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Tomobiki High School, the third Monday of April, after school cleanup...
"Man, did you see all the idiots moan about the end of the world?!"
"Hai! Funniest thing I've seen since I was first activated!"
"Ah! Come over here, everyone! Come here!"
Hearing that voice, the small troupe of freshmen students paused as they moved to gather at the east-side stairwell leading to the school's long attic, then they bowed respectfully to the Careful Planner of the Circle of Thought. "Thank you for attending to us, Sempai!" they all chanted in perfect unison, easily aided by their internal communications suite fitted into their earlobes.
Tsuruya Rumiko chuckled as she waved the gathering of Terran-form Shōzoki AIs to follow her upstairs. She was currently in normal civilian clothing; the members of Class 2-4 who weren't now in intensive care on another planet over forty light-years away — herself, Shirai Kōsuke, Arakida Yui and Inoue Tamako, not to mention "Yon-san" — had been excused from classes until after Golden Week to ensure they could remain equal academically to their peers once they came home. "I've sealed off access to what's left of the clock tower after Redet wrecked it because of her fool temper tantrum, so there's no worry about some idiot — much less the gatherer titemam/titemyu active in school — learning things they shouldn't in case you need privacy."
"We're really sorry to impose on you like this, Sempai," Wakaba Ryōichi of Class 1-4 said as they filed upstairs.
As they passed the threshold into the attic, each of the freshmen were quick to sense a wave of invisible energy ping their outer epidermal sensors. A quick analysis using their internal database of known non-Terran technology was quick to discern that field was meant to disorientate non-Yizibajohei organics from venturing into whatever space was shielded by this; in effect, this was a technological version of a magical notice-me-not or muggle repellent charm. Once in the attic — which technically stretched over every second-floor wing of the Taishō Era building — they blinked on seeing the rows of beds laid out. "Wow!" Ryōichi's boyfriend Kusunoki Isamu said as he took a look around, nodding in approval. "How did you get all this set up without the staff noticing, Sempai?" he asked as Ryōichi moved to snuggle against him, other couples among the freshmen doing the same.
"They're so twisted around the bend because of what the Urusians did last week — not to mention what Negako-san just dropped on everyone earlier in the gym — that they're not as aware of things as they would be normally, Isamu-kun," Rumiko answered as she moved to sit on one bed close to the wrecked clock tower, she then pulling out her field PAA from stuffspace. "Since I assume the lot of you are willing to have Ataru-kun as your master and since he is staying away from school to further the 'prank' he's playing on everyone both here and on Uru itself, you'll need an 'emergency' place to see to your internal functions in case you can't get over to where he's going to be living from now on. What better place that to do it in practical 'plain sight'?"
"What are the odds of Redet and her entourage coming back to Earth after what Kasuga-sempai did?" Shizuma Shun of Class 1-1 then wondered. An amateur prostitute affiliated with Escort Group "Bigiotteria" based out of nearby Musashino, he operated under the name "Akane" when he dressed up as a girl to go on dates with customers; to prevent confusion with the dark-haired member of Unison Yell in Class 1-7, he normally used his "escort" name to prevent confusion. As his boyfriend Kōyama Sora AKA "Aoi" — it was Akane who got him into that work shortly after the blond android was initially activated — hugged him from behind, the raven-haired and bespectacled teen added, "The Oni are the poster children of sore losers and they've got the Niphentaxians watching their backs as they flout every damned treaty involving Earth because of Redet's lie last fall..."
Rumiko hummed, she ignoring some of the "younger" people moving to take over beds to try them out. "Fifty-fifty in my eyes, Akane-kun. On the one hand — now that I can remember things — Lum's so desperate to get away from her people and her 'most faithful' that she'll gladly pull the same sort of stunt she did when Megane and his fools went stupid with the space taxi after the Tag Race to make Ataru-kun 'heel'." As the freshmen all scowled in outrage at that suggestion, the reborn hyper-genius from Nesetimtuto looked at the images being displayed over her field PAA — a device the size of the average laptop computer, the freshmen noted — to lean who could still be on school grounds. Save for the Self-Defence Force personnel who were busy doing the cleanup of the lawn under the supervision of the elder four Fukushima sisters, all other staff and students had gone home for the day. "Of course, if she tries it THIS time, she'll be in for one hell of a surprise. On the other hand, she and her friends were attacked by an unknown party, with them put into the hospital in a single surgical strike while Lum's 'husband' literally vanished from Uru itself. That was what was reported both by the Intergalactic News Network on Zeiwan as well as my friends in the Circle of Thought; they put out cloaked communications monitor probes to tap into Urusian military signal networks to learn what the Defence Force — to say anything of the idiots in the Imperial Round — are doing in reaction to this."
"Kasuga-sempai's mesonium-based aura would stick out like a sore thumb, I think," Sasaki Sāya of Class 1-2, a co-worker of Akane's and Aoi's from Club Bigiotteria, noted as he twirled his right ponytail. A beautiful otokonoko who was heavily into ganguro fashion — as witness his heavily bleached brown hair (such having a lovely pink-tinged silver hue) and dark tanned skin — he had many fans among the female populace of the school; on his first day of classes, the cheers his peers made after the entrance lottery saw him placed there easily drowned out all the older students' comments about Moroboshi Ataru's so-called "engagement" with Elle de Rosenbach. "It shouldn't take the local security forces too long to figure out what happened."
Rumiko nodded. "You're right about that, Sāya-kun..."
Her PAA buzzed as a new holographic window appeared. "Ah! Moroboshi-sempai!" Asanuma Shun called out.
