DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.
Kyōto, two months after the attempted marriage of Moroboshi Ataru and Redet Lum...
"You don't know how much it fills my heart with joy to finally see you this way, Negako-kun."
The dark-haired woman with the almost black eyes dressed in the black martial artist's gi with hakama smiled as she bowed her head politely. "It is a relief, Heika. Have all the necessary preparations been made concerning my becoming Ataru's legal guardian?"
"It was done," the Heavenly Sovereign stated with a polite smile. "The Family Court in Tōkyō was quick to judge against Ataru-kun's parents since they didn't arrive for the hearing when it was called." Here, both people in the reception chamber for the Son of Heaven in his palace at Kyōto smirked; they both knew WHY Moroboshi Ataru's parents had not been able to attend that court session. "Your testimony and the financial evidence brought by Komeru-kun's subordinates were more than enough to see it done without objection. Of course, the funds embezzled by those two were recovered from their savings accounts and their access to Ataru-kun's accounts has been totally cut off. The necessary modifications to the applicable kazoku were done right then and there, with Tariko-kun now established as matriarch of the Moroboshi Clan."
She nodded in return. "My thanks on my siblings' behalf."
He nodded in turn. It was the least he could do for the man who helped save the planet over a year before. And who was also a distant blood relative of the Imperial Family through Shōtoku Tennō, the sixth of eight reigning female Heavenly Sovereigns in Japan's history and one of the last Nara Period monarchs from the Eighth Century; the Moroboshi Clan of Mutsu were descent from a secret love child Shōtoku Tennō bore from her then-chancellor, Dōkyō. "When will the Noukiites allow Ataru-kun's classmates to return to Earth?"
"They gladly held off on allowing such until issues with Ataru were properly resolved," Moroboshi Negako stated. "I will signal Kyech to allow them to journey home from Uru, but hold them at the Jupiter orbit line until Neyote's shielding systems that will detonate the warp cores of any Urusian or allied vessel passing the Ceres orbit line — as well as re-route attempts at using the Central Warp Chamber on Triton to teleport people to Earth — are in place and operational. Neyote gave me an estimate of three weeks before all is in place and operational. Most likely given that they will still be 'blocked' from travelling to Earth by Kyech, Lum and her friends will clearly attempt to force their way back to Tomobiki. If you desire, Heika, that can be stopped."
Her host nodded. "How soon will that THING in Tomobiki be gone?"
"In a month's time. Given the matter concerning how we made use of that device in liberating the Avalonians, any attempts at extraction now will significantly alter the time-stream. Kyech warned against it once Relota explained what happened after the Niphentaxians were dealt with. Fortunately, Neyote has been able to block attempts by observers on Earth to send signals to Phentax Two; this ensures that their superiors on Phentax Two cannot report to Ōgi that Ataru and Tariko have moved from the house in Tomobiki. Given their faith in Ōgi's leadership, observers on Earth are more than sure the 'Army of Lum'..." — the Heavenly Sovereign laughed on hearing that — "...is more than capable of dealing with the Noukiites and allow the Urusians to reassert their 'influence' on Earth. None of the observers I have noted in Tomobiki or Hiroshima have any idea that the Niphentaxians possess no deployable military force at this time."
He nodded. "Allow me to consider what to finally do with Ataru-kun's so-called 'wife'. In the meantime, there is something far more vital than placating the Urusians and their allies in the Galactic Federation. Have you been able to examine the remnants of the Abyssals that have been brought in by the kanmusu over the last year, not to mention young Hoppō?"
"I have." Here, Negako lowered her eyes, startling her host. To see such a display of embarrassment by the first true artificial intelligence on Earth was a shock to the Heavenly Sovereign. "As you know, I cannot operate successfully on the high seas thanks to water interfering with my ability to summon ki from the earth. The kantai musume have a greater chance of success against these creatures than I can provide unless they were close to shore or in littoral waters." She gave him a curious look. "Have the Canadians sent an alert to Deannette Raeburn and her friends? The First Canadian Specialized Warfare Unit can be of great assistance, especially Jessica Dover given her requirements."
"The recall signal was sent a month ago. They will be back on Earth in a week."
"Excellent."
"Can you help the kanmusu and their sisters elsewhere fight these creatures?"
Negako's face then lit up in an icy smirk. "It can be done, Heika..."
Shipgirl Samurai and Super-Ninjas!
by Fred Herriot
C&C and story ideas by Staplesdex2, Wolfman-053, Rose Ash, Mike Koos, IJNFleetadmiral, Rorschach's Blot, Kiyone4ever, Hunter 1, KBTKaiser, Baran3 and Alex Darkfire.
Yuki no Shingun (1895), composed by Nagai Kenshi. Uchū Senkan Yamato (1974), composed by Miyagawa Hiroshi and Aku Yū. Tika Tonu (circa 1915), composed by Waimarama Puhara. Ka Mate (circa 1820), reportedly composed by Te Rauparaha. Gentle On My Mind (1967), written by John Hartford.
Based on Kantai Collection, developed by Kadokawa Games; The Seventh Carrier, written by Peter Albano; and Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2, created by Takahashi Rumiko.
Including characters and situations from normalman, written by Jim Valentino; Koihime Musō, created by BaseSon; Men In Black, created by Lowell Cunningham; Zipang, created by Kawaguchi Kaiji; Mahō Sensei Negima, written by Akamatsu Ken; Harry Potter, written by Joanna Rowling; and Due South, created by Paul Haggis.
Also including characters and situations from the Urusei Yatsura fanfic series Urusei Yatsura — The Senior Year, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot; the Ranma 1/2/Ikkitōsen/Urusei Yatsura crossover fanfic Phoenix From the Ashes and its side stories, the Ranma 1/2 fanfic Wanderers and the Harry Potter fanfic Harry Potter and the Icemaidens, all created by Fred Herriot; the Kantai Collection fanfic Gaijin Teitoku, written by IJNFleetadmiral; various Kantai Collection/Harry Potter short stories written by Harry Leferts; the Kantai Collection dōjinshi Haruna Weather and Katsuragi Weather, created by Hisahiko; and the Ranma 1/2 fanfic Misuteru, written by Brian Drozd.
Note that all writer's notes will be contained at the end of the text of each chapter.
Eta-jima, the site of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, three weeks later...
"Ichirō, you are performing this procedure incorrectly."
Hearing that cold, metered voice from the woman in the black martial artist's gi standing at the aft end of the control room overlooking the summoning chamber which had been used over the last three years to bring back the living spirits of over two hundred warships in humanoid form, the chief scientist of the Kanmusu-keikaku shuddered before he stared wrathfully into a pair of almost black eyes. "Then please tell us, Negako-san, how exactly SHOULD we be doing this?!" Shimada Ichirō snarled with no attempt at trying to be polite to the visitor from Kyōto, causing the shipgirls listening to this to gape in shock at such a show of bluster to a being who — if the tales about "Imperial Special Agent #49" were even the least bit true! — knew at least a HUNDRED ways of killing him with just one hand. "You have no knowledge of what we do here...!"
"The ki fields of the chamber are quite simple for me to interpret," Moroboshi Negako stated with the same tone she used in almost all circumstances, clearly not the least bit perturbed by the scientist's bluster.
Watching the ninjutsu grandmaster go at him, the assembled navy officers and shipgirls smirked as the "pet assassin" of the Chrysanthemum Throne verbally dressed Shimada down; very few liked the man even if they were grateful for what he had done in helping prosecute the war against the Abyssals. "«Negako has seriously got to teach us how she can stay as cold as ice when she gives someone a smackdown!»" Tenryū hissed to Tatsuta in English; the shipgirls often spoke in that manner here because Professor Shimada never learned the language.
Some of the others snickered, making the scientist's forehead veins pulse. "How exactly can we make this work better, Miss Negako?" Rear Admiral James Vance, commander of United States Naval Forces Japan, asked. He was here representing his operational boss, Vice Admiral Joanna Collins, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Shipgirls) in Washington...even if there were only several dozen American shipgirls on duty, all currently working out of Eta-jima...and all of whom had been brought back to "service" through the chamber here in lieu of the recently rebuilt chamber at the Recruit Training Command at Naval Station Great Lakes north of Chicago. "All the major naval powers were able to get machines built to bring ships back as shipgirls, but only the Canadians struck gold right away, getting most of their whole World War Two fleet back, not to mention Warrior and Magnificent, plus a good slew of their Coast Guard fleet, Acadia and Saint Roch. We can't let the Canadians and the others in the Commonwealth shoulder convoy protection across the Pacific and Atlantic alone."
Negako nodded. "Understandable, James. Allow me to demonstrate."
Gently moving Shimada aside, Negako picked up a well-leafed through copy of Jane's All The World's Warships 1939-45, scanning the American section. "Since you are the one who asked about this, James, I will summon several American capital vessels first," the ninjutsu grandmaster stated before she tapped controls to energize the chamber, causing Shimada's subordinates to gape in shock on seeing how easily she could work the machines.
"Do we have supplies for them when they come in, Nagato-san?" Rear Admiral Saitō Ten'ichi, the commander of the Kanmusu-keikaku, asked his secretary ship.
"We can take in a total of ten extra battleships whose requirements match that of Yamato-san and her sisters, Teitoku," the raven-haired battleship stated with an amused smile. "Fortunately, the Koreans were able to learn how the Canadians performed their ship summonings and recalled all of their fleet that were constructed in America during the Greater East Asia War. Convoys from Pusan, Ulsan and Kwang'yang to Fukuoka and Shimonoseki are seeing supplies brought in from China and eastern Russia safely since the airspace can be covered by the Korean Air Force and the Air Self-Defence Force, not to mention the national Ministries of Magical Affairs in Sŏul, Běijīng and Moskvá, plus the Imperial Magical Commanderies of both Kyūshū and Chūgoku."
Saitō nodded. "Wonderful!" He then gazed on the other naval officers. "As soon as we can, minna-san, the new kanmusu Negako-sama will summon here will be allowed to return home if your superiors desire it so they can help your kanmusu programs properly catch up to our Commonwealth friends."
