprentice who had long deserved a proper doctor's degree — the few Americans and Canadians aboard THU Yonaga as liaison staff respectfully referred to him as "Chief Physician's Assistant", the title of a senior specialist hospital corpsman/medical technician trained to effectively work alone, as was normal on small navy warships — allowed a little mirth to come into his voice. "Given how much Kyōsuke-san's grandniece has come to loathe that fellow for what he did to Prince Rupa's young sister Princess Ika before Tariko-chan intervened when she did to see the poor child empowered, I doubt even the best healers on Yiziba like Tariko-chan's great-granduncle would desire to help him."
Rueful chuckles echoed through the room. "He's made peace with his life, Sensei," Captain Aoshima Susumu stated. "Let's respect that fact and raise a cup of sake to him when he does confront his gods at the end of his time in the mortal plane." As others at the table nodded in agreement, the commander of the Sixth Naval Air Flotilla — Yonaga's on-board air wing — added, "We have had flights of F-7 Kotoras and an E-9 Shintaku in support aloft on patrol since the majority of pilots came aboard on Friday, Admiral, flying from ourselves as well as Shōkaku and Zuikaku. Graf Zeppelin has also put up flights of EF362 Schwalbes as well as supporting airborne electronic sensor versions of the BAE901 Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft to add to their own patrols. With Enterprise lagging behind..."
The veteran ace from Miyazaki on the southeast shore of Kyūshū shrugged. "General Raeburn will have elements of the Saskatchewans' and London Rifles' 'E' Squadrons aloft soon," Fujita noted, ignoring the stiffening in the backs of some people before him on hearing the names of those regiments. "They fly the CE-192 Dragon II electronic warfare interceptor; this allows regiments of the Corps of Air Cavalry to not require modified CV-222 Dynajets or fall back on the Air Force to deal with strategic control of the battle space or ensuring their Camel IIIs can strike home against targets without interference. Any troop of Dragons is an equal of a Nimrod or a Shintaku, but can cover larger swaths of territory. I'm sure once President Bartlet weighs in on this petty squabble between the Navy and the Air Force concerning sending F-26 Mustangs to Enterprise, we will be able to cover more parts of local space."
The others nodded, several sparing Brent Ross sympathetic glances. Seeing the intelligence officer slightly fidget at the idea of his home nation dragging its feet when Japan and Germany — the two main "enemy" powers in the Second World War — were teaming with Canada to provide the lion's share of the Earth Defence Force's first response to any alien incursion over the remainder of the week made Yonaga's plank owners feel sorry for the man. The native of San Diego had been quite respectful of the Imperial-trained crew of Japan's greatest warship; even if there were times his temper flared from one slight or another, he had done his best to fit in in response to the eager hospitality — driven by the simple lack of fresh, recent news of the outside world — given to him by people who held his late father Captain Theodore "Trigger" Ross with reverence, especially the contingent of Japanese-American doho among the crew, chief being Ross' best friend Lieutenant Commander Matsuhara Yoshi of Los Angeles.
"Honestly, I can't understand why the Navy is being so uppity about this," the recently-reactivated intelligence officer commented. He was currently assigned on detached duty from Naval Operational Support Centre Washington to the Commander of Navy Region Japan at Yokosuka as liaison to the crew of THU Yonaga/Headquarters, Japanese Combined Starfleet. "Enterprise — any starship modelled after an American warship — symbolizes a NATION rising up as President Kennedy bade in 1961, especially in the wake of what the Oni did." As people nodded, Ross shook his head. "I know the SGC — from the briefing Colonel O'Neill gave me — allows elements of other services to participate since they need bodies to fill out their exploration teams, so what would be the issue of Enterprise?"
"Most likely, the ship's very name, Brent-san."
Eyes locked on Itō Yoiko. "What does Yvonne-san say about that, Yoiko-chan?" Fujita asked.
The reborn fifth of the Yamato-class warships snorted. "She pulls her hair out all the time at how the leaders of the 'Army Air Forces' — as she remembers them by — are being obstinate when it comes to taking control of her starship-self, much less Catarina-san's and Naomi-san's starship-selves or any of the other starships now awaiting the chance to be formally commissioned at the Main Dockyard. Remember, she was often the lone carrier fighting against our fleet mates in the early part of the Pacific War. To Yvonne-san, the very idea of squabbling over command and control issues is a horrid waste of time. Also, remember that America's civilian space exploration efforts are supported primarily by the Air Force; they consider outer space to be their domain, not that of the armed forces as a whole."
"I'm sure President Bartlet will come down hard on that issue quite soon," Lieutenant Commander Kawamoto Masao noted. "From what I've heard, he's more munban than muban as our Korean neighbours see it, but he can be resolute when the situation demands such. Look what he did when dealing with that rōnin bin Lādin? He didn't hesitate to order Margo-chan to kill the monster, knowing that having a WOMAN strike down such a man would send a clear message to traditional Islamists concerning how people should be treated. Quite subtle. I think he'll do the same in this case..."