"That's not Ataru!" Masamune Kitahachi of Class 1-5 warned.
"No, Kira-chan. That's Sempai's soul-clone, Moroboshi Hiromi-sempai," Shun corrected the shaggy lavender-haired bishōnen teen who himself had many fans among the sophomore and senior girls given his VERY polite behaviour (even for a Shōzoki companion android) and his heart-warming light chestnut eyes; like Sāya, the boy known commonly as "Kira" to his closest friends also worked at Club Bigiotteria. "Sempai's sister Hinako-chan found her living spirit and the spirits of the others from that film project last month we all heard about." As Kira nodded in understanding, Shun chuckled. "Sorry, Sempai!"
"Please, Shun-kun, don't apologize," the would-be guidance counsellor answered from her apartment at the Toranoseishin Finances Tower downtown. "I just got a call from Fujiko-chan. She sensed you, Yū-kun and Mahiro-kun are close..."
"AAH!"
Tene lomher'buo, Nakasone Yū...!
Heads snapped around as the blue-eyed blond amateur singer staggered to his feet, the exposed parts of his body now bathed in a silvery-reddish cloak-like energy field akin to what recent seasons of Doctor Who depicted when the titular Time Lord of the series underwent regeneration into a new body. Drawing out her personal PAA, Rumiko aimed it at the moaning Nakasone Yū, tapping the crystal to fully remove all his clothing; lessons with so many other Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei had proven over the previous decade that the Gifting process destroyed whatever locally-made clothes the person was wearing at the moment of empowerment. Noting that Yū's lovers were moving to grasp their beloved companion's hands in a show of support, the Careful Planner sighed as she disrobed them as well while the other freshmen watched with wide-eyed awe at this event.
Sure enough...
Tene lomher'buo, Asanuma Shun...Funakoshi Mahiro...!
All three members of Unison Yell screamed out as their bodies nearly disappeared as the injecting of a Gift crystal — which Rumiko could see thanks to the new sensor functions she had inserted into her glasses shortly after her own Gifting the Thursday evening just past — into Yū's body...which seemed to drag two more such crystals into his lovers' bodies. "A trio...?"
"You don't think...?" Moroboshi Hiromi mused over the communications line.
"Possibly..." Here, Rumiko awked as she remembered something. "Shit! COVER YOUR EYES, EVERYONE!"
The other freshmen yelped as they spun away, doing as the hyper-genius polymath bade...
Nesu...TE'EKUM TENE!
Nesu...ZUEGU TENE!
Nesu...KYAWWUZEM TENE!
The nova-like brilliance of empowerment thanks to the Great Crystal of Power soon faded...
...to show three freshmen students now uniformly dressed in black jumpsuits with dark grey belts and boots, such suits appearing to be a mixed pattern between the sleeved "traditional" look preferred by older generations of Yizibajohei and the sleeveless "modern" style adopted almost en masse by the current generation of Terran-borns like the Careful Planner of the Circle of Thought hosting this after-school "meeting". While the main part of the suit was sleeveless and skintight, there were semi-detached baggy sleeves covering the three boys' arms out to their wrists in a pattern similar to what had appeared in many forms of classic local dress. Over their breastbones were the dual theatre mask insignia common to people whose first-selves once lived in Lemriesem, Yiziba's analogue of Hollywood before the Dawn of Power; this was a shared symbol marking their spiritual ancestral lives as professional entertainers. Of course, the combined black-and-dark grey hues of the boys' suits hailed them now as the current incarnations of three reborn slapstick comedy actors from that classic age of Yizibajohei popular entertainment, the Three Little Dragons: Te'ekum Tene (for Yū), Zuegu Tene (for Shun) and Kyawwuzem Tene (for Mahiro). Which would make the members of Unison Yell quite the power trio among the planned Gifted freshmen at Tomobiki High School, Rumiko knew: All three were minor-level reality warpers though nowhere close to Tariko Katabarbe and Kasuga Ayumu in overall capabilities or area of reach — with the prerequisite telepathy and clairvoyance to boot — added to mid-level FISS abilities; this would make Yū, Shun and Mahiro a match for someone like the She-Hulk of the Marvel universe or Wonder Girl in the DC universe.
"AH!"
The reborn hyper-genius jolted on hearing Yū's scream before she looked over...
...then she hissed on seeing the ONCE-android collapse to the floor, he gripping his forehead. "My housekeeping computer...!"
A flash of nearly-blinding teleportation light then made heads snap over...
...before a pair of slightly immaterial fingers probed INTO the back of Yū's head.
As the other AIs present — even the now-organic Shun and Mahiro, both of whom had also sensed the sheer SILENCE of their inner minds' most vital basic function programming that had been a constant in their lives from their initial activation — goggled on seeing the Goddess Who Walks Among Men do THAT, Kasuga Ayumu could only sigh. "I HATE housekeeping computers!"
Rumiko and Hiromi tried not to laugh at that caustic comment from their friend...
The Toranoseishin Finances Tower, suppertime...
"So tell everyone, boys: How does it feel to be Gifted and be made organic?"