"'Negako-sama'...?!" Shimada sputtered...
...before he eeped on confronting two pissed off battleships. "Herr Professor Shimada, given Frau Negako's status with your own Heavenly Sovereign, it is only proper to grant her the respect she had long earned in the service of this country," Bismarck snarled, blue eyes flashing with disgust. "Allow her to proceed with her demonstration and we will be out of your way."
"Considering Miss Negako there made damn sure your country wasn't torn to ratshit after Shōwa Tennō finally called it a day back in '45, cussing her out like that is not 'cricket' as our British friends would say," Iowa icily added, her face splitting into a dangerous smile.
Shimada quaked while many Japanese kanmusu giggled on seeing the tall and curvy fast battleship dress down the portly scientist. Noting that, Negako smiled as she tapped the link to YouTube to access potential summoning songs. A moment later, she nodded on finding one good choice, then tapped a control to pipe the tune she wanted to play into the summoning chamber through the loudspeakers on the walls. The system glowed with power as a beautiful big band melody echoed through the loudspeakers, making the shipgirls perk. Within a moment, one of the monitoring technicians then gasped. "Negako-sama! We got something!" he declared, which made Shimada fluster in outraged denial and the naval officers gape in shock at how easily the ninjutsu grandmaster had done it.
"Wait a sec'...!"
That was Iowa. "You recognize the song, Iowa-san?" Yamato asked.
"Yeah, Yamato! It was written back in '61 by some guy name Red Mascara...!"
"There's actually a composer named 'Red Mascara'?" Roma instantly demanded.
"Calm yourself, Roma," Negako stated as her eyebrow arched Spock-like...
...just as someone with the same general build as the American battleship rose from the enchanted waters to walk up the inclined ramp, a curious look on her face. Seeing her, Iowa nearly broke down in tears on noting the dark-haired girl had the hull classification symbol 62 on her slate-grey bustier, though she didn't have such loud clashing colours on her thigh-highs or button shirt that her older sister normally wore. Like Iowa, New Jersey had long flowing hair even if it was as black as Navy coffee, her eyes a bright sky blue that were warm and welcoming. A flash of confusion crossed the newly-returned battleship's face for a moment as she looked around...then she gaped as Iowa charged into the chamber to swamp her with a happy embrace. Seeing that, Negako cut the playback of I'm From New Jersey as the surprised newcomer stared in shock on seeing how much her sister had changed, then she looked down at herself. Immediately, a pair of Shintō shrine miko from the base's multi-faith chapel then came out to greet the just-arrived American akitsumikami, they accompanied by the senior chaplain for the American forces in Japan. Seeing the latter, New Jersey braced herself to salute the older man before the miko moved to guide the understandably bewildered battleship out of the summoning chamber, a grinning Iowa moving to follow. Negako smiled as she tapped a control to activate the intercom link to the chamber. "Remain in the vestibule, Iowa. I will summon Missouri and Wisconsin now."
"Aye, ma'am!" Iowa called back over the speakers.
"Um...Iowa...?"
"Be calm, New Jersey. There is an explanation for this," Negako said.
She was quick to re-calibrate the chamber, then selected a new song. After the first verse of the Missouri Waltz played out, a second shipgirl emerged from the misty waters, dressed the same way as New Jersey though her uniform was coloured in black and white with a white 63 under her bust, her blonde hair done up in a bun at the back of her head under her radar director-shaped sailor hat. Looking around in confusion, she blinked as the door to the vestibule opened, allowing a screaming Iowa to charge in and glomp her, making the other battleship yelp as two new miko followed the name ship of her class into the chamber. After Missouri was walked out by the shrine maidens and the American chaplain, Negako reprogrammed the machine, then brought up a song on YouTube. Sure enough, the fourth of the Iowa-class fast battleships who had served in the United States Navy came out of the pool after one verse of Oh Wisconsin, Land of My Dreams, dressed in a pale knee-length dress with a fedora covering her straight blonde hair, hull number 64 under her bust. Sure enough, the last of the Iowa sisters found herself greeted with a teary hug by her sister before another pair of miko and the chaplain came into the chamber to walk her out.
"Questions?" Negako then asked the officers standing behind her once Iowa had escorted her sisters into the monitor room.
As several of the battleships moved to greet New Jersey, Missouri and Wisconsin, the navy officers there all exchanged looks. "No, just a simple confession, Miss Negako," James Vance then stated, using the English honorific even if he spoke Japanese. "We're a bunch of morons!"
"Do not disparage your attempts at trying to use this process, James. Simply put, you and those who seek to bring the spirits of fighting warships of your nation forgot that the name of the polity you all serve is called the 'United States of America'," Negako explained, ignoring the sulking growl from a certain scientist in the background. "In English, that is a plural noun even if your people have made use of singular pronouns and verb tenses when you've described yourselves ever since your Civil War in the 1860s. Each element of your union is unique and must be acknowledged as such when you make use of your summoning machine at Great Lakes. Doing that will ensure you can restore your entire battle line in one evening. You could even strive to summon all your cruisers as they were named after American cities...or future states and the incorporated and unincorporated organized territories such Alaska, Guam, Hawai'i and their sisters. Most likely, you could even summon the Montana-class battleships, the original South Dakota-class battleships cancelled because of the Washington Treaty, the original Washington as well as Illinois and Kentucky..." — mentioning those last two made Iowa and her sisters perk as they gazed her way — "...as they all were in various stages of construction or planning before the orders for them were cancelled; note Kii was brought back through this device...and she was only at thirty percent completion when her hull was scrapped to make way for more vital naval construction during the war." She indicated Yamato's and Musashi's demure-looking sister, a tall woman with long black hair styled as a Shintō shrine miko would wear it and dark brown eyes, dressed in a miko-like uniform of kimono and hakama, though coloured in a forest scene to mark her namesake province. "However, as Nagato just stated, bringing all those battleships, battlecruisers and large cruisers here to Eta-jima would severely over-strain the supply chain, so I suggest you allow the others to be summoned through the chamber at Great Lakes."
The American admiral nodded as Saitō clapped his shoulders. "Aye-aye, ma'am. You thinking of bringing Tirpitz, the Hipper sisters and Vittorio Veneto back tonight so Bismarck, Prinz Eugen, Roma and Littorio here won't be so lonely?"
The three battleships in question and the lone German heavy cruiser perked. "If you could bring back my sisters, I'm sure the demand for consumables won't be as large since only Tirpitz and Veneto will add to our current battle line here, Frau Negako," Prinz Eugen stated as the German naval liaison to Japan, Kapitän zur See Heinrich Kellermann, nodded in approval.
"It should be no problem, Negako-san," Nagato assured her.
"Very well..."
The base mess hall, two hours later...
"It's a pity we couldn't bring back more this evening," Akagi noted.
"Hai," Kaga agreed as they enjoyed the beautiful steaks prepared by the mixed staff of culinary experts to celebrate such a large summoning. All the elder fleet carriers of Japan, accompanied by Graf Zeppelin, now shared a table; the Japanese veterans of the Kidō Butai had welcomed their German counterpart as a long-lost friend even if the namesake to the developer of the first rigid-frame airship in 1900 hadn't been completed by the end of the Second World War and her seizure by the Soviets. "It would be nice to square accounts with Arizona-san, Oklahoma-san and Utah-san, not to mention the others of Battleship Row."
"That chance will eventually come, Kaga-san. Don't rush into it too quickly," Sōryū stated as she enjoyed her steamed rice. "We all owe them a deep apology for that damned bureaucratic bungle that made the Americans believe all along that Operation Z was a deliberate sneak attack on Pearl Harbour."
"They will understand, meine Freunde," Zeppelin assured the other carrier before sipping her tea. "The Americans are strange at times, but their sense of justice is quite strong. They are also quick to acknowledge honest faults and are happy to embrace new friends and old enemies alike."
The others nodded...before they perked as four American fast battleships made their way to the table beside theirs. "You mind if we join you?" Iowa asked.
"Please, Iowa-san," Shōkaku stated as she waved to the empty chairs.
They took their seats, then eagerly dug into the stacks of perfectly-made cheeseburgers. Thanks to the international presence at Eta-jima, the base's culinary staff had been augmented with cooks from America, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Germany to ensure their shipgirls got traditional fare...though older shipgirls like Iowa and Graf Zeppelin who had been on base for some time had gladly tried out the local cuisine; the namesake of the Hawkeye State was well-known for her love of Hakata-style rāmen. "My, to believe technology has developed enough to actually merge with magic to allow us to live as humans," Wisconsin stated as she sipped her Navy coffee.
"Planning to stay up late, Frau Wisconsin?" Zeppelin asked.
"It's alright, Countess," Iowa stated, making Zeppelin blush at her use of the English female equivalent of the first part of her name. "Navy coffee doesn't nail us with caffeine overload like it would the Quacky Quartet." Here, she nodded towards Kongō and her sisters, who were seated at a nearby table and chatting with some of the destroyers. As her sisterships snickered at that nickname for the four fast battleships — the Iowa sisters got a chance to see the Kongō sisters' eccentricities first-hand after they got the basic brief on their new duties from Admirals Saitō and Vance — the first of her class hummed. "Hey, you guys know Miss Negako more than we do," she then noted. "We know the whole bit of her moving to make sure the whack-jobs in the Black Dragon Society didn't start a freaking civil war after Shōwa Tennō issued his declaration of surrender in '45...but other than her being some sort of weird magical AI that was created by Major Raeburn's late teacher who became fully sentient back in 1808, we don't know anything about her. I can tell she's not fully human."
"We noticed it as well," Missouri added.
"That's understandable," Zuikaku muttered before sipping her tea. "Honestly, Iowa-san, we're as clueless about Negako-san as you. We know she's Tennō's personal assassin; if he wanted someone dead, she'd make sure that creep was dead." As the Americans nodded, she sighed. "Still, something is odd..."
"What is it, Zuikaku?" Shōkaku asked.