A knock echoed from the door. One of the junior officers tapped a control to unlock same and allow it to slide open — all doors on Yonaga were this way, reinforced to ensure total airtight situations in case of a hull breach — allowing a seaman guard to step in, bowing low. Some of the officers were quick to see one of the ratings heading down the hallway towards the main control spaces. "Apologies for the interruption, Admiral, but Colonel O'Neill is signalling from Enterprise. He wishes to speak to you, sir."
At Fujita's nod, his chief scribe Lieutenant Hironaka Kenji tapped a control on the table, allowing a large view screen on the forward bulkhead to flick on. "Good evening, Yonaga!" Jack O'Neill called from his personal quarters on the replica of the second Yorktown-class ship. "Did I interrupt something?"
Laughter filled the room. The members of Yoiko's crew found it quite easy to accept and work with the leader of SG-1. His modesty and self-effacing behaviour when dealing with almost any situation — tied to a quite witty sense of humour and his willingness to seem less intelligent than he really — was utterly fascinated people like Fujita Hiroshi, who found it easy to respect the pararescueman from Minnesota because he was so complex; something like that was seen as ideal among Japanese even today. Given the seniority of his rank and the level of work he did in Stargate Command — especially his first foray into space, actually helping to KILL the enemy's supreme leader while being effectively shiniguri because of his son's senseless death — he definitely commanded respect among Yonaga's plank owners. "Colonel, we just monitored the conversation between First Patriarch Upa and Prince Rupa about tomorrow morning's planned events in Tomobiki concerning Miss Redet," the would-be commander of Operation Z answered. "I assume you and yours did the same."
"Yes, sir, we did," O'Neill answered. "I assume Doctor Hoshino and Chief Horikoshi came to the same conclusions our Doctor Fraiser did about the First Patriarch? He having their version of Alzheimer's, not having much left on the old ticker before he cashes in his ID discs?"
"Hai, we did, Colonel," Hoshino answered. A star surgeon specializing in treating burn wounds from Karuizawa in the heart of Honshū, he studied at Johns Hopkins University after gaining his MD from Tōkyō University in the late 1920s. Much to the amusement of his shipmates, once Yonaga's survival in the cold Arctic was confirmed in late September, the administration in Baltimore sent him a Blue Jays lacrosse jersey with his old number 27, announcing said number was retired; for a doctor, playing the field game had been an excellent way of keeping fit and learning more about American culture. Even more, much to Yoiko's public embarrassment and private understanding, she was sent her own jersey with her hull number 11 on it as a show of thanks for keeping a Hopkins alumnus alive and well.
Much to the endless teasing from her fellow "cosmic" shipgirls Matsunaga Ryōko, Yvonne Swanson and Naomi Haight-Ashbury, the seventh carrier of Operation Z had quite the collection of university sports jerseys indicative of her being made an honorary member of multiple teams across America!
"You know, you've got to admire the man for wanting to settle everything now before he dies. It's such a MESS when someone goes without settling their affairs, isn't it?" the pararescueman noted, making everyone in Flag Plot laugh in amusement. "Still, we're kind of worried over here. Lum's one stubborn kid. I doubt being kidnapped tomorrow morning is going to make an impression on her, especially since she's invested so much time in trying to nail Ataru down. And her pals from outer space and in Tomobiki aren't going to take Rupa's 'kidnapping the bride' thing hands down, either."
"Still, the stupid girl IS running out of time, Colonel," Moroboshi Kyōsuke warned, making people cackle as they imagined what the scene would be in seventy-two hours' time in Tomobiki once the Infinite Wave had done its work. "She can't escape that no matter how much she tries. Tariko-chan has things in place to block every angle of attack the girl can use. And thanks to those idiots in Division One that blindsided my grandniece like they did last year, there's no way the girl can threaten anything that can't be cleaned up by Ayumu-chan and those like her. This time, she WILL taste bitter defeat."
O'Neill nodded. "Well, let's hope it doesn't drive her to slit her wrists. Tariko and Ayumu did do her one heck of a favour a decade ago," he noted. "Anyhow, good news on our front. The President went and dropped a JDAM on the Pentagon. Enterprise, Eugen and Long Beach are under General Hammond's administrative command even if Navy brass will assign someone to take Bart Mancuso's place as CO. General Hammond wants the man promoted, but aviators have to command CVs."
"Yvonne-san herself could take charge if necessary," Yoiko advised.
"That'd be good too, but right now, she's on the island..." — everyone in Flag Plot knew which island the Minnesotan was speaking of — "...giving all the kids of Taffy Three save Brooke and Chloe the tenth degree for not reporting in even to USFJ in Yokosuka after they got salvaged."
"At least she'll be at the party the sisters are hosting," Kyōsuke noted.