The members of Unison Yell who were now the Three Little Dragons all blushed as they faced the cosmic-level camera welded by the Voice of the Show, Bo'odur'ba ("Windtalker"), now living as Asakura Kazumi of Niigata, one of the now-twenty-nine students of the son of the famous Thousand Master himself, Negi Springfield. "Well, it was quite disorientating at first, Kazumi-san," Asanuma Shun answered for his lovers, waving to Nakasone Yū, then Funakoshi Mahiro. All three of them were facing the cosmic-level reborn reporter from Vosotuto in the central equatorial continent, they now in Moroboshi Hiromi's living room near the tower's summit; the boys' fellow Shōzoki freshmen who met with Tsuruya Rumiko earlier were seated outside the camera's range to either side of the coffee table. Of course, cups of tea and snacks had been prepared for everyone by their host, not to mention said host's sister from Nagano, who had come over to look in on things after she got out of school. "After all, all sentient AIs from Shōzoran are built with housekeeping wetware to help maintain basic functions. We have been able to sense it since our initial activation; it feels like listening to the wind move past your ears. But after the download of our past selves' memories was completed and we were Gifted, there was total silence. That really panicked us until Ayumu-sempai stepped in."
"And stuck her fingers right into your brains, right?" Kazumi asked, a knowing look on her face.
"It didn't hurt at all," Yū noted, waving his hands in reassurance. "Sempai has a lot of experience with AIs who get Gifted — both herself and her past-selves — so she knows how to do it right. It spared Rumiko-sempai the need to interfere."
The would-be paparazzi member of Class 3-2 at the Mahora Academy in Saitama City nodded in understanding. "So what are your plans now? No doubt, the rimrae umale are aware of your 'status' as titemam; after all, given the Urusians' standard reaction when they encounter your brethren elsewhere, Lum's 'most faithful' will be extra wary concerning the amount of titemam and titemyu now attending Tomobiki High School, both as staff and as students. Once they note you're now organic..."
"Our master is getting his sisters Chikage-sempai and Rinrin-san to create special warding pennants we'll wear from now on to block their sensors," Mahiro assured her. "We all know they don't plant anything on the grounds of the 'Holy Citadel' itself..." — that was the term applied by the "most faithful" of Phentax Two for Tomobiki High itself, everyone knew — "...so we're safe there. And we can easily help the ch'uongtechhu born of the warships of the Imperial Navy who've come back to duty to trace down those observers in town and have them removed to Tengsei so they can't force a hostage scene on Earth wholesale with that bomb near Tampopo-san's restaurant. Hai, we're spiritually Shōzoki, but we were 'born' here on Earth. This is our home."
Yū and Shun nodded in agreement. "Given how illogical the rimrae umale have become since this Ōgi fool founded the Church of Lum, it's only being proper, Kazumi-san," the latter added. "The people born of Earth, regardless of their true species, don't deserve having a threat like a starbase self-destruct device with the power to unleash planet-wide nuclear winter placed in the biosphere. I hope Tariko-sempai and her friends will unleash a MOAFS on those fools as soon as possible."
"Given the reaction to what Ayumu-sempai did when she rescued Tariko-sempai from that false 'marriage' on Friday, the reaction of the Federation worlds to such an 'attack' — especially given the sheer size of the guest list from other planets such as Triton, Fukunokami, Karasutengu and elsewhere — is a definite clue as to how they'll react once the Niphentaxians are brought to heel," the former continued. "They haven't deployed anything into this system to augment the Tritonians' own forces to prevent an incursion from either the Seifukusu or the Ipraedies, which is REALLY odd given how much the Federation values this solar system staying out of the reach of the Magate Round or Emperor Schwartz." The three freshmen had used their newly-issued PAAs to speed-update themselves on their peers' observations of space politics before they came here from Tomobiki High with their peers. "Once the Niphentaxians are dealt with, they'll be too busy securing their own space to worry about Earth, I believe."
"Atop that, Rumiko-sempai is joining her friends in the Circle of Thought — not to mention all the other hyper-genius polymaths and technokinetics like Rinrin-san — to effectively seal off our part of the solar system from outside interference," Mahiro concluded. "Defending that amount of space is a daunting task, but as they've always said about the Circle..."
"...'impossible is just an interesting challenge'!" Shun and Yū chanted together.
Laughter filled the room. "And we'll all be helping Rumiko-san, Elizabeth-san and Tánja-san do just that!" the Great Chef of the West declared as she walked up with some more snacks for everyone. As Kazumi tapped controls to stop filming, Osamu Shirayuki winked. "Given that poor Isaac-san is too busy on Remnant dealing with those nasty Grimm right now..."
"He'll have help, Shirayuki-chan," everyone's host noted from the small kitchenette where she was making her own cup of tea; much that she didn't really mind it now when her sister moved to dote on her, the would-be school counsellor wanted also to learn how to survive on her own since the famous trofikinetic couldn't spare time from schooling to see to her elder sister's needs, much less that of her elder brother's. "Look at how many people from Remnant's he's already seen Gifted to date."
"That's good," Yū noted. "It's ultimately their fight scene in the end. Yeah, they need help..."
"They'll get it, Yū-chan," Shun assured his lover, grasping the blond teen's hand. "And if it gets too crazy, Isaac-san's too smart to just lone wolf the whole thing. He's getting help from Ataru's new 'fleet' at least..."
Everyone nodded. "So what local battle names will you choose for yourselves, guys?" Kazumi then wondered.
All three teens blushed. "Um...Ataru's looking into that now, Kazumi-san...!" Mahiro reported.
A knock echoed from the main door. "And Ataru has finished!" a familiar man's voice called out.
People turned to look. "Hey, Ataru-kun!" Kazumi hailed as Moroboshi Ataru's siblings also called out to him. "So what'd you get? Given how inspired you were by your other-self's choices of human names for shipgirls in that universe..."