Her grey-haired sister looked over. "Shōkaku-nē, did Negako-san ask you about the Unit 731 special communications radio codes?"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"Why would Negako-san be concerned about THAT?!" Hiryū said as disgust crossed the faces of the other Japanese carriers at hearing the common name for their nation's infamous biological and chemical warfare research unit from the dark days of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Greater East Asia War. "Unit 731 wasn't concerned about naval operations whatsoever..."
"Oh, gods!"
Eyes locked on a white-faced Akagi. "What is it, Akagi-san?!" Kaga demanded.
The raven-haired carrier looked as if she had sailed into Sea State Nine without warning. "I just got a reminder from the intelligence staff that sailed with the admiral on Operation Z, Kaga-san," Akagi stated as she stared at her oldest friend; saying that actually meant the flagship of the Kidō Butai had been updated by the faeries that were effective reflections of her crew. "Before we got the signal to climb Niitaka-yama, we were supposed to wait for a special fleet carrier to join us from a secret location. One administratively affiliated with Unit 731 to prevent Western spies from learning about her." She hummed. "'Yonaga'..." she then trilled out. "That was her name..."
"Funny name."
That was New Jersey. "What do you mean, Frau Jersey?" Zeppelin asked.
"The normal naming conventions for warships back then, Countess," the namesake of the Garden State stated. "Save for rare exceptions, battleships (and those converted to carriers like Kaga here) were named after the old provinces. Aircraft carriers built as such were named after birds and mythological creatures. Battlecruisers and heavy cruisers (and conversions like Akagi) were named after mountains. Normal cruisers were named after rivers and destroyers got named after plants, meteorological phenomena and oceanographic phenomena." Seeing the surprise on their hosts' faces, Jersey winked. "We became allies after '45 and I sailed with the future namesakes of many shipgirls here when I was brought back in the 1980s to build the Six Hundred Ship Fleet, remember?"
Hearing that made the Japanese shipgirls laugh. "True...!" Kaga noted.
"How was 'Yonaga' written, Akagi-san?" Zuikaku asked.
"'Era of Eternity'," the older carrier reported as she took out a pen from under her top and sketched the kanji 代永 on a table napkin to show the others. "Clearly, this was meant to throw off spies who might have sought her. But what was she? Was she built as a carrier...?"
The others all hummed...
The summoning chamber...
"Unit 731 commissioned an aircraft carrier?! That's far-fetched, Negako-sama!"
"It is the truth, Ten'ichi," Negako stated as she sipped her tea. The scientific staff had been dismissed by the commander of the Kanmusu-keikaku despite Shimada Ichirō's screaming protests about the ninjutsu grandmaster's "incompetency" when it came to using the delicate equipment. "It has been investigated by my clan since Nagaiwakai enquired about the fate of Kokeru's uncle Kyōsuke, the younger brother to my host at the time, Moroboshi Ryūbi. Kyōsuke was a naval navigation officer by training. Yet in late 1940, he was seconded to a liaison group to Unit 731 then under the command of Vice Admiral Fujita Hiroshi, as were well over two thousand others." She sipped her tea. "Including enough pilots, flight crew and deck staff to support an air flotilla of at least a hundred and forty aircraft of the standard types then in use."
That made Saitō Ten'ichi and Nagato gape in shocked disbelief before the battleship hummed as her mind ran through that information. "Hull 797..." she then concluded. "When Kii-san came back, she told me she had sensed that Hull 797 had been constructed somewhere...but where...?"
"Given this ship was hidden from Western agents to well past the end of the war due to the affiliation to Unit 731, I believe Maizuru would be the point of origin," Negako stated as she scanned the list of potential songs on YouTube.
"That would make sense," James Vance stated. "Maizuru was mothballed thanks to the Washington Treaty until '36 and it specialized in building destroyers. We wouldn't have spies in that part of the country and it would have been easy to hide this girl even if she was a Yamato-class vessel."
"But where would this ship have gone to so it could await the call to climb Mount Niitaka, Herr Konteradmiral Vance?" Heinrich Kellermann asked. "The only place I can think of is somewhere on the east coast of Korea or the Northern Territories beyond Hokkaidō, placed away from Soviet spies. Given that..."
"Why not further north than that?"
Eyes locked on the lone Russian officer there, many of the people present blinking in surprise. "What do you mean, Petróva-taisa?" Nagato asked.
Kapitán Pérvyj Ránga Sofíja Aleksánna Petróva was the Russian naval liaison to Japan. Unlike many nations, the world's largest country hadn't been hit hard by the Abyssals over the last three yeas; only cities such as Sankt-Peterbúrg, Vladivostók, Sevastópol' and Múrmansk had been wrecked. Thanks to help from the Koreans and the Canadians, all the World War Two-era Soviet Navy had been called back to duty as well as early Cold War ships...though, given the Russian tradition of using male pronouns for warships, they had come back as handsome shipboys and not cute shipgirls. "Negáko Xirósukovna, even if Stálin's lunatics were in charge at the time, we hadn't fully surveyed the whole of Siberia by the time the Great Patriotic War began in 1941. There might have been places on the Pacific or Arctic coast that they could have based such a ship even if he was a Yamato-class conversion. Maybe we can concentrate there."
Others hummed, then Negako's eyebrow arched. "Or simply use this song..."
She tapped controls on the computer. People perked as they sensed power flood the chamber, then they looked through the monitor portal as the vortex formed to That Place where kami of lost ships went to after they were sunk, scrapped or made museum ships (as was the case for Iowa and her sisters since they had been preserved at places which could be accessed by Abyssal submarines)...
In the mess hall...
All the shipgirls suddenly tensed as they felt a strange wave of energy flow through them. "Negako-san's trying another summoning!" Zuikaku then declared.
With that, people got up to see what was going on...
"Now to see if this one will listen..."
With that, Negako tapped controls to play a song:
Yuki no shingun, kōri o fun de.
Dore ga kawa yara, michi sae shirezu.
Uma wa taoreru sutete mo okezu.
Koko wa izukuzo? Mina teki no kuni!
Mama no daitan ippuku yareba,
Tanomisekuna ya tabako ga nihon...
"Huh?!"
Everyone in the Kidō Butai stared at Zuikaku. "What is it?" Shōkaku asked.
The pony-tailed grey-haired fleet carrier looked at her sister. "Shōkaku-nē...why is Negako-san playing Yuki no Shingun?! That's an Army song...!"
Shocked looks crossed the six carriers' faces before they stared at the building that housed the incredible device that had been responsible for their rebirth as shipgirls. "Unit 731...?" Kaga began.
"An Army unit...!" Akagi reminded the others.
"Negako-san asked about that...!" Sōryū hissed out.
"And now she's using that song...!" Hiryū advised.
"Which means...?" Shōkaku wondered.
Zuikaku blinked before her jaw dropped. "Yonaga-san...!"
With that, all six carriers screamed before they took off for the summoning chamber at flank speed, leaving behind a chorus of blinking destroyers and other shipgirls. "What were THEY talking about, poi?" a confused Yūdachi wondered as she gazed on her two best friends.
"I don't know...but if Akagi-sempai thinks it's serious enough..." Fubuki stated before she ran after the veterans of the Kidō Butai, making a whole tonne of other shipgirls blink before they raced off to follow...
"We got something!" Vance called out from the monitoring station; having been there when Iowa and other American shipgirls had been brought here, he knew how to recognize the signs of a successful summoning. "Someone's coming..."
"Nagato, signal to this one," Negako called out. "You were flagship during Operation Z. She may recognize you, then find reason to come in to report."
"Hai!" Nagato said before she concentrated. «Unit 731 affiliate to Operation Z, please signal in!» she called out through a mental radio transmission using the JN-25 secure radio code. «This is Nagato. Please signal in with ship status! Unit 731 affiliate to Operation Z, please signal in...!»
«Yonaga, this is Akagi! Please respond!»
Nagato jerked before she turned to see Akagi lead the veterans of the Kidō Butai into the monitor room while other shipgirls moved to stand in the large observation gallery off to the port side of the summoning chamber. "'Yonaga'?" the battleship wondered, her eyebrow arched in confusion.
"That's her name, Nagato-san!" Akagi stated. "She was the base ship for the Sixth Naval Air Flotilla; it was all seconded to Unit 731 to keep spies clear of her!" She then focused on the summoning chamber as the waters began to churn, the air chilling significantly. «Yonaga, this is Akagi! Please respond!» she transmitted out. «Yonaga, please respond...!»
"Would she even obey?" Saitō then hissed.
"If she was frozen up in Siberia, her crew might have become like all the other holdouts that ignored the order to stand down in '45," Vance warned.
"Since it's been seven decades since the war ended...!" Sofíja Petróva hissed. "Bóže moj! They would have died on her decks!" She looked towards the shipgirls in the gallery. "Továrišči! Get a monk in here, quickly!"
A wide-eyed Shimakaze rapidly nodded before she sprinted out, racing to the base temple to get whom the Russian captain called for. As the waters in the chamber bubbled, verses of Yuki no Shingun continued to play over loudspeakers as the air of the chamber turned very cold. Seeing this, Negako's eyes narrowed as she reached out with ki senses to detect what was coming...
«Did you climb Niitaka-yama, Akagi?»
Akagi tensed. "I heard that!"
"We all did!" Musashi exclaimed. «Yonaga! It's Musashi! Please! We've all had to answer the Heavenly Sovereign's call to duty once more! We need you! Come back to us! It's not so difficult! Listen to the song and home in on it!»
Silence.
"That might have been too much, Musashi," Negako advised; she had been able to interpret the signal thanks to her ability to read the battleship's ki.
«Onē-san...?»
Hearing that made all the destroyers yip in delight; they all knew there was a fifth Yamato-class ship still unaccounted for. "Everyone! Call out to Yonaga-sempai!" Fubuki cried. "Give her your support! Help her come back to us!"
Others nodded before they concentrated. «Yonaga-sempai...come back to us, Sempai...we need you, Yonaga-sempai...please come back to us, Yonaga-sempai...!»
"Put the song on immediate replay!" Saitō ordered.