O'Neill laughed. "Yeah! Those girls definitely deserve a celebration now!"
Amused chuckles answered him...
The Toranoseishin Finances Tower, suppertime...
"You're actually a Yizibajohei?!"
Moroboshi Hiromi chuckled as she walked over to place a cup of tea before Miyake Shinobu before moving to pose herself before her wide-eyed guest. Once they were safely within the former's quarters on the fourteenth floor of the tower located in the heart of Tomobiki, the would-be guidance counsellor allowed her clothes to morph into a form-fitting jumpsuit whose general design matched the battlesuits worn by shipgirls save for those hailing from the era of the Great War, cultural traditionalists like Itō Yoiko or New Age types like Naomi Haight-Ashbury. Such was a halter-top design with bared shoulders and arms, the cloth done in a dark grey-and-black urban camouflage pattern design. A black belt with two utility pouches over her hips and matching black buccaneer boots finished the ensemble. A pair of black-lined dark grey theatre masks were stitched into the chest above her cleavage. Hiromi also had a hooded demi-cape draping her shoulders in the same multi-colour pattern as her battlesuit.
"In essence, there was no choice," Moroboshi Ataru's film twin noted as she took her seat across from her friend. "Since both Onē-san and Onii-san are destined to become Children of the Forge, so must I."
Wide-eyed blinking answered her. "Oh, since your brother and..."
Silence.
"You have an older SISTER?!"
A chuckle escaped Hiromi. "In effect, I always had an older sister, Shinobu," she stated as she lifted her cup, then sipped from it. "You remember the thirteenth of September last year? It was a Tuesday. When you were called by Kinshō-san to the house for some special occasion?"
"Hai. Oba-san was very excited about something. I went over right away and there you..."
More silence.
"No! It was a girl who looked exactly like you...!"
Hiromi placed a hand gently on her friend's. "Relax and concentrate."
Shinobu blinked before she closed her eyes as dim memories surged up in her mind. "It was an unconscious girl," she quietly said. "She looked like you did before you changed your clothes. She was slumped down on the living room table. There were people there in dated clothing. Taishō Era, I'd say. They put some sort of dark crystal on the girl's head, then whispered something." She stiffened as more recent experiences came back to her. "It was magic of some sort, I think. Next thing I knew..."
Her eyes went wide as she stared in disbelief at her host. "You woke up after over ten years not knowing where your childhood friend Moroboshi Ataru might have gone since his sixth birthday in 2001," Hiromi said as she pulled her hand back. "You were then alone with Onii-san's parents and who you immediately realized was Onii-san himself. And as far as you personally knew at that time — as did everyone else in Tomobiki — Onii-san had been living there all along with 'his' parents."
Still more silence.
"Then who was that girl?"
A wry smile twitched her host's lips. "You can figure it out now."
Shinobu blinked before her eyes went very wide. "That girl was Ataru?!"
"That was what Onii-san had been forced to become by the woman who 'rescued' him..." — here, Hiromi made finger-quotes — "...from his parents, Madame Ayone Katabarbe of the town of Kabe-koli in the territory of Nesetimtuto on Yiziba's northern polar continent. Mama — as Onii-san came to call her after she gave him a more loving home on Yiziba — went and pre-Gifted Onii-san to become the next Tuyuki; she had the Gift seed crystal of the previous Tuyuki, her late boyfriend. However, because the casting change tends to happen cross-gender in Giftings, the Tuyuki-to-be had to be a girl. Thus, Onii-san became Onē-san. And for over ten years, Onē-san lived as Tariko Katabarbe."
Shinobu blinked several more times as that statement sank in, her heart dropping into her bowels as her mind rapidly put things together. Much to her surprise, she found it easy to digest that bomb her friend just dropped on her head. While it would have sounded like some mad lie had she heard this tale months ago, she knew Moroboshi Hiromi knew EVERYTHING about her template/elder brother figure, far more than Moroboshi Ataru's parents, much less his so-called "wife". Despite there being squeaks of protest in her mind affirming that her now-very strained friendship with Ataru had naturally grown for over a DECADE since he comforted her in kindergarten when her cousin Miyake Hitomi and her family moved to Nerima — seemingly a world away from Tomobiki — the fact that Hiromi had been able to use some metahuman power to make Shinobu SEE those memories within her own mind...!
"Who did that to us?" she hissed.
"A rogue group within the PSIA, one who predates even the Kempeitai," Hiromi answered, making her friend cringe. "Those people who were actually there to brainwash and force Onē-san back into being a boy are dead. Onē-san got those memories from Kinshō-san when she was in hospital after the Pseudo War. Even more, the people from the Prime Minister's office who were there when Lum-san first came to Earth are also dead." She sipped her tea as Shinobu found herself sitting back in her chair, her jaw dropped in aghast horror at the full scale of what had befallen her oldest friend. "This 'Division One' group was very thorough in cleaning up after themselves once Onē-san was subdued. It certainly helped their cause that they had a seven-month head start on Onē-san to cover their tracks physically and on the Internet to ensure they'd never have to worry about a revenge scene. But they forgot one person: The man who told Satoshi-san how to do that 'ventora' summons for that space-taxi."