The most famous teen on Earth today chuckled as he took a seat between the Voice of the Show and the Three Little Dragons. Much to the amusement of his siblings and their guest from Mahora, the three freshmen shifted to place themselves protectively around him, that making him blush. "Well, given who their first-selves' effective analogues here on Earth might be, the choice was really simple, Kazumi-chan," Ataru announced before waving to Yū. "Mister Keaton in tribute to Buster Keaton-sensei." He then indicated Shun. "Mister Lloyd in tribute to Harold Lloyd-sensei." Then he waved to Mahiro. "And Mister Chaplin in tribute to Charlie Chaplin-sensei." As Kazumi nodded — that information would go into her presentation preface for this interview before it was put out over the Great Show networks once she got back to Mahora — the others smirked as the three freshmen took turns to kiss the man they still privately saw as their master/owner by Shōzoki law and custom. "Guys...!"
The non-Gifted Shōzoki all beamed at the sight of their Gifted brethren doing what was proper with the man who had effectively saved all three of them from Mother. "Speaking of Giftings, what about Okano Yuka-sempai and her friends from Eisa Girl's High?" Sasaki Sāya wondered. Since it was well past the end of school, the ganguro otokonoko had changed into "her" preferred button shit, plaid skirt and thigh-high stocking combo. Her co-workers from Club Bigiotteria Shizuma Shun, Kōyama Sora and Masamune Kitahachi were likewise dressed in female clothing in preparation for a night's work at their place of employment; since all four were androids, they could sleep and recharge themselves in their private suites in Musashino, then be fresh and ready for the new day's classes in the morning. "Are you handling that, Sempai? Or is it your friend from Sweet Valley?"
"Jess will be the lead there, Sāya-chan," he affirmed. "Given that we did hit on Yuka-san and her friends when we were made to forget everything, I doubt they're anywhere close to being ready to accept me as more than just an acquaintance even if we had added them to the 'Pretty Girls to be Helped' list in The Book of Pretty Girls after those terrorists shut down their old school last summer." As the people present all grinned or snickered on hearing the name of Tariko Katabarbe's personal diary/record log of the over thousand people she had directly contacted in the previous decade and more to see Gifted — said tome also came with both an 'annex' list of those people who were Gifted directly by those Tariko herself helped get Gifted (which was three times the number the Trickster of the Show could credit herself to help see empowered) and the aforementioned 'help' list of people who would be contacted in the future to see Gifted if they so chose to do so — he breathed out. "Speaking of helping people be Gifted, Sāya-chan, would you be up for a date tonight at the Club?" As Sāya squawked in shock, he gazed on the younger man's co-workers. "Of course, if you three want to join in as well, Akane-chan, Aoi-chan, Kira-chan, I think I'd be up to that as well."
"Nii-sama!" Shirayuki then scolded from the area close to the kitchenette, she wagging her finger at her elder brother as she gave him an exasperated look. "You've had ENOUGH pillow scenes yesterday and today!"
The suite's main door opened. "Relax, Shirayuki-chan! Ataru-kun's got more than enough stamina to help cute boys be Gifted!"
"Saiko-san!" the Niigata-jin moaned as the Eternal Titaness of Power stepped into the room.
Ataru looked over. "Everything okay with you guys, Saiko-chan?"
"Hai, hai, Ataru-kun! That beach house on the island's perfect for us until we get rid of the rimrae umale so we can be with our families full-time," Miyake Saiko said as Hiromi got up to hug her sister clone-replica. "Danu's still being invited by Sil-san to reside at the Ceres outpost. Given that Tachiko-san and Nijiko-san are still very attracted to her...!"
He nodded, clear relief on his face. "Yeah, that's good! Much that I can understand why Tachiko and Nijiko would be attracted to her, Danu's had all the naïveté knocked out of her by her Gifting." A wry smirk crossed his face as he sat back into Shun's embrace. "Makes me wonder how Lum would react to Mendō and Perm were SHE Gifted!" he wryly noted.
Snickers filled the room. "Well, that'd definitely prove the rimrae umale's belief of your being the 'great evil', Ataru-kun!" Kazumi noted as she pulled out her PAA to have it send her camera recordings to her computer at Mahora.
More laughter responded to that. "So how many times did Ataru have pillow scenes with people?" Sāya wondered.
Saiko hummed. "The boys there yesterday afternoon; Danu, Tatsuko and myself last night; the whole of the Tomobiki High Mahjong Club and their friends — all EIGHTEEN of them! — this morning before classes; then three of the office ladies who work here just after lunch." Smirking on seeing all the Shōzoki in the room gape in dumbstruck awe at the man they wanted/now had as their master/owner, the high-level FISS then winked. "And with Danu, Tatsuko and I: FOUR orgasms EACH!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"WE'RE NOT WORTHY!"
Ataru yelped as all the freshmen in the room dropped to their knees and bowed towards him akin to what Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar did to Alice Cooper in the first Wayne's World movie from 1992. "WE'RE NOT WORTHY!" they all chanted as one. "WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY...!"
"SAIKO-SAN!" Shirayuki shrieked.
To no effect; Saiko, Hiromi and Kazumi were folding in on themselves laughing their hearts out as Ataru moaned...
Musashino (south of Tomobiki), two hours later...
"Irasshaimase! Club Bigiotteria e yōkoso! Konban wa, Akane-chan, Aoi-chan, Kira-chan, Sāya-chan!"