"Already done," Negako stated...
...just as a head covered by ice-caked black hair emerged from the pool!
Cries of joy escaped the destroyers and submarines as cruisers and battleships whooped and shared hugs with sisterships and friends and the carriers of the Kidō Butai screamed in delight on seeing their long-missing companion finally returned. As the newcomer stately walked up the inclined ramp, the door to the monitor room opened to reveal Shimakaze with a middle-aged Buddhist monk in proper vestments. "I came as soon as Shimakaze-san told me what was happening, Negako-sama," Venerable Hayashigo stated as he bowed politely...then he turned to stare wide-eyed at the emerging shipgirl. "Buddha preserve us all...!"
"We'll be dealing with a massive case of survivor's guilt in this one, Venerable," Vance warned. "She's been frozen in the Arctic ice of Siberia since at least 1941, her crew trapped with her. They're all probably dead...!"
Hayashigo hissed out in horror before he nodded. "Understood..."
By then, the newcomer had fully emerged from the pool of enchanted water, ice dropping away her hair as the chamber's internal temperature began to heat up once more. She was a half-head taller than Yamato, Musashi and Kii, with all the great curves in the body that marked she had been a battleship before being rebuilt as a carrier. Her face was angular and stern, eyes the stormy grey of a hurricane; her hair was tied in a simply ponytail at the neck and extended to her waist. She was dressed in a kyūdō-ka's kimono top, coloured dark green and covered by a kendō-ka's black dō that shielded her chest and abdomen. In lieu of the thigh-high skirts and socks other carriers wore as shipgirls, this one had a black umanori hakama that reached down to a pair of red socks covered by zōri with ship's hulls under the soles, plus rudders and twin propeller shafts. Over her groin was a kendō-ka's tare shaped like the aft end of her flight deck, black with landing stripes, the katakana ヨ over her right hip. She also bore kuzari plates that covered the rest of her hips. To the surprise of many, she had sode covering her shoulders and deltoid muscles, kote tucked under her kimono sleeves to brace her lower arms and suneate tucked under her hakama leggings to protect her lower legs; seeing the amount of armour on her body, the shipgirls wondered what sort of protective armour the newcomer had possessed as a warship. To mark she was Yamato-class, the dark grey bow-like gorget with the Imperial Chrysanthemum that Yamato and her sisters all proudly wore protected this shipgirl's neck, the gold flower shining brightly.
To top it all off, a beautiful samurai's daishō was lashed to her left hip.
Once clear of the pool, the newcomer stopped, then looked up, her eyes scanning the chamber she found herself in as the final verse of Yuki no Shingun played out and the chamber's systems began to power down. Seeing the bewildering mix of modern and classic uniforms worn by the women and girls in the high gallery off to her starboard — whom she instantly sensed were warships transformed into human women as she had just been by whatever kami had brought her here from Sano Bay — Yonaga then focused on the other observation gallery off to her port forward. Seeing the mixture of naval uniforms there along with six girls who clearly were aircraft carriers made human, she focused on the one who clearly had chrysanthemums on his epaulettes. He perked on noting she had spotted him, then he stepped out of the gallery, appearing a moment later at a hatchway ahead of her. She was quick to assume he was a vice admiral thanks to the twin silver blossoms under the anchor on his solid gold shoulder boards. Much to her surprise, he came to attention and saluted first, which made her gape.
"Greetings, Yonaga-san," he said with a bow of his head. "Welcome to Eta-jima and welcome back to Japan. I'm Rear Admiral Saitō Ten'ichi, the commander of the Kantai Musume-keikaku, the Fleet Shipgirl Project of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force, successor service to the Imperial Navy you should have served in all along. You obviously have questions about what just happened, but the world has need of your services against a threat unlike anything we've ever encountered before...thus provoking the need to summon the kami of the fighting warships of the Imperial Navy and other navies to combat..."
"The Abyssals."
That made him gape even if he shivered at her moaning voice. "You know...?"
"I have felt them over the last several years even where I was, since they emerged in the Arctic and began preying on ships travelling around Russia, Alaska and Canada," Yonaga said, her body quaking slightly as she tried not to allow her feelings for those disgusting yōma to overwhelm her in the presence of her new admiral. "They have tried to prey on my guilt at being frozen in Sano Bay since Shōwa Jūroku-nen, prevented from assisting the others in the Kidō Butai to execute Operation Z because of a damned earthquake that brought glaciers down, too thick for me to plow through without sinking." As people gasped on hearing what trapped Yonaga at the eastern end of Russia for so long, she closed her eyes. "They tempted me to join them to seek vengeance on those who left my crew to die alone...but I would not allow any of my crew's kami to be drawn from the Shrine of Infinite Salvation within my hangar, tricked into renouncing their vow to serve the Heavenly Sovereign even if almost all of them refused to accept the call to lay down arms in Shōwa Nijū-nen..."
"All of them?" Saitō hissed out.
Yonaga nodded as the tears finally flowed her cheeks. "Almost all of them...!"
As she dropped to her knees, her whole body shaking in anguished grief, Yamato, Musashi and Kii sprinted from the gallery to run into the chamber and embrace their returned sister just as the guilt finally got too much for her.
A grief-filled scream that could wake the dead then burst from Yonaga's lips...
Café Mamiya, minutes later...
"Hoppō-chan! Hoppō-chan, what's wrong?! Hoppō-chan!"
As both Mamiya and Hōshō tried to comfort the screaming young Abyssal, both the food supply auxiliary and the first purpose-designed aircraft carrier exchanged confused looks. Like all the other shipgirls at Eta-jima, both had sensed the incredible number of summonings earlier in the evening and had just detected the last one moments ago...which is when the northern island princess born from the spirits of dead and grieving children in and around the small town in the Aleutian Islands known today as Unalaska looked towards the place where her "Hōshō-mama" and "Mamiya-mama" had been reborn as shipgirls, then howled in mortal terror before she tried to hide under a handy kotatsu, making it shudder and clatter as she desperately tried to make herself as small as possible.
"Hoppō-chan!" Mamiya called out as Hōshō lifted the kotatsu from the shivering child spirit, making Hoppō wail before she buried herself inside the carrier's skirt, gripping Hōshō's legs as she rapidly shook her head. "Hoppō-chan..!"
The door to the café then slid open, revealing a woman in non-reflective black clothes as she marched in. Hoppō yelped at that sudden noise...then blinked on sensing a wave of familiar ki wash over her, which made her turn while Mamiya and Hōshō called out "Negako-sama!" on recognizing who just walked in. Before they could ask what was going on, the ninjutsu grandmaster found herself the recipient of a flying black-and-white missile as Hoppō chattered at a hundred knots at the Earth Angel, waving like crazy in the direction of the summoning chamber as she tried to make the planet's first ever true artificial intelligence understand how BAD it was to have brought the Angry One here...!
Negako, of course, was not bothered by such a show of panic. "Hoppō, why do look upon Yonaga as the 'Angry One'?" she asked, making Mamiya and Hōshō gasp on realizing the last ship summoning had brought forth the spirit of the warship most Abyssals viewed as the Devil incarnate. "After all, was it not your own progenitor who tried on several occasions to corrupt Yonaga by taking the spirits of her crew from her?" Ignoring the chorus of horrified gasps from the two "momboats" behind Hoppō, the ninjutsu grandmaster lightly smiled. "Did you not come here, Hoppō, because you did not desire to be like your elder siblings elsewhere and make war against humans? Yonaga would understand that. Besides, you are a child...and no samurai like Yonaga would harm a child."
"'Yonaga'...?"
Negako gazed over. "Fujita Hiroshi's flagship, Mamiya."
Hōshō looked at the café owner as Hoppō gaped at her "Mamiya-mama", surprised to learn that the food transport had once interacted with the Angry One. "You know of that ship, Mamiya-san?" the first true aircraft carrier asked.
"Yamato-san's, Musashi-san's, Shinano-san's and Kii-san's long-missing sister, Hōshō-san," Mamiya confessed as her cheeks reddened, which made Hōshō gasp. "Like Shinano-san, Yonaga-san was transformed into an aircraft carrier during construction. I was the one who transported the last food supplies to her in the summer of 1941 before she disappeared. I honestly hadn't thought about her until now when Negako-san mentioned her name." She gazed on Negako as Hoppō glanced fearfully towards the summoning chamber building; even if the young Abyssal was in the protective arms of the Earth Angel, the widespread fear of the Angry One among her kind was too ingrained in her to dismiss so easily...
The base mess hall, an hour later...
"Oi! What's all this Ōyodo-chan just told us about mass summonings tonight?!"
Hearing that cheery man's voice, everyone turned before smiles crossed the faces of all the shipgirls who had been brought back to "life" prior to tonight. "Ataru-sensei! Tariko-sensei!" Fubuki called out as fraternal twin teenage versions of Moroboshi Negako walked into the mess hall, dressed the same way the ninjutsu grandmaster dressed. "Hai! Negako-sensei was able to bring several shipgirls in!" She waved to Iowa's sisters, then indicated the other new shipgirls who joined the Kanmusu-keikaku this evening. "Iowa-sempai, Bismarck-sempai, Roma-sempai, Littorio-sempai and Prinz Eugen-sempai got their sisters brought through, then we found the last of Yamato-san's sisters."
She pointed to the tall figure in green-and-black now in the serving line, flanked by Yamato and Musashi as they indicated what foods she could try. Gazing at her, Moroboshi Ataru and his spiritual and now genetic twin sister Tariko blinked in shocked surprise. "She's Hull 797?" the latter then asked, her words still inflected with a male tone even if she was definitely all woman underneath her black martial artist's gi with umanori hakama.
"Yonaga," Akagi called over from her seat beside Kaga and the others of the Kidō Butai as they waited for their would-be companion to join them. "She's the one your great-great-uncle served on as navigation officer, Tariko-san."
Tariko blinked. "Our great-great-uncle?! Ryūbi-hiiojiichan's brother?!"
"Hai," Akagi confirmed...
"TEITOKU!"