Her guest considered that. "They realized that they made a huge mistake because Lum wanted Ataru-..." — here, she caught herself — "...I mean Tariko-chan! If she became Tuyuki so soon...!"
"Hai."
"Did they know the Oni were coming?"
"Hai, they did. A couple precognitives from the Kantō Magical Association wound up VERY dead shortly after the Tag Race, but they were on record to have warned about the potential 'invasion'."
Shinobu bolted up. "THEY RISKED AN ALIEN INVASION?! IN GOD'S NAME, WHY?!"
"Because they want the RIGHT alien invader to conquer us."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"Please tell me you're going to STOP this mess!"
"Oh, we will," the Swift Morpher said, a truly cruel smile crossing her face. "Attacking Tuyuki like that?! The Second Rule of the Great Show of Life is very simple: Don't FUCK with Tuyuki!" She then made a face; speaking any sort of profanity just simply wasn't Hiromi's way. "We intend to show them what might have happened had Onē-san lost the Tag Race and faced a lynch mob..."
A gulp responded. "Wh-what?"
Hiromi's eyes narrowed. "Mother of All Fight Scenes: Round Two. I believe you saw the ruins of old Onishuto when you were forced into hospital after Ayumu-chan rescued Onē-san."
A hollow wind echoed; one of the windows of Hiromi's apartment was open. Shinobu stared at her friend before she sat down, reaching for her tea cup. "Um...s-so..." She caught herself as her mind ran through what her host had just said. "Wait! If Ataru lived as a GIRL all this time, then who...?!"
"The eleventh of November last year," Hiromi wryly cut in.
The other woman's voice screeched to a halt before her jaw dropped again. "But didn't Cherry...?!"
"Do you believe Sakurambō-san has the power to affect something touched by Yiziba of all planets?!"
Shinobu blinked. "What happened?!"
"Onē-san's soul was sheared in half even if she was restored to one single physical body," Hiromi quietly explained. "When Ayumu-san rescued Onē-san, then forced the Gifting, the part that remained in her body became Tuyuki. The other part of her soul was shifted into a synthetic humanoid body known as a 'battle doll'; this is meant to rescue children who are fatally wounded on Yiziba before being Gifted. That became a boy. The Onii-san that you met after you came back from Uru."
Another welcome bout of silence fell over the scene as Hiromi sipped her tea. Shinobu stared wide-eyed at her, tears in her eyes as her own imagination went into overdrive, she instantly conceiving of what that split-off part of Moroboshi Ataru/Tariko Katabarbe must have felt like on awakening in a body s/he hadn't gone through puberty in, finding out her/his memories of what s/he must have come to see as her/his TRUE home planet had been deliberately BLANKED from her/his mind, to say NOTHING of Ataru/Tariko being "married" to the member of a race Yizibajohei as a whole had more than enough cause to HATE. And if the part of that person who became Tuyuki had it good, the part that didn't...!
"Oh, God! It's no wonder he hates us all now!" came out in a near-sob, which made Hiromi rise up and hold her template's former girlfriend close as the dam holding back the other girl's emotions broke.
Again, a bout of merciful silence fell over the scene as Shinobu continued to weep, she holding Hiromi close. The would-be guidance counsellor-turned-metahuman fighter remained still, gently stroking Shinobu's silky hair while the woman in her arms — one who had always possessed an enormous heart despite her frequent issues with her temper and her ability to leap to conclusions all the time — muttered nonsensical apologies to a man she once thought she knew so well...yet now knew didn't know anything about. Even more so, given how much Ataru/Tariko had been made to SUFFER — and for reasons that were downright TREASONOUS! — and that Shinobu would have reacted quite badly to such an incredible change in someone she once saw as her oldest, dearest friend, one she grasped onto once that person had come back into range once more, it was no wonder that the part of the Trickster of the Show who was forced to revert to being a boy turned his back on his former girlfriend so sharply.
After a moment, Shinobu began to hiccup as the rational side of her mind took control over herself, then she gazed into Hiromi's eyes before she moved to lay her head on the other woman's shoulder. With a simple twist, the would-be guidance counsellor reached under her friend's butt and legs to boost her into her arms, causing Shinobu to squawk in shock before she paused on noting that Hiromi was moving to carry her over to her bed. Despite knowing that Ataru's sister — And Tariko's as well! she quickly admonished herself — was far too polite to even think of being intimate with her template's old girlfriend, Shinobu couldn't help but blush at being put on THAT particular piece of furniture.
"Um...Hiromi...!"