"Konban wa, Sempai-tachi," Sasaki Sāya greeted on behalf of his peers in return as all four freshmen bowed to two people who reminded Moroboshi Ataru immediately of older versions of two of the other teen Shōzoki he had met a couple hours before at the Toranoseishin Tower, Nozaki Kazuyuki and Ishimura Hiroshige. "Ataru-kun, these are Kazu's and Hiro's elder brothers, Kazukiyo and Tokutarō; they normally go by 'Kazumi' and 'Takumi' respectively. They're freshmen students at Seikei Daigaku here in town; Kazumi-sempai is studying sociology and Takumi-sempai is studying fine arts. Sempai-tachi, I think you know who our shared client tonight is, I believe," the ganguro teen then noted with an amused wink.
The two elder otokonoko — who had the same type of slender body builds as their younger brothers — blinked with surprise before their very intensive social interaction programming kicked in. "Welcome to Club Bigiotteria, Ataru-kun. We're honoured by your presence," Kazumi quickly declared as he and his boyfriend bowed low to their new guest. "I hope you don't mind..."
A black Visa card was then produced. "I believe you can process what needs to be processed, Sempai. I trust you."
Both emotionally older androids — Kazumi was dressed in a Playboy bunny-like uniform complete with "ears" sticking out of his temples, pantyhose and a cotton tail at the base of his spine; Takumi was dressed in rather modest maid's clothing with a skirt that just extended past his crotch — boggled at the sight of said card; it was issued by Inshin Bank and was one used by VERY wealthy customers whenever cash proved too cumbersome. "Of course, Ataru-kun. My apologies," Takumi said as she took the card, waving the others with her to the main counter, said counter now manned by a surprised-looking brunette dressed as he was, appearing to be about the same age. "Fortunately, Mondays are quiet, so I'm sure your spending time with the girls..." — here, the lovely brunette with the caramel eyes winked knowingly — "...won't be an issue in case we get a surprise rush."
Ataru nodded in understanding. "Please feel free to call the beautiful ladies here if you need more hands on deck," he then bade before giving the person manning the reception desk a very appraising look. "And this lovely lady is...?"
Flustering at his clearly honest question — even if he could detect the flirting tone in the visitor's voice — the slender man offered a hand while his other took the Visa card to scan it through the system. "Hayashida Yūki, Ataru-kun," "she" introduced himself. "I'm also a university student when I'm not a date for visitors here at the club. Ajia Daigaku, international relations."
The younger man nodded. "An interesting logical extension of your basic programming."
"He knows," Akane quickly cut in as the older AIs all tensed. "Crazy as this will sound to you, he's an adopted Yizibajohei."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"Oh, gods...!" Yūki hissed out as he and his peers stared wide-eyed at their guest. Fortunately, there was no one in the reception lounge at this time; the busy period when drunk salarymen came into the club overlooking Musashino Central Park near the southern slopes of the Tarōzakura Hill overlooking the Mendō estate beyond would come a couple hours before midnight. "What happened, Ataru-kun?! I heard the Oni kidnapped you last week to avoid this other fiancée you supposedly have...!"
"'Had', Sempai. Past tense," Ataru said as he reached over to gently grasp the older man's hand to calm him down. As Yūki's very heartwarming green eyes suddenly widened while his outer epidermal sensors went nuts on detecting the incredible levels of mesonium — and silicon quasi-DNA particles — in the guest's skin, he winked. "It's a very long, very complex reveal scene that I don't want to deluge you, much less Kazumi-sempai and Takumi-sempai here, since you're all here to earn a living. I'm sure Sāya, Kira, Akane and Aoi can fill you all in on details when things quiet down. But be assured, since you all ARE fully sentient beings in Yizibajohei eyes, you're under our protection. Fortunately for me, I just learned of a half-sister whose birth was arranged by my late grandmother...and whose maternal grandfather was none other that Hatoyama Junji-hakase himself."
Jaws dropped. "You mean Hatoyama Rinrin-chan?!" Takumi exclaimed, her eyes starry with awe as she clasped her hands. "Her grandfather's said to have learned everything about us from the Wise Master himself!"
Ataru chuckled. "I'll be sure to pass it on to Obā-chan — I mean Dean Raeburn-shōshō — to tell Andrews-hakase he's known as THAT by people like you here in Japan, Sempai!" As Takumi awked in embarrassment and the younger androids all snickered or laughed, he then gazed on Yūki. "So am I cleared for a whole night with these four, Sempai?"
Yūki blinked before he chuckled, then he typed up something on the card reader before sliding said card through. A moment later, the machine printed out the receipt. "Wow! That went through fast! Are you as rich as the Mendō are, Ataru-kun?!"
"No, but it pays when your family — two total rejects for parents being excepted, of course — actually OWNS Inshin, Sempai!"
"Wow! Lucky you!" Kazumi teased as Takumi reached under the counter to pull out a room key to hand to Kira...
On the planet Uru, that moment (local time: Three hours after midnight)...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! MY MONEY! IT'S MY MONEY, YOU STUPID BOY! MY MONEY! MY MONEY! MY MONEY! I WISH I NEVER HAD YOU! HOW DARE YOU...?!"
The overnight staff at the Onishuto Defence Medical Institute jolted before they looked over to one of the intensive care suites as two medical technicians moved in to sedate the woman now in a full-body cast; even if she had survived a large roof beam nearly crushing her when the city cathedral had collapsed on Redet Lum's wedding ceremony — a miracle in and of itself in the eyes of the medics assigned to help Moroboshi Kinshō and her peers from Earth heal — that she could screech like THAT even after being sedated by a scout ship's worth of medication was mind-boggling. "How the HELL...?!" the duty doctor demanded.
"You don't think she's...one of THEM, do you?!" the senior nurse then hissed, she then looking frantically to and fro.
Gulps answered him. "What do they call them again on Earth?" one of the junior technicians asked. "'Capes'?!"