Everyone gasped before a black-haired missile in modified miko clothing with petticoat under her skirt and thigh-high black stockings slammed into Ataru's back, sending him face-first to the deck! As people looked, the dazed teenager found himself showered with warm kisses by a giddy Kirishima, making the other shipgirls save the ten newcomers grin in delight on seeing the fourth of the "Quacky Quartet" being so passionate with the last host of Earth's first true artificial intelligence. A glance to Ataru showed a look that was a mixture of annoyed exasperation and amused indulgence, the latter emotion getting the better of him as he drew the fast battleship into his lap. "Kiri-chan..." he playfully scolded as he gazed into her face. "What did I tell you?"
"To not call you 'Teitoku'," the fast battleship cooed in mock innocence.
"So why are you calling me that?" he wondered. "Honestly, Kiri-chan! I haven't even graduated from high school, much less decided on a career in life! Just because I gave that one Abyssal the soulsword when you and the others were fishing the day after I got here doesn't mean that we're going to get married!" As Kirishima mewed in ditsy delight at the mention of a potential wedding in her future, he moaned. "Kiri-chan, I just got away from marrying an Oni...!"
"'Oni'?!"
That was Yonaga, who had come up with her food tray, now stacked with sushi to the brim as well as fluffed rice. Ataru breathed out as he tried not to appear too bothered by Kirishima's imitation of a barnacle. "H-hai, Yonaga-san!" he sputtered before blinking, then he got back up, dredging Kirishima up at the same time. "They're aliens that look like the Oni of our myths. They came here threatening to invade us just over a year ago before the Abyssals started to be real pains in the ass. I had to face their champion in their version of a tag race to call the invasion off. I beat her by the skin of my teeth...but because I said something really stupid thanks to my then-girlfriend promising to marry me if I won, this Oni decided I was her husband. She tried to force a wedding on me three months ago, but a nice spirit-dragon from another planet whose people don't care for the Oni put paid to that soon enough!"
"Yeah! Thanks to Nengmek'i-ojiichan, the Promise was finally fulfilled, Onē-san got out of your head and I was allowed to live my life as my own person!" Tariko added. "And with that, no more greedy parents..."
"...no more fan boys who'd sacrifice the planet to make said Oni notice them..."
"...no rich fool who thinks he's the Kami's gift to women, OR his family..."
"...no mooching monk or incompetent miko who also serves as a school nurse..."
"...no more so-called 'best friend' who'd stab us in the back in an instant..."
"...no more confused tomboys with a father who deserves to be poisoned..."
"...no more super-strong androphobes or their moron super-strong mothers..."
"...and no idiots from outer space with all THEIR problems!" Ataru finished.
By the end of that insane litany, Yonaga felt she had just sailed into Sea State Nine in the middle of a super typhoon. She then blinked as something came to her. "Wait! 'Promise'?! You mean the Bunka-gonen no Yakusoku?! Kyōsuke-san often spoke to Fujita-chūshō about that whole thing...!"
"Negako-san IS the Saikō Jinseijutsu, Yonaga-san," Akagi helpfully added as Shōkaku stood up to pull back a chair for the larger carrier to sit at. "When Ataru-san was in space, he found someone who could create a bioroid body for Negako-san...and Tariko-san here as well."
Yonaga blinked in confusion even if she nodded thanks to Shōkaku for offering the chair. "'Bioroid'?!" she asked as she sat down.
"Biological android," Tariko answered as she sat across from her great-great-uncle's old ship. "Basically, a purpose-grown human being created in a laboratory. In a magical way, all shipgirls and shipboys can be considered bioroids." Seeing the lost and confused look appearing on the carrier's face, she then groaned, slapping her forehead. "Shit! I'm sorry about that, Yonaga-san! How long have you been gone for, anyway?!"
"Since the summer before Operation Z was to happen, Tariko-san," Zuikaku said.
Hearing that, the Moroboshi twins winced. "Damn! You gotta catch up on all that?!" Ataru breathed out as he moved to sit beside his sister, with Kirishima moving to sit herself in his lap. As Yonaga's eyebrow arched in curiosity at such an open show of affection by the fast battleship, he smirked. "Don't worry about it. You'll have all your kōhai in this place get you up to speed soon enough. You'll need it when you deal with the Abyssals out there."
A slight flush crossed the carrier's cheeks at that show of encouragement from the young man. Seeing that, Kirishima tittered in amusement as she gazed fondly on Ataru. "And that is why you are fit to be our admiral, Teitoku," she coyly declared as she rubbed his cheek, making him roll his eyes.
A commotion from the main doors made all the shipgirls and the two "normal" humans among them turn to see a group of reporters come in, escorted by Self-Defence Force and United States Navy shore patrolmen and led by the base public affairs officer, a portly lieutenant named Kidō Matsuharu. "Why are civilians on the base, Onē-san?" Yonaga asked as Musashi sat beside her while Yamato, Nagato and Mutsu immediately headed over to greet the reporters.
"It's part of our duties to the people," Musashi stated as she moved to sip her tea. "Fortunately for us, the Abyssals have shown that the concept of monitoring modern communications is totally beyond them, so we don't have to be as security-conscious as people were when we were commissioned."
"Besides, it's a great morale booster," Akagi added with a knowing wink. "Especially when people learn that Negako-san has shown the way for our allies to bring back all their ships as kanmusu so they can help us, the Canadians and the others in the British Commonwealth fight the war."
"I'll need a detailed briefing on that, Akagi-san," Yonaga then warned...
...before camera flashes went off. As the carrier gaped in shock at such a show of attention from the fourth estate, Ataru and Tariko shared a grin...
At the orbit of Jupiter, two hours later...
"WHEN THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO GO HOME FINALLY?!"
Hearing that from the leader of the group known as "Lum's Stormtroopers", the others of Class 2-4 from Tomobiki Senior High School plus their school nurse, said nurse's elderly uncle and the parents of their missing classmate sighed. "Will you stop that, Megane?!" Miyake Shinobu snapped as she glared wrathfully at Aisuru Satoshi. "There's no use complaining! Kyech-san is making sure things will go much better for us from now on since the Imperial Dominion is taking interest in what the Urusians have done over the last year! Sit down!"
"Yeah! Thank the kami for that!" Fujinami Ryūnosuke snarled from beside the only real female friend the beach café tomboy ever had. "Damn!" she breathed out. "I never thought dealing with aliens would wind putting me through this!"
"I sure hope Kyech-san makes sure that the stupid Oni never come back to Earth again!" another girl muttered darkly from nearby, which made Megane's forehead throb as a shudder of outrage flooded him from head to toe at such a show of disrespect towards the beautiful warlord's daughter whose presence in the Tōkyō suburb over the last year and more had changed the lives of so many. "Ataru-kun doesn't need to put up to all the crap Redet's forced on him and we don't need to put up to stupid tiger-bulls, selfish little brats, warped airheads, snow princesses and idiot space biker-bitches who couldn't hit the broadside of the barn even if the damned barn was in her face!" She sipped her tea as she gazed out the portal of the captain's gig aboard Urusian Defence Force Ship Kashin, looking at the solar system's resident giant which hovered in the near distance, partially eclipsed by the Noukiite star-barque that intercepted the flagship of Redet Lum's father Invader before it could close in on Earth. "Hope the Noukiites turn out to be a lot better that the Oni were...!"
An explosion saw her gaze into Megane's burning eyes! "HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING?!" he roared. "HOW DARE YOU IMPLY THAT LUM-SAN HAS HURT...?!"
KK-KRACK!
"Shut up, moron!" Ryūnosuke snapped after decking Megane with an uppercut, then she glared at the three other core members of the Stormtroopers. "And no shit out of you jerks!" she snapped, making all of them cringe. "I'm sick and tired of listening to you fucking troublemakers bitch and complain about what's happened to us since K'ekhech-dono's friend nearly fried us all when he came to take Moroboshi over to that Okusei planet! You just can't stand the fact that there are people out here who won't put up to Lum's crap all the time!"
"You think Kyech-san's right about this whole marriage thing between Lum and Ataru-kun, Ryūnosuke-kun?" Shinobu asked as the tomboy sat back down.
"I saw the look on the idiot's face when K'ekhech-dono said that whole thing was a lie since it happened during a tag race," the other woman answered as Megane's friends and some of the other boys quaked on remembering what the alien metahuman warrior popularly nicknamed "She Who Speaks to Dragons" across the local cluster did to Redet Lum when the warlord's daughter again tried to publicly assert that she and Moroboshi Ataru were married. "Lum looked guilty before she started saying it was a lie! By the sounds of it, Moroboshi knows the whole deal now! He ain't gonna put up to Lum anymore, much less all the idiots who came with Lum after that shit with the world's oil started the crap with the Abyssals!" The tomboy glared at the Stormtroopers, which made the boys cringe as other girls also gazed on them with loathing.
That reaction was more than understandable. As soon as the "world oil-theft" incident made the news a week after the Tag Race, rampant speculation began in the world's news media about the Abyssals being affiliated with the Urusians. It wasn't true — the Dragonspeaker confirmed same when she had been asked by Shinobu, much to the disappointment of many girls in the class — but that hadn't stopped demands to the United Nations over the last year to have Lum banished from Earth...WITHOUT Ataru being forced off his home planet as well to punish the warlord's daughter for what she supposedly had "done"...!
"That's enough!"
That was Sakurambō Sakura, who was trying not to sigh in exasperation at people venting their spleens like that. While the true cause of the intervention of the ancient spirit-dragon known as Nengmek'i during the forced wedding ceremony between Ataru and Lum after the issue with Queen Elle was dealt with remained a mystery to her, the shrine maiden/school nurse now suspected that those who had been "invited" to a wedding between Tomobiki High's "star couple" were actually bit players in something so all-encompassing, it would change their lives even more so than the Tag Race had done. From what she sensed when their current hosts had been made to deal with natives of the Imperial Dominion of Noukiios, the Urusians as a whole didn't care for the people who controlled the Alpha Centauri system, Sol's closest galactic neighbour; much to the surprise of the Terrans, the nearest colony of the Union of Uru, Toshitto, was thirty light-years from Sol! While many of the Terrans felt a sense of familiar acceptance when it came to the Urusians due to Lum's residing in Tomobiki over the last year, the Noukiites were now endearing themselves to people from that part of Metro Tōkyō, especially girls like Miyake Shinobu. Was it because natives of one of the local cluster's four main superpowers resembled fair-haired Klingons from recent versions of Star Trek even if they behaved like ultra-advanced natives of India? Or was it because the Dragonspeaker was simply too powerful for even someone like Lum, much less her alien friends, to deal with?