An amused chuckle responded. "Please, Shinobu. Much that you're one of the most desirable women in town, I'd rather not ruin a friendship with what I'm sure will be quite an unforgettable pillow scene."
An awk of mixed embarrassment and the old welcome outrage — which had long been suppressed over the last several months thanks to Ataru's shipgirl friends making DAMN sure Shinobu understood she was no longer welcome to judge anything about his life — responded. "HIROMI!"
"Besides, there are some necessary reveal scenes you have to go through in the next little bit so that Friday morning won't come as such a massive shock to you," the other woman noted as she walked to a nearby dresser, pulling out what looked like a hotel Bible from one drawer. "And looking THIS over will help me explain to you why we had to wait until this very week to make the aliens all finally go away," she stated as she held it up before walking back to place it in her friend's hands.
Shinobu blinked. "The Book of Lum...?!"
At the same moment, within Tomobiki High School...
Nesu...TOLOSE!
Nesu...BURBUO!
Howls of delight escaped the "heir" of Hamachaya and her "fiancée" as the torrent of energies being siphoned in from the heart of the Great Crystal of Power burned away their normal clothes, allowing modern-style fighting jumpsuits to clothe them from neck to toe. As whoops, catcalls and cheers escaped the small audience of metahumans who had come for this particular Gifting party — along with the Trickster of the Show, the Goddess Who Walks Among Men and the Careful Planner of the Circle of Thought, the Azuma Gang from Itabashi and the Scooby Gang from Sunnydale were present even if it was an hour past midnight in the latter group's hometown — excess ki vanished into the air as the now-empowered Fujinami Ryūnosuke and Shiowatari Nagisa screamed out in unison, "TAEIM LETAM!"
PAA camera function flashes instantly glistened from some people's outstretched arms while they took pictures of the fisherman's children in their new battlesuits. Ryūnosuke had an earthen brown jumpsuit with black belt and boots, plus animal fur striping along her flanks from her armpits to her calves and hockey player-like gloves over her hands; a badger's head insignia over her cleavage completed the ensemble. This marked her as the Huntress of the Wild, Tolose ("Carcajou"), a ki master very much like Xander Harris had become some years ago. Her "girlfriend" — and only NOW did the beach café tomboy feel comfortable calling Nagisa that — was in a red uniform with white belt and boots, a grey portcullis insignia on her upper chest; she also had grey gauntlets covering her hands. That ensemble made her the Steady Guardian of the South, Burbuo (the "Sentinel"), a mid-range FISS-type whose first-self hailed from the southern polar continent and was a scientist before being forced to fight to protect his co-workers from rampaging rogue metahumans in the Dawn of Power.
"Banzai! Banzai! Ryūnosuke-san and Nagisa-san are Gifted! Banzai! Banzai!"
Both newly-Gifted girls blushed on hearing that from Kasuga Ayumu's best friend Mihama Chiyo...
...before they gaped as memories they just inherited through said Giftings clicked in. "Holy shit..." the former squawked on recognizing the golden uniform the pre-teen genius from Itabashi — who had advanced five grades into high school because of her raw intelligence — was now wearing, she shakily pointing at the tenné brown-haired über-süße sophomore. "You're freaking Cerebral Child...!"
"Oh, relax, Ryūnosuke-chan! Relax!" Ayumu declared as she waved the Wild Hunter down. "I gave her a battle doll body after she got Gifted last year! I wasn't going to let Chiyo-chan DIE, you know!"
Surprised looks responded. "Ayumu-san, you NEVER do that sort of thing!" Nagisa protested.
"Of course I do, Nagisa-chan!"
"Ōsaka-san! Nagisa-san's talking about what your past-selves did," the current incarnation of the Bright Genius of the Young Guns — now calling herself R'bemguo ("Prodigy") in lieu of her battle line's traditional name Muoleguo ("Cerebral Child") — protested as she waved Ayumu down.
That made Yiziba's most powerful reality warper blink. "Oh!"
"How many times has she done this, Rumiko?" Ryūnosuke asked her old lover.
"Quite a number of times," Tsuruya Rumiko said; she was still monitoring the basic modifications into the school property via her PAA. "Starting with Margo-san herself back in 2005, in fact." As Nagisa eeped on hearing the given name of the Archangel of Mortality, the smartest student in all Japan even BEFORE she was Gifted as one of Yiziba's top hyper-genius polymaths added, "Shocked the heck out of everyone when that happened even if it helped Margo-san better control her powers..."
"Oh, my! A Gifting party, Tariko?"
Some people froze in horror on sensing the miasma wave of pure, deadly necrotic energy escaping the Vermonter and adopted New Yorker/Georgian who just walked into the cafeteria, having stepped into the school via the east gate. "A small one, quite a few years overdue in one case, Margo-chan," Tariko Katabarbe said as she thumbed her old classmate while Margo Black approached them.