That made the others listening in to this gargle in deeply implanted fright at such an unholy suggestion. "Why the hell did we 'invade' that damned planet anyway?!" a pharmacist's assistant weakly asked.
The others grimly nodded in understanding...
KK-KRACK!
...before they yelped on hearing something VERY hard smack into someone's skull!
Looking over at the private suite set aside for Moroboshi Ataru's parents, the medical team all goggled on seeing a CINDER BLOCK having been rammed into Kinshō's head, nearly flipping her diagnostic bed end over end by the force of the impact! As the two technicians who had been moving to sedate her raised their hands to ward off WHATEVER had caused that, a piece of paper fluttered down from the ceiling. Snaring it, one of the technicians looked at what was written there.
"'Grow old and die alone'," he read.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
A pained sob escaped the "long suffering" housewife. "Who will...take care of me...when I'm old and grey...?"
Blinking, the technicians at her bedside exchanged nods, then moved to clear the bit of moulded concrete before they increased the sedative dosage to force the woman back into unconsciousness again. Watching this from the monitoring station, the other duty staff exchanged looks before the chief nurse twirled his fingers. "Hey...you, um...don't think SHE'S come back...?"
"'She'?" the doctor asked.
Gulping as sweat appeared on his head, the nurse made a tracing motion with his fingers to draw what on Earth would be seen as the head of a North American coyote or wolf before he made zig-zag motions to either side to imply thick hair or fir. As the others all turned stark white on realizing WHOM he was speaking of, they then gazed once more at the groaning Kinshō...
The Moroboshi home, two hours later (London time: Two hours after lunch)...
"And that's the last of the photos Aniki wanted destroyed! That was easy!"
"Yeah! Just hacked into the bitch's bank accounts! Had to cut off all access from her 'Aniki' and stop him from finding out that Reigi-kun had the embezzled money taken out of the accounts to give back to Ani-chama!"
Hatoyama Rinrin nodded as she watched the considerable pile of pictures — plus picture negatives — be rendered ashes in one of her portable atomizer disposal units, which she brought up from Ōsaka when she had been asked by the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū to destroy any and all physical remnants of her bro's supposed "stay" in this place over the last decade. Fortunately before he got to work pre-Gifting four new friends he made among the many AI freshmen now attending Tomobiki High School, Moroboshi Ataru asked his technokinetic sister to save all pictures that displayed either Redet Lum or Miyake Shinobu even if he wanted the negatives and all digital data files of those wiped out. He had a "special" plan for those, one which the chocolate-haired twelve year-old — her thirteenth birthday was in early July — could guess what Ataru had in mind once his "wife" and his "ex-girlfriend" came back to Earth around the time of the end of Golden Week.
"Either of you need some more tea?" came from the kitchen.
Perking on hearing that question from the Great Chef of the West, Yotsuba Dunn perked, then looked over. "English breakfast tea please, Shirayuki-chan," the caramel-haired (in twin-tails) twelve year-old — her entry into the teen years would come a couple weeks before Rinrin's — answered. She had been using her specially-enhanced spy glass to scan the physical structure of this house to ensure the aliens hadn't left any sort of monitoring devices which could be tapped into by idiots on Uru or elsewhere; the current incarnation of the Master Interrogator spiritually born of pre-Dawn of Power Yiziba's most evil regime bar none, Nyuosyo'o ("Bleachtaire"), knew the Niphentaxians wouldn't do such to their living goddess' "Holy Residence". "Even if it's the late evening for you guys, it's after lunch for Yotsuba! Yeah, Yotsuba doesn't have any school today, but still...!"
Hearing that complaint from the reborn intelligence officer who worked for an organization that made the Nazi Party's infamous SD seem utterly prosaic and civilized in comparison, Rinrin grunted as a yawn suddenly took her. "Damn! Don't talk about that, Yotsuba-chan!" she complained as Osamu Shirayuki walked in from the kitchen with a cup of the requested hot drink for her sister; like Rinrin and Yotsuba, the native of Nagoya herself was at the cusp of teen-hood since her thirteenth birthday had come in early February. "Ever since I found out about Aneki and Aniki, I've been working overtime to make everything I can think of to keep Aniki safe from Lum and the rest of the goon squad that hangs out in this city! Thank the Forge that Ayumu-chan put them into the healer's cockpit for the next couple of weeks. That gives us all loads of time to make sure Aniki stays safe!"
"Yeah, not to mention give Ani-chama's dork parents some nice swift kicks in the arse for being so stupid in the first place!" Yotsuba snarled as she nodded thanks for Shirayuki providing her some go-go juice so she could wrap this examination up, then head back to her home in the Haggerston district of the London borough of Hackney east of the old city north of the Thames.
The technokinetic perked on sensing the slight shift of her recently-revealed half-sister's mood. "The Tournament?"
"Yeah," the master telepath affirmed before sipping her tea, then setting the cup aside on a nearby shelf. "Mycroft told Yotsuba that he heard from friends in the Ministry of Morons that the 'upstanding' dolts among the magicals in Britain are all sensing Lord Flight-from-Death's power increasing. We might see the death cheater get a new body for himself before year's end."
"At least poor Chikage-chan doesn't have to deal with that silliness," Shirayuki noted as she moved to clean up the kitchen; much that she — like her sisters — didn't care at all for the former Yamaguchi Kinshō, she was too professional a chef to leave a work space dirty for any reasons. "Good thing too that Rose-san doesn't have to really deal with that either!"