Or was it just because of that warrior's impeccable table manners...?
"Alright! I know this is frustrating, but given that we might be at the flash point of a real war against a race who cares not for our current hosts, there's little we can do about it," the shrine maiden/nurse declared. "We've all had a rough time of it since the mess with Elle began, but I've been assured by K'ekhech-dono personally that we'll be back on Earth within days! They just want to make sure the Urusians and their allies don't take liberties with Earth because Moroboshi has clearly won allies in driving Lum out of his life! AND NOT A WORD OUT OF YOU, MEGANE!" she thundered as she used her spirit-sensor to whack Megane down before the leader of the Stormtroopers could vent his spleen again at Ataru's "disloyalty" to Lum, then she glared the other boys down. "Now, fortunately, we're close enough to Earth to pick up news transmissions, so let's find out what's happened while we've been gone! Mendō?"
"Hai, Sensei!" Mendō Shūtarō stated as he tapped on the holovision device. "The signal will be delayed since we're millions of kilometres from home, but I was able to get NHK, the BBC and CNN satellite transmissions...ah!"
Everyone perked as the television screen-like image flashed a projection of a news studio in Tōkyō, a familiar presenter appearing as she read from the teleprompter, "...came in from the Kure Naval District at Eta-jima an hour ago. Thanks to the intervention of none other than the legendary Imperial Special Agent #49 herself, Moroboshi Negako-sama, some...!"
"WHAT?!"
That was a wide-eyed Moroboshi Muchi, Ataru's father; he had just ripped up his three month-old copy of the Yomiuri Shinbun on hearing that name, he gaping wide-eyed at the holovision. "Oji-chan, do you know...?" Shinobu began.
"Quiet!" the girl that complained about Lum hissed. "They had more summonings!"
Others shut up as they paid attention to the screen...though some of the boys were quick to see that Sakura was now as white as a ghost as she stared in horror at the images from home. "...largest number of summonings in one day according to Rear Admiral Saitō Ten'ichi, the commander of the Kantai Musume-keikaku," the reporter continued. "Among those summoned this evening from that mysterious Place where the beautiful akitsumikami from the Greater East Asia War have resided in since they were sunk, scrapped or turned into museum ships were three of the five sisterships of the American fast battleship Iowa, the sistership to the famous German battleship Bismarck, the four sisterships of the equally famous German cruiser Prinz Eugen, a sistership of the Italian battleships Roma and Littorio...and, much to the joy of all the veterans of the Kidō Butai, the long-missing fourth sister of Yamato-sama, who had been lost in the Arctic with her entire crew just before Operation Z (the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941) was to be launched. We now turn to our correspondent..."
"They found Yamato-chan's missing sister?!" one of the big kanmusu fans gasped.
"Yeah! Kii-chan said she sensed Hull 797 had been built!" another boy noted.
"Quiet! It's Saitō-kaishō!" Shinobu barked out.
Eyes locked on the screen, which now showed a reporter standing in the main mess hall of Eta-jima beside Saitō Ten'ichi and four other officers. "...with Saitō Ten'ichi-kaishō, the director of the Kanmusu-keikaku," the reporter stated as she gazed on her camera. "Also with us today is James Vance-shōshō, commander of the United States Navy's forces in Japan; Heinrich Kellermann-taisa, naval liaison of the German Navy to Japan; Elios Tesei-taisa, naval liaison of the Italian Navy to Japan; and Sofíja Petróva-taisa, naval liaison of the Russian Navy to Japan. With the assistance of Moroboshi Negako-sama, the woman seen as responsible for ensuring that the edict of surrender issued by Shōwa Tennō in 1945 was carried out, ten warships of the period of the Greater East Asia War have answered the call once more to serve their homelands tonight and have joined their friends and sisterships as kanmusu at Eta-jima." She turned to Saitō Ten'ichi. "Saitō-kaishō, how was it possible for Negako-sama to summon Iowa-san's, Bismarck-san's, Prinz Eugen-san's, Littorio-san's and Yamato-sama's sisters back to service? What was the great secret here?"
He chuckled. "It was a simple realization that we had to keep in mind that to bring our warships back, we have to remember their histories and acknowledge who and what they were named after, Miyoko-san. Negako-sama demonstrated that when she summoned New Jersey-san, Missouri-san and Wisconsin-san by using their namesake states' theme songs to call them back. Tirpitz-san and Admiral Hipper-san responded to Unsere Marine, the old march of the Imperial German Navy, whom their namesakes served as senior officers. Blücher-san and Seydlitz-san responded to Preußens Gloria, music from their namesake's old home kingdom. Lützow-san came on hearing Lützows Wilde Verwegene Jagd; that's a popular military quick march song named after her very own namesake. Vittorio Veneto-san came after hearing the music of the opera Risorgimento, which was written recently to commemorate the unification of Italy in the 1860s; the battle from which Veneto-san is named after is often seen as the last true act of the unification process. As for Yonaga-san, she responded to the old Army song Yuki no Shingun, given the terrible circumstances that befell her in 1941."
"What happened?" the reporter asked.
"Miss Yonaga was assigned as part of the Kidō Butai," James Vance answered for his friend. "But given that she was modified and extended in length to make her a near match to one of our old Forrestal-class carriers, the Navy planners back then realized she'd be a prime target for spies to hunt down. So she was 'commissioned' into Unit 731, then sent to a cove in the far northeast of Siberia in the summer of 1941 to await the call to climb Niitaka-yama." As the reporter gaped in shock on hearing that, Vance lowered his eyes. "Thanks to an earthquake trapping her in that cove due to falling glaciers, Miss Yonaga's crew was forced onto the sidelines...and like many brave soldiers who fought for Shōwa Tennō in those days, they refused almost to a man to believe in the call to surrender issued in 1945; they could still monitor events via shortwave radio receivers. Because of their isolation, Yonaga's crew felt they had no choice but to find some way to get out of that cove and carry out their part of Operation Z. From what Miss Negako learned after she talked to Miss Yonaga, they almost made it out in late 1983 thanks to another earthquake...but the cove was still blocked. That drove the crew totally insane with guilt and frustration...which, given how they were trained back then..."
"Are any alive?!" an ashen-faced reporter gasped.
"Regretfully not," Saitō finished as the people seeing this on the Kashin gaped in horror. "The last of Yonaga-san's crew passed on from this life around the turn of the millennium, which made her sleep until Negako-sama summoned her to Eta-jima tonight. It was by the sheer power of her loyalty to the Imperial Throne and her fighting spirit that the Abyssals in the Arctic never corrupted her, much less took the souls of her crew to help them drive our wonderful Russian, American and Canadian allies out of their own northern ports."
"To add further to that, I've already spoken to my superiors in Moskvá," Sofíja Petróva said. "Our icebreaker mál'čik-korabléj will head to where Comrade Yonaga's old hull is now to see if artifacts can be salvaged from it as soon as it is practicable. We're especially interested in locating what she called the 'Shrine of Infinite Salvation', a mixed-faith temple for the crew; the mortal remains of the crew save the last ones to die are contained there."
"For which, we're beyond grateful," Saitō added, which made the Russian blush.
"How horrible...!" Shinobu hissed.
"Damn! She's gonna be a mean one to the Abyssals, I'll bet," Ryūnosuke noted.
By then, someone was approaching the naval officers. "Ah! It's Negako-sama!" the reporter called out as room was made to allow a woman in solid black to enter the range of the camera. Seeing that image, Sakura gargled in underwear-soiling horror while Ataru's father looked as if he had been stabbed in the heart. Beside him, Ataru's mother Moroboshi Kinshō had a confused look on her face. "Negako-sama, how do you feel that you were able to recall so many ships back as kanmusu, plus show our allies how to bring their battle fleets back?"
"It was quite easy for me to interpret how such akitsumikami could be recalled to this plane of existence by a simple examination of the summoning chamber in Eta-jima," the woman who looked like a pretty female Ataru in her twenties answered. "In fact, James just informed me that the staff at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes will attempt to summon the akitsumikami of the warships present in Pearl Harbour when the Kidō Butai launched Operation Z in 1941 within the next several hours. Of course..." She gazed off to her left. "...given the guilt Akagi and her companions feel concerning the circumstances surrounding that battle, I may have to proceed to the Imperial Palace and request Tennō issue an Imperial Rescript to ensure Yonaga's mission-mates do not do anything rash once the issue with the Abyssals is resolved."
"We have a right to seek that out, Negako-san!"
The camera panned to the right to focus on Kaga, who was walking up to stare intently at the ninjutsu grandmaster. "Kaga, the Heavenly Sovereign requires living warriors, not dead martyrs," Negako stated. "Just because we are striving to defeat the Abyssals does not mean that your life is something to throw away at a whim, even to regain lost honour. As Iowa herself told Akagi and yourself when she learned of your plan, many veterans of Pearl Harbour have long forgiven those who flew off your decks for what happened back then. I am sure those akitsumikami soon to come such as Arizona, Oklahoma, Utah and the others sunk and damaged that day will feel the same way."
"If they don't, they'll be kept away and put on Atlantic patrol," Vance vowed before he walked over and placed comforting hands on Kaga's shoulders, making the carrier blush at such a public show of support in front of the media. "Kaga, it was neither your fault nor Akagi's nor any of the other ships that were used in that attack that things happened the way they did. Back then, you were just tools to help fulfill the wishes of others. That you feel such guilt and remorse for that attack speaks highly of you as a representative of your nation." As the raven-haired carrier puffed with pride at that compliment, he pulled his hands back. "Besides, we in the West say this: 'Living well is the best revenge of all'. Those things out there you and your friends help fight in our stead WANT you to feel that way; it's how they can corrupt you as they did their damn best to Miss Yonaga! She fought it off! So can you!"