Xander moaned. "When is the unfunny Miss Black going to be done here, Tariko?"
"OI!"
The Wild Scavenger's reflexes — honed by two years and more fighting vampires and other creatures of the night over the Hellmouth — didn't fail him as a near-handful of finger-claws deployed to catch the newest incarnation of the Slaughterhouse Poet in a perfect V-shaped head trap; only his middle finger didn't spew out the deadly energy blade that could even kill Margo if he got lucky. As Fukawa Tōko leered in anticipation of fighting the "zeppo" of the Scooby Gang, a cold voice called out, "Lackey!"
Xander pulled his hand back a bit to allow the ultimate writer/murderous fiend to look over. "Boss...?"
"No touching the Boy Toy," Margo calmly ordered.
"Aw, Boss...!"
"Lackey!"
The woman also known as Genocide Shō jerked at that ice-cold voice before she immediately nodded, drawing back from the native of Sunnydale, he sheathing his energy claws in return. "Besides, Xander's right," the woman who was the only one in The Book of Pretty Girls marked with four asterixes — such signifying her forced separation from her twin sister Nora Chapelle, being virtually ripped away from a still-loving father and experiencing child abuse and even rape once before Tariko rescued her — declared. "I am NOT funny, especially when dealing with death cheaters...of which, there are LOADS to hunt down in Sunnydale and other wonderful places across the planet we can go visit." As Tōko squealed in ominous anticipation, the current resident of Savannah focused on Nagisa, making the once-ghost cringe before Margo gave Tariko an exasperated look. "Not another time, Tariko. I'm getting tired of people pulling garbage like this. There's a reason all things must be mortal."
"Hai! Hai! Hai!" the adopted native of Kabe-koli said, waving her friend down. "I just can't stop being a romantic about these things, you know!" she added, winking at the Steady Guardian.
As Nagisa madly blushed at that show of support, Margo rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, relax, Margo-chan!" Ayumu scolded. "Besides, you and Tōko-chan need a bit of a break from cleaning up all those stupid transmitter crystals those Division One dorks set up around town!"
"How are things going there, Margo-san?" Mizuhara Koyomi asked; she had been Gifted the previous spring as Yiziba's top psychic, the Mistress of the Mind-Dive, Tum Kamtimta ("Soul Searcher").
"Everything on the Musashino and Koganei side is done," the personal assassin to President Josiah Bartlet — and Owen Lassiter before him — explained as people took seats while Rumiko produced less bulky finger-less gloves in black for her old lover to try. "It'll be harder for the west and north sides since the Mendō and Mizunokōji estates spill over the borders into Kodaira and Niiza, especially since the rich fool is going to be up in arms once the mushroom prince sweeps away his princess. To say anything of the feminazi's people being upset after Amélie von Zeppelin put her down on Saturday."
"We can arrange a nice fatal accident, Boss...!"
"No, Lackey! That's Asuka's fight scene, not ours."
Tōko pouted. "Oh, poo!"
"Let me talk to Ojii-chan tomorrow after Shūtarō goes to school," Tariko advised, waving the Vermonter down. "He's known about everything since Yoiko made her public appearance after fall term started; he didn't blab a thing since his loyalty to Yoiko's crew is pretty solid for a retired Army man." As Margo snorted, the other woman took a deep breath. "As for Asuka-chan, we'll try to push her Gifting forward — not to mention Chikao-chan's and Konoe-chan's — so they can lay down the law on Oba-chan..."
"H-h-help...me..."
Heads snapped over...
"Oh, fuck!" the Trickster of the Show hissed.
"Tamako-san..." Ryūnosuke began...
...before her eyes locked in on the exposed mid rift of her classmate Inoue Tamako.
Not to mention the missing block of skin where her belly button should be.
"ROBOT!" the Wild Huntress shrieked as she bounded into the air, fast-deploying her claws as she moved to dive bomb atop the shuddering brunette gynoid who just walked into the cafeteria...
...before a telekinetic bubble snared her. "OI!" she shrieked.
"DOWN, TEX! WE DON'T DO THAT TO PEOPLE LIKE THEM!"
The beach café tomboy gargled before she spun herself upside-down. "Lemme go, Tariko! Can't you see what she is?! If she's a 'bot, where's the real Tamako-san, for Heaven's sake?!"
"She's dead."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"Shōzoki," Willow Rosenberg confirmed before raising her hand.
Instantly, a powerful spell entwined the shuddering woman who deep down saw herself as one Sŏ Yŏn'i of Taehongdan County due east of the sacred Mount Paektu overlooking the shores of the Tuman-gang separating the Democratic People's Republic from the ethnic Korean city of Hélóng in China's Jílín Province. While the pretty raven-haired, brown-eyed woman was elevated up to allow her to be laid on a nearby table, Tariko put Ryūnosuke down. "We don't destroy them, Ryū-chan. We help them," the Trickster of the Show advised while Willow's lover Tara Maclay pulled out her PAA to make a call and the youngest of the Azuma Gang commenced an examination of the shaking gynoid's structure.