"Oh, did you hear about the start of that tournament back on Hallowe'en?" Yotsuba asked.
"What?" Rinrin asked.
"When Cedric-kun, Viktor-kun and Fleur-chan were chosen as champions for their schools, Rose-chan's birth name came out of that stupid goblet on a fourth piece of paper," the unofficial assistant to both the famous consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his elder brother Mycroft (in his place as Master of the Royal Specialized Warfare Fencibles, the United Kingdom's metahuman forces when mobilized for emergencies) said as she finished the sweep of one wall before turning to the part of the room covered by the north-side picture windows. "'Course, no one's seen 'Harry Potter' in public since 'he' got left behind at the Dursleys after Hallowe'en of '96. Once the guys in the Department of Mysteries got a look at that thing..."
Here, she snickered. "Let me guess: They declared Harry-kun 'dead', right?" Rinrin asked.
"Checky!" the Master Interrogator affirmed her favourite phrase with a smirk. "'Course, none of those dorks went to Gringotts to confirm things. Even if Ragnok-torishimariyaku would only respond with 'That's private information; we respect our clients' right to protect their own affairs', that would have told the dolts under that greedy berk Fudge that Harry-kun was 'alive'."
The other two girls shook their heads at that revelation. Shortly after Hallowe'en in 2003, Tariko Katabarbe had been doing a sweep of the English Home Counties when she chanced upon a cold, starved and badly bruised boy her age in a public park located in a hamlet called Little Whinging. After getting to know the young Harry Potter, the would-be Trickster of the Show ignored her "girls only" rule when it came to directly seeking people to be Gifted, then took the poor boy back to her cabin on Yiziba and had him healed and properly fed. Shortly after that, the so-called "Boy Who Lived" got himself Gifted as the Sorcerer Supreme of the Cosmic Mage Guild, Lokrole (the "Warlock"). Such had wound up turning the young boy into a girl physically as Moroboshi Ataru had been turned into Tariko Katabarbe on his/her sixth birthday over two years before after being rescued from an abusive home by a Nameless woman from Kabe-koli named Ayone Katabarbe, the effectively widowed lover of the previous Trickster of the Show. Now calling him/herself "Rose Jamie Potter", the transformed Harry — who became the first of two boys to be placed in the primary list in The Book of Pretty Girls during Tariko's decade-long casting drive; the second, Saotome Ranma, would come a year later — went to the London branch of the International Mercantile Bank of Gringotts to claim his/her inheritance as the new Marchioness of Taunton Deane/Lady of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter. Since she was now a magical metahuman, Rose was automatically emancipated in both the normal and magical worlds — the notation of magical inheritance/emancipation having been lost in the normal message traffic between Gringotts and the Ministry of Magic — under the Specialized Warfare Act of 1949. This allowed her to ignore the invitation to attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when it came in the summer of 2007; by then, Rose was living at her hidden family estate in Somerset and the Dursleys — who had been cursed to hell and gone by the Sorcerer Supreme of Yiziba in vengeance for all their abuse of him; Tariko ultimately rescued Harry/Rose from a bout of "Harry hunting" forced on him by his maternal cousin Dudley Dursley and his small gang of hooligans — had long fled the United Kingdom for a "safer" place all the way out in Australia!
Along the way, Harry/Rose got herself an effective best friend/future soul-mate in the personage of one Thérèse Peverell, a being born from the accidental horcrux lodged in the forehead of the Boy Who Lived when the man born Thomas Riddle murdered his parents on All Hallow's Eve in 1996. Thanks to the Doll House which had given Moroboshi Ataru his new body on the Friday evening just past when he was permanently separated from his birth form, the soul fragment of Lord Voldemort had been given a new female body by that ancient pocket dimension to allow it to live as a real person and experience a more loving childhood than what the so-called "Dark Lord" who had wreaked havoc on Britain in the 1980s and 1990s ever experienced.
Yotsuba perked from her introspection when he PAA dinged. "«Yotsuba Dunn here,»" she called out in English after pulling said device out of her skirt pocket to place on the floor beside her, then tapped the control crystal.
"«Ah, Mistress Yotsuba!»" a gravelly male voice called back. "«You're not at home right now. Where are you?»"
"«Hey, Griphook!»" the Master Interrogator called back. "«Over in Tomobiki at Brother Dearest's old house, cleaning the place out with Rinrin and Shirayuki to make sure Brother Dearest's deadbeat parents don't have anything of his left when they come back from their trip to the healer's cockpit.»" As the young kobaloi banker in charge of the Potter accounts at Gringotts laughed in understanding, she hummed as a finger flicked off a small listening device buried under the windowsill. As the Technological Sorceress of the East reached over with her powers to destroy said device — it was one of dozens the two girls had found since they started tearing through the Moroboshi home some hours before — Yotsuba asked, "«So what's up?»"
"«We found the last of Voldemort's horcruxes,»" Griphook said with a near snarl in his voice.
That made the native of London's famous East End perk. "«Where?»"
"«In Hogwarts, but nothing more detailed than that, I'm afraid.»" The ward masters of Gringotts had been hired by Rose Potter to find her lover's missing soul fragments after the first and spiritually largest of same — which had been placed in a diary by Tom Riddle that had been left in Lucius Malfoy's care; said diary was later planted on Rose's would-be wife Ginny Weasley in the fall of 2008 to unleash a millennium-old basilisk on the students of Hogwarts and rid said school of "undesirable mudbloods" — had been retrieved by the Sorcerer Supreme and fused with the broken soul of Thérèse Peverell. "«And thanks to the Triwizard...»"