Kaga blinked, then she nodded. "H-hai, Teitoku...!"
"Kaga-san."
People turned as someone even taller than Yamato came up, escorted by her two elder sisters. "Holy shit!" the heavyset member of the Stormtroopers, Daremo Hiroyuki AKA "Kakugari", gasped. "She's Shinano-chan on steroids!"
"Yeah!" the smallest of the group, Urayamu Akira AKA "Chibi", hissed. "I'd like to see what she looked like when she was a ship! Look at that armour!"
"How many planes did she carry?!" the tallest of the group, Shitto Kōsuke AKA "Perm", then asked as he looked at several of the other kanmusu fans.
"If there were only seven carriers for that mission, she probably had a whole air flotilla to herself," Mifune Hideyuki, a minor member of the wider fan club surrounding Lum and an early convert to kanmusu fandom, mused. "Vance-shōshō said she was as big as a Forrestal. That's over three hundred metres long! After she came back and got her gear upgraded to make her a fleet carrier, Shinano-chan was able to carry the same number of planes Akagi-san does!"
The others in the crowd nodded. "What is it, Yonaga-san?" Kaga asked.
The raven-haired shipgirl bowed her head. "You are not alone in feeling guilt even if our honourable allies can't understand how the actions of our crew affect our own karma in the eyes of the Kami," she sagely declared before she gazed on the senior American naval officer. "Vance-shōshō, I thank you on my friend's behalf for such eloquent words in support of reconciliation. Do not be too harsh to her, much less the others of the Kidō Butai. As one raised in a Christian environment, you view suicide as a mortal sin, denying God's gift of Life to the one who would perform such an act. However, we Japanese do not see such that way. Death cleanses our karma of sin. To hasten our meeting with the Kami in Heaven is seen by us as an act to atone for sins against others, even if others perceive no fault." She shrugged, an impish smile crossing her face. "It is a cultural issue I doubt will ever be crossed..."
"Oi! Oi! Oi! This is getting too morbid here, people! Jeez, Yonaga-san...!"
Everyone from Class 2-4 gasped. "Ataru-kun?!" Shinobu croaked.
Mass face-faults then resulted on their seeing Moroboshi Ataru...with a certain fast battleship lashed onto his right side like a limpet mine! "Ah, Ataru-kun!" the reporter called out before people in Eta-jima laughed on seeing Kirishima playfully lick his ear. "I see you and Kirishima-san...!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"MOROBOSHI!" Mendō screamed. "HOW DARE YOU SEDUCE THE PURE, BEAUTIFUL KIRISHIMA-SAN?!"
"ATARU!" Megane howled. "HOW DARE YOU BREAK LUM-SAN'S HEART BY CHASING THAT STRUMPET?!"
"MY IDIOT SON'S CHASING SHIPGIRLS NOW?! I WISH I NEVER HAD HIM!" Ataru's mother cried.
Very hard chairs were then used to shut them up. As the other boys cowered from the girls' grabbing furniture to bring peace to the captain's gig once more, the reporter's voice echoed from the holovision machine, "...some time now since you came here after your return to Earth a month ago with Negako-sama and Tariko-san. How do you explain dating a shipgirl?"
"Well, it's better than dating a lying, nosy, arrogant alien who tried to trap me in a 'marriage' when it went AGAINST even HER people's laws!" Ataru quipped, that making his now-former classmates aboard Kashin perk. "After all, even if she'll deny it to her dying breath given what her other marriage prospects seem to be like at the time, Redet Lum couldn't claim that I wanted to marry her when the ONLY time I tagged her horns was in a TAG RACE! And while the idea of being Kiri-chan's husband doesn't scare me much, we're in a war situation! There's no time to — as kanmusu would probably say it — deploy their own tenders; doing that would put Kiri-chan in drydock while Kon-chan, Hi-chan and Haru-chan are out fighting the Abyssals!" As Kirishima literally glowed as she considered what doing THAT could mean, he added, "Besides, they're still trying to learn what it means to be a kanmusu! Where does the 'ship' end and the 'girl' begin, so to speak. Or 'boy' for our Russian friends," he then added as he gazed on the lone officer from the world's largest country. "They need time to discover that...and the Abyssals aren't GIVING them the time! Let's not complicate the issue, huh? Hai, I find Kiri-chan attractive! Who on Earth wouldn't find her attractive?! If she wants me to be her personal 'special boatswain', I'll be there for her! It's all part of the war effort!"
"What if Lum tries to come back? Much less your former peers from Tomobiki?" the reporter asked, making many boys quiver at her lack of using an honorific, which was clearly a show of gross disrespect towards the warlord's daughter. "Given what lengths Lum has taken to assert her 'marriage' to you...!"
"Well, we'll just have to make sure that it doesn't happen!"
People turned...
...then after another mass face-fault, everyone on the Kashin gaped in disbelief and shock at the sight of a pretty female twin of Ataru, looking exactly like he would had he been born female in the first place or had visited the infamous springs of Jusenkyō in China, dressed the same way as he in a black gi and hakama. "Ah, Tariko-chan!" the reporter called as Ataru's mother croaked in shocked disbelief at the sight and his father tried to hide behind what was left of his newspaper, his body quaking. "As you are the current Matriarch of the Moroboshi Clan of Mutsu-no-kuni by order of the Heavenly Sovereign, do you approve of Kirishima-san's interest in your brother?"
"THE HEAVENLY SOVEREIGN?!" Mendō shrieked out in disbelief and horror.
"Well, until Kiri-chan there finally stops acting like one of the 'Quacky Quartet' as some people call her, I certainly won't allow it at all," Tariko calmly stated. "However, giving Ataru the chance to serve as a 'special boatswain' for Kiri-chan will do him a lot of good and help deprogram him from the crap forced on us due to the weird luck we seemed to have suffered living in Tomobiki with those useless pieces of genetic refuse we once had to call 'parents'." As many of the people on the Kashin all stared at Ataru's parents, they were quick to see his mother turn an ashen shade of grey at such a public renunciation of them and his father quaking as if he was caught in a fair-sized earthquake, hiding behind his paper. "Not to mention my trying to be a 'special boatswain' to one of Kiri-chan's sisters. Ne, Kon-chan...?"
"NO!"
Tariko turned as the camera panned over just as Kongō charged up...then the lead ship of her class found herself yanked up into the air before she could try another Amazon glomp on Saitō Ten'ichi; the one-sided attraction the fast battleship held for her "Teitoku" had fed a tonne of gristle into late night monologues for months now. Suddenly realizing she had been jacked up by the ninjutsu grandmaster, Kongō gave Negako a pout. "Put me down, Negako!"
"No, Kongō, not until you cease embarrassing Ten'ichi like that. He views it as a violation of military fraternization rules between admirals and subordinates," Negako firmly scolded.
"But I feel burning love for Teitoku...!"
As Saitō groaned and Vance patted his shoulder, Negako sighed. "Tariko."
"Hai, Onē-san?"
"Proceed with your bribe."
"Hai, Onē-san!"
"Ha!" Kongō declared. "Not even Tariko-chan can...!"
"Kon-chan...!" Tariko moaned as she sniffed crocodile tears while she reached into her pocket. "I got some nice, fresh hēichá for you...!"
The battleship's expressive face was suddenly frozen in a rictus before her head mechanically turned to stare at the ball of dark tea leaves in protective wrap now in Tariko's hand. "H-h-hēichá...?" she sputtered.
"Straight from Húnán...!" Tariko meowed. "All for you...!"
"N-n-no...b-b-burning l-l-love...Teit-t-toku, save m-m-me...!"
Another packet appeared, making Kongō croak. "Some shúpǔ'ěr from Yúnnán...!"
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...!"
Tariko moaned in faux regret as she turned away, winking at the camera while Kongō shivered at the yardarm. "I guess I'll have to drink it all myself...!"
Kongō lunged out of Negako's grip to prostrate herself before Ataru's twin. "«I surrender!»" she moaned out in English, drool dripping from her lips.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"YOU SURRENDER?!"
Everyone screamed in fright as a volcano of outrage exploded from Yonaga, who was now staring murderously at the kneeling Kongō, making the English-built battleship croak in horror as if she was one of her crew in basic training facing a VERY ticked off petty officer. "KONGŌ-SAN! I DON'T CARE IF YOU WERE BUILT IN ENGLAND! THAT BEHAVIOUR WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN TOLERATED IN THE ROYAL NAVY! IN ALL MY YEARS IN COMMISSION, I'VE NEVER SEEN SOMETHING SO DISGUSTING! HOW DARE YOU EMBARRASS THE HEAVENLY SOVEREIGN WITH SUCH INSANITY IN FRONT OF OUR ALLIES?! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD ACT THAT WAY! THE PRIDE OF THE IMPERIAL NAVY RESTS ON YOUR SHOULDERS AND YOU BEHAVE AS IF YOU WERE SOME YŪJO FROM YOSHIWARA?! I'LL MAKE YOU ACT LIKE A PROPER BATTLESHIP OF THE IMPERIAL NAVY OR I'LL HAVE YOU COMMIT SEPPUKU WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF A KAISHAKU-NIN!"
Kongō screamed before she raced out of the mess hall at flank speed! As a scowling Yonaga surged after her with a giggling Yamato and a laughing Musashi following to ensure the returned carrier didn't leave parts of their older friend all over the base, Negako calmly gazed on the reporter. "That is why the Abyssals call Yonaga the 'Angry One'," she declared.
The reporter and all the naval officers there all looked as if they had just sailed through a tornado. As Kirishima shuddered on seeing her sister about to face the wrath of Yonaga, Ataru hummed as he held out some packets of his own. "Some hēichá and shúpǔ'ěr for nightcaps...while I move to make sure your special rigging both topside and bottom is squared away, Kiri-chan?"