A flash of teleportation energy produced Tariko's technokinetic sister from Ōsaka, she now in her proper jumpsuit as the Technological Sorceress of the East. As Ryūnosuke and Nagisa nodded in approval, Hatoyama Rinrin came over. "How bad?" she asked as she pulled out her own field PAA.
"No physical damage, Rinrin-san," Chiyo reported as everyone save Rumiko moved to join them as they watched the two young geniuses go to work. "I think someone tried to hack into her."
"Right..."
With that, the granddaughter of Japan's top expert on Shōzoki technology put her hand over Yŏn'i's access hatch, her powers locking in on the main control panel there to probe deep into the adopted Ryanggang-saram's mind. Instantly, the "field agent" of North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau froze as her eyes glowed while Rinrin moved to reset all her systems to what they had been before whatever caused her to malfunction hit her. After a moment, the Ōsaka-jin hissed as her eyes glowed slightly, making Tariko gaze her way. "She was raped, Aneki!" the Technological Sorceress declared.
Heads snapped over. "Where, Rinrin?" Xander coolly demanded.
"He's here in the school, Xander-kun! Class 3-2, northeast wing!"
People looked over towards the Careful Planner, she gazing on her readout of the school grounds, an icon flashing ominously from the northeast wing. "Tomo?" Tariko called out.
The Wild Warrior of Passion perked. "Yo?!"
"Get him. Keep him alive, though. Feel free to damage him!"
A joyous grin crossed the raven-haired high-end FISS warrior's face. "YEAH-HOO!"
In an explosion of stirred smoke and compressed air, the lunatic of Azuma Senior High's Class 2-3 raced out of the cafeteria, nearly causing a sonic boom. As people shielded themselves from that back blast, Yŏn'i's eyes went wide as her body seemed to lock up. "NO! Please! What are you DOING to me...?!" she exclaimed before her head twitched. "Er-ror!" she declared in lock-step. "Il-le-gal...sex-u-al...in-ter-course...link-age...be-ing...forced...on...this...u-nit! En-ga-ging de-fence pro-to-cols...!"
"Okay! Someone in P'yŏng'yang just earned a major ass-kicking," Tariko muttered.
Chiyo looked her way. "Wouldn't it be someone like Kōsuke-san, Tariko-san?"
"No, Chiyo-chan, not with Yŏn'i-chan here," Rinrin answered for her sister as she moved to start the poor woman's systems back up to restore her back to proper function. "She's always been completely autonomous of the others because she's from Ryanggang..." Her eyes widened as the gynoid's went back to their normal brown. "Holy...! They put SLEEPER programming in her?!"
"NO!"
Yŏn'i bolted up into a sitting position, instantly moving to cower as she covered herself; no doubt, when she had been assaulted in one of the classrooms, her attacker had got pretty far in disrobing her before her internal security systems fully kicked in and she broke free. The others — even Rinrin and Chiyo — stepped back to give the poor woman some space, which made her blink before she looked around. "The cafeteria...?" she asked in her normal voice. "It's not Hallowe'en!" she exclaimed as she lowered her arms, sensing her top and skirt was in place. "What's with the costumes...?!"
"GYEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH...!"
That mind-numbing shriek made the "field agent" cringe as she looked around, though the others in the room didn't react. "Yep! Tomo-chan got him!" Ayumu said as she cast her meta-sight in the direction of the northeastern classroom on the second floor. "Oh, Tariko-chan! It's that guy from your old class, Kamiya Hokuto-kun!" she told her oldest friend before looking back, then she winced. "Itte!" she hissed as she closed her eyes. "Did Tomo-chan have to grab him down THERE?!"
"Oh, heck!" Xander muttered. "I was hoping to CUT IT OFF!"
"If that wildcat's nice, we can slice-and-dice the rest of him, Xander-san!" Ryūnosuke declared.
The American grinned. "A capital suggestion, Miss Fujinami!"
"«Oh, wow...I'm really an andŭroidŭ...!»"
A shocked gasp escaped the adopted native of Taehongdan as she covered her mouth, quickly looking around. "«Oh, relax, Yŏn'i-ssi!»" the Bright Genius of the Young Guns replied in kind, making the Korean girl gape in surprise and delight. "«So you're an artificial intelligence! So what?!»"
"«Don't forget, Yŏn'i-ya!»" Ayumu added with a smile, speaking with an accent that made Yŏn'i almost fall off the table laughing, it sounded so funny. "«You have to say 'kainoidŭ', not 'andŭroidŭ'. Rinrin-a really doesn't like it when people use the wrong terms for pretty folks like...»"
"GOT HIM!"
Heads turned over...