Kirishima gasped, then grabbed Ataru as she dragged him off while those watching on the Kashin flushed in embarrassment on sensing the sexual innuendo in his words. Negako watched them go, then gazed on Saitō. "I believe Kongō's behaviour concerning you will stop now, Ten'ichi."
The admiral looked ill in the mainmast. "Um...ah...arigatō, Negako-sama..."
"Dō itashimashite. If you will excuse me, Miyoko, I have duties to perform."
"H-hai," the reporter sputtered before she perked. "Wait!"
Negako stopped. "A problem?"
"What about Lum and her friends?!"
A cold, knowing smile crossed her face. "I will phrase it in a term our new friends from the Imperial Dominion of Noukiios will recognize quite easily: T'ech'ach Nechma Nukt'ech-kai Ket'echi." She then turned away. "The translation will be provided in five days. Oyasumi nasai."
With that, she headed off...as Shinobu reached over to turn the holovision's volume down. "She knows we're here. She probably helped arrange to keep us here to keep us out of the way while Ataru-kun moved out of the house," she hissed out as she stared at her classmates, making Ataru's mother croak in horror at that last observation. "If Tariko-chan is the part of Ataru-kun that was far better behaved when Cherry's cake and Lum's candy split him in two after Megane and his idiots pulled that stunt with the space taxi...!"
She ignored the looks from the Stormtroopers on being accused of causing the "world oil theft" incident over a year before; after all, everyone KNEW that the whole stupid thing was Moroboshi Ataru's fault through-and-through, just like everything else that had happened in Tomobiki since that damned day oil rained on their town! "Reporter just said she's Imperial Special Agent #49," Ryūnosuke cut in. "If that's true, she's very long lived or possibly immortal! She's a metahuman, too; how the hell was she able to put down all the idiots in the Black Dragon Society to make sure the War Hawks didn't have to sweep in to nail their asses to the wall after Shōwa Tennō called it quits back in '45...?"
"She is no metahuman..."
Eyes locked on Sakura, who now looked as if she was about to be dragged into Hell itself. "Sakura-sensei, you know what she is...?" Megane moaned.
"Hai," the miko/nurse hissed before she stood and moved to position herself before Ataru's father, putting her fists to her hips. "So tell me, Moroboshi-san...when did your son swear the Promise of Bunka-gonen?!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"Dear...?"
"H-hai..." Ataru's mother moaned out.
"How could you do it...?"
"Wh-what...?"
"How could you have a child with another man...?"
Hearing that, Kinshō jolted before she leapt to her feet. "IDIOT!"
The whole of the Kashin shook from stem to stern as the girls of Class 2-4 smashed Ataru's parents down. "YOU'RE BOTH IDIOTS!" they all shrilled out.
"Oi! What's going on here?!"
Everyone turned as Redet Ten jetted in on his little hoverscooter. "Oh, Ten-chan!" Shinobu called out to Lum's maternal cousin, which made the Oni preschooler automatically gush. "Maybe you can help us!"
"S-s-sure, Shinobu-onēchan!" he said as he parked his machine on the deck close to the holovision machine, then he floated up to gaze into her eyes.
"What does 'T'ech'ach Nechma Nukt'ech-kai Ket'echi' mean? It's Noukiite," Ataru's former girlfriend asked, grateful that many English lessons helped her master the more harsher consonant sounds other languages made use of.
Ten blinked...then he turned as grey as a typhoon as a look of mortal TERROR crossed his face. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! SCARY PEOPLE! SCARY PEOPLE! SCARY PEOPLE! SCARY PEOPLE! SCARY PEOPLE...!"
And in a blast of retrojets, he flew out of the gig...
...before the entire kilometre-long battlewagon rocked with alarm bells as screams of a near-riot drifted through the open hatchway leading into the gig from the Kashin's main hull. "Guess it means something," Ryūnosuke quipped. "What the fuck did Moroboshi and his sisters run into, for fuck's sake...?"
"It is time for you to return to Earth."
Everyone blinked. "Kyech-san...?" Shinobu began...
...before a flash of eldritch fire made the Terrans vanish from the Kashin...
To Be Continued...
WRITER'S NOTES
This story is set after the Kantai Collection anime series, incorporating shipgirls from other countries as has been introduced in the game, plus new shipgirls. For the Urusei Yatsura fans out there, this is set after the first movie Only You; however, factoring the Abyssal War into the lives of everyone from Tomobiki, certain events such as Fujinami Ryūnosuke's entrance would happen much sooner than in manga or anime continuity. In The Seventh Carrier storyline, this delves with an alternate reality where the Yonaga did not get free of Sano Bay before the start of the novel in late 1983, exploring what would happen to the crew in the wake of that and how it affected the ship's living kami. As I've done in other stories since I'm so used to looking at things that way, the modified universe of The Senior Year as introduced in Phoenix From the Ashes has been factored into the galactic situation beyond Earth, which takes what happened in Yatsura and expanded heavily in on it; there will be no need to read those stories as I'll include descriptions in narrative and conversation. Other stories mentioned in the title blurb just present characters and background situation; more explanations will come.
Be advised I write words using Hepburn (for Japanese), Scientific (Russian), McCune-Reischauer (Korean) and Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (Mandarin) Romanizations.
Now...
1) Ye old translation list: Gi — Martial artist's uniform; Heika — Japanese equivalent of the spoken style "Your Majesty", this is the preferred form of address to the Heavenly Sovereign (Tennō); Kazoku — Family register; Shōwa — Posthumous name for Hirohito (1901-89), the 124th ruling monarch of Japan according to traditional order of succession; Akitsumikami — Literally "kami in the form of a person"; Kapitän zur See — Literally "Captain at Sea", German title for a navy captain (NATO rank code OF-5); Kidō Butai — Literally "Mobile Force", this was the tactical designation for the Japanese Combined Fleet's unified carrier battle group; Niitaka-yama — Literally "New High Mountain", this was the Japanese name for Yù-shān ("Jade Mountain"), the highest mountain on Taiwan (which was a Japanese colony from 1895-1945), which is taller than Mount Fuji in Japan; Kapitán Pérvyj Ránga — Literally "Captain of the First Rank", the Russian title for a navy captain; Bóže moj — God help me; Továrišči — Plural of Továrišč ("comrade" or "adventuring companion"); Kyūdō-ka — Practitioner of Kyūdō ("way of the bow"); Kendō-ka — Practitioner of Kendō ("way of the sword"); Dō — Breast plate; Umanori — Literally "horse-riding hakama", these are pleated trousers for use by cavalrymen; Zōri — Thong sandals; Tare — Protective groin shield; Kuzari — Lower body and upper thigh armour; Sode — Shoulder protection; Kote — Armoured lower arm sleeves; Suneate — Shin guards; Daishō — Literally "large and small", this was the sword set used by samurai, composed of a long katana and a shorter wakizashi; Yōma — Monster; Shōwa Jūroku-nen — Literally "Sixteenth Year of Shōwa", the Japanese name for 1941 CE; Shōwa Nijū-nen — Literally "Twentieth Year of Shōwa", the Japanese name for 1945 CE; Bunka-gonen no Yakusoku — Literally "Promise of the Fifth Year of Bunka" (that was the traditional Japanese year name for 1808 CE); Chūshō — Vice Admiral (NATO rank code OF-8); Saikō Jinseijutsu — Literally "Way of the Supreme Life", this is the title given to the Moroboshi family's in-house school of ninjutsu in my stories (and often serves as Moroboshi Negako's default name before acquiring human form); Kaishō — Modern term for an admiral in the Maritime Self-Defence Force (the proper title for Saitō Ten'ichi is kaishō-ho ["junior admiral"]); Shōshō — Rear Admiral (NATO rank code OF-7); Taisa — Navy captain; Unsere Marine — Our Navy; Preußens Gloria — Prussia's Glory; Lützows Wilde Verwegene Jagd — Lützow's Wild Hunt; Risorgimento — Literally "the revival", the name given to the period of Italian unification from 1815-71; Mál'čik-korabléj — Plural of Mál'čik-korábl' ("shipboy"); Hēichá — Literally "black tea"; Shúpǔ'ěr — Literally "Ripe (tea) from Pǔ'ěr"; Yūjo — Literally "woman of pleasure", traditional title for a prostitute; Kaishaku-nin — Literally "the person concerned with a mistake", the traditional term for the person who beheads someone committing seppuku to stop the pain.
2) Shōtoku Tennō (718-770) is the posthumous name for the forty-eighth Heavenly Sovereign of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Given the name Abe at birth, she first succeeded her father Shōmu Tennō (real name unknown, lived 701-756) as the forty-sixth Heavenly Sovereign when he abdicated in 749 CE. Abe ruled until she abdicated the post in 758 CE in favour of her cousin, who later became known as Junnin Tennō (real name Ōi, lived 733-765); Abe was given the title Kōken Tennō for this part of her life. However, thanks to an internal court rebellion, Abe regained the Throne in 765, ruling as Shōtoku Tennō until her death five years later. She is known in history for supposedly having an affair with her chancellor, Dōkyō (700-772). In the universe of my stories, that affair did happen and a daughter was born of the couple named Mirei; it is she who is the ancestress of the Moroboshi family.
3) Translation of the first verse of Yuki no Shingun ("Marching in the Snow"):
Yuki no shingun, kōri o fun de.
(Marching in the snow, stepping on ice.)
Dore ga kawa yara, michi sae shirezu.
(We can't even tell road from river.)
Uma wa taoreru sutete mo okezu.
(The horses are beaten but we can't leave them.)
Koko wa izukuzo? Mina teki no kuni!
(Just what is this place? It's all enemy country!)
Mama no daitan ippuku yareba,
(Oh, well, if we breathe a little bravery,)
Tanomisekuna ya tabako ga nihon.
(I'll only ask for a couple of cigarettes.)
4) Please note that many names and personal circumstances here concerning the Urusei Yatsura cast are my invention or the invention of Mike Smith for use in The Senior Year if it doesn't match various information websites.