"Oh, Hokuto-kun," Rumiko said as she stood up while Tomo came in, literally carrying a shuddering boy their age into the cafeteria by his crushed groin, a torrent of nonsensical babble escaping him. "There you are! Put him right over here, Tomo-chan!" she bade, pointing to the table behind where she was sitting monitoring upgrades. "Xander-kun? Ryūnosuke? Skedaddle yourselves over here, please!"
The Wild Huntress and the Scavenger of the Plains came over to stand to either side of the Careful Genius after the Wild Warrior of Passion contemptuously dumped the shuddering gatherer android onto the table. "Now..." Rumiko said in a voice that was as cold as subspace. "Here are my lessons about using those claws of yours to properly TORTURE one of these things! Pay attention...!"
As evil grins crossed Ryūnosuke's and Xander's faces, Yŏn'i found herself wincing in sympathy...
To Be Continued...!
WRITER'S NOTES
Translation list and source language: Dai-Kuchikukan Hyakuhachijūku-dai — Destroyer Number 189, the verbalization of the hull code KK-189 (Japanese); Keiretsu — Literally "system", this is a group of businesses with interlocked shareholdings and business relationships (Japanese); Tennō Heika Uchūkan — Star Warship of the Heavenly Sovereign (short-form THU) (Japanese); Doho — Compatriot (Japanese); Munban — Literally "cultural class", these were the scholars of Chosŏn's yangban ("two classes") ruling class (Korean); Muban — Literally "military class", the warrior leaders of the yangban (Korean); JDAM — Pronounced "jay-dam", this is the Joint Direct Attack Munition that is an add-on guidance kit to most gravity bombs (English abbreviation); USFJ — United States Forces Japan (English abbreviation); Carcajou — Wolverine (Canadian French); Über-süße — Ultra-cute (German); Tuman-gang — Tumen River (Korean); Ryanggang-saram — Native of Ryanggang-do (known in the South as Yanggang-do due to shifts of certain pronunciation standards post-1945), a province formed from elements of former territory of Hamgyŏngnam-do ("South Hamgyŏng Province") in 1954 immediately south of the peninsula's highest mountain, Mount Paektu, by the source of the Tuman-gang (Korean).
The in-joke about Hamamoto Kodachi (THG Yūdachi) and her crewman mentioned in the first scene is best illustrated at Danbooru post #2157874 as done by the dōjinshi artist BBB (Friskuser); that four-panel comic has Akamatsu Himeko (THG Hibiki) reunite with a relative of one of her engineers.
Note that shipgirls in this story possess as their standard abilities both high-level FISS capabilities and a force-blast power that allows them to disintegrate non-shielded starship-sized targets at a range of hundreds of kilometres. The overall strength of each Gifted shipgirl depends on their original mass as warships; in Earth gravity, they can dead-lift a mass up to the third power of their original displacement. For example, Hamamoto Kodachi (THG Yūdachi) massed 1,712 tonnes standard; she could therefore theoretically dead-lift a total mass of 5,017,776,128 tonnes. Some shipgirls will have even greater strength depending on past histories and what they did at the time of their sinking. For example, Brooke Roberts (USS Samuel B. Roberts) can lift up to the FOURTH power of her displacement; she massed 1,370 tonnes as a warship, thus can now dead-lift 3,321,506,250,000 tonnes.
Quite befitting for the "destroyer escort who fought like a battleship" from San Francisco, eh?
Yatsura and related stories character/situation notes: The issue concerning Fujinami Fujimi poisoning his "son" — it was paralysis powder after he sewed a 男 ("man") kanji into Fujinami Ryūnosuke's uniforms — was seen in the two-part story "Ran, the Model of Femininity" (manga chapter #s 150-151). The Nippon Okonomiyaki Restaurant was one of the places visited by the members of then-Class 1-4 in "Food Fight" (manga chapter #106). The Obstacle Course Swim Meet was depicted in the two-part story of the same name (manga chapter #s 242-243). The Dark Grove was first depicted in Phoenix From the Ashes. Rupa's sister Ika appeared in The Senior Year story "Tales of Avalon: Ria and Shūtako"; she would also appear in Phoenix From the Ashes. The actual incident where Moroboshi Ataru got changed to twins thanks to Redet Lum and Cherry was seen in "Just The Two Of Us" (manga chapter #20). And Kamiya Hokuto appeared in the anime story "Farewell Onsen Sensei!? Tearful Farewell Marathon Tournament" (anime episode #181); his family name is my invention.
Seventh Carrier character notes: The places of foreign study for members of the crew of THG Yonaga such as Surgeon Commander Hoshino Ryōtesu is my choice.
The one shipgirl mentioned in the narrative here:
Matsunaga Ryōko-taisa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Ryūjō [KB-4])
Naturally, she takes after her Kantai Collection self.
Issues about the Young Guns were described in the omake The Mistress of Velocity Gets Her Man.