"«I can guess that,»" Yotsuba said. "«Soon as I'm back in London, I'll call Mycroft and arrange to slip into the place to find the blasted thing, then get it to Rose and Thérèse ASAP. Once she's whole and complete, she can get Gifted.»"
"«And claim her inheritance as well...but you didn't hear that from me, of course,»" Griphook slyly noted.
"«Why, whatever was I supposed to hear, Master Griphook?»" the amateur detective asked with a haughty aristocratic accent.
Both of them — as well as Yotsuba's sisters — laughed at that comment...
"Ah! Cut it out, you baka nekoyūrei, nya! I'm not a cat, nya!"
"«What was that?!»" Griphook called out from his office in Diagon Alley.
"«One of the cruiser shipgirls is having issues with the local wildlife, Griphook,»" Rinrin called back in accented English after taking a glance out of the east side windows. "«Looks like Captain Itō got the rest of the Kuma-class cruisers back.»"
"«Do wish the Lady Yonaga our most sincere best when you next speak to her, Mistress Rinrin,»" the young kobaloi called out. "«The more sea angels she, Lady Enterprise and Lady Gángut — to say anything of the students of the Protector of All Life in Canada — can see salvaged and Gifted, the better for humanity. Please call me when you can, Mistress Yotsuba.»"
"«That I will, Master Griphook. Take care!»"
The link was severed as the three girls headed out side to see what was going on. Standing now on the street in front of the Moroboshi home were five girls in rather plain civilians, the same type of dress that the gamájun in Sano-wan provided the reborn Tenryū-class light cruisers/destroyer leaders so they could get started on their wardrobes as soon as possible and not wear out their newly-issued camouflage fatigue uniforms. Three of them, the sisters recognized right away: The reborn TH Gunkan-tachi Kuma, Tama and Ōi now known respectively as Kumamoto Kumiko, Kumamoto Tamami and Kumamoto Otsune; the reborn fourth of her class was now seen on Yiziba as the Great Well of the Southern Mountains, Gar'buo ("Ōi"). The two strangers — both of whom were the same height as Kumiko, Tamami and Otsune; Yotsuba's sharp eye put them at about 153 centimetres/a little over five feet tall — were also elder teenagers in looks and cruiser slim, with one possessing long black hair and grey eyes and the other having shaggy blue-tinted black hair and green eyes, the right one now covered under a patch in a way similar to how Shimosuwa Tamiyo wore one over her left. Right now, four of these girls were madly grinning at the sight of Tamami being warmly hugged by an audibly purring Kotatsuneko. "Oi! Oi! OI!" the adopted native of Kōshū whined as Yotsuba whipped out her PAA to snap pictures of the poor cruiser being treated as a favourite kitten by the giant Meiji Era cat spirit. "I told you already, nya! I'm not a cat, nya! Let me go, nya! Do I have to get Yoiko-san here to exorcise you, nya?!"
The others squealed with laughter at the humphing Tamami while Kotatsuneko playfully rubbed his forehead under her chin. "Oh, cut it out, Tama! You like that!" the raven-haired newcomer — whom Yotsuba and Rinrin both realized right away thanks to her southern Tōhoku accent was the reborn third of her class now called Kumamoto Kiko; on Yiziba, she was the Travelling Warper of the Northern Lights, Butoluo ("Kitakami") — playfully scolded as she exchanged looks with Otsune.
"But we got to do some shopping, Kitakami, nya!" Tamami protested.
"It's twenty-hundred...and use human names, kuma!" Kumiko breathed out as she tried not to gaze heavenward and throw up her hands in a "Why me?" gesture. "Stores are closed and we need to get Teitoku's help navigating modern fashions, kuma!"
"Aniki's a little busy right now with some of our Shōzoki friends, Kumiko-san," Rinrin cut in, making the five shipgirls gaze her way. "'Sides, if you want really decent fashion advise, you'll definitely need Sakuya-chan on the Island to help out."
"Teitoku's still at pillow stations with these aliens, Shirei-kan?" the last of her class Kumamoto Kitami AKA the Forester of the Three Rivers, Nutoluo ("Kiso"), asked as she crossed her arms; determining who she had been as a warship was easy with process of elimination even if her Nagano sub-type of Tōkai-Tōsan eastern Japanese speech could provide another clue.
"Yeah...and calling them 'aliens' really doesn't make sense since they were all built here on Earth, Kitami-san," the technokinetic added. "So you got everything squared away about living in this block to beat down on the aliens and Aniki's parents?"
Nods answered the Ōsaka-jin. "Hai, kuma!" Kumiko affirmed. "Tamiko and Tadako got things arranged with the ward offices, especially after Teitoku's friends in the tower made sure all the lost taxes for the place were paid up, kuma."
Here, she thumbed the empty house directly north of the Moroboshi property; the two buildings were separated by an unnamed side street. Said house had been vacated shortly after the turn of the year, when the immediate neighbours of the place where Moroboshi Ataru's "wife" had taken up residence got themselves out of town to finally escape from being caught in the back-blast of whatever insanity rocked the lives of the most "infamous" teen on Earth and his relatives. Of course, the loss of property taxes was one of many factors which had soured the opinions of all the ward managers in this part of Nishitōkyō concerning the "cancer of Tomobiki" when it came to whatever bout of stupid weirdness struck their once-normal neighbourhood.
Such attitudes were going to be VIOLENTLY readjusted as soon as the sisters and their shipgirl allies could arrange things.
"So what are you girls doing here anyway?" Otsune added. "It's a school day tomorrow...and I know Yotsuba-san lives in London right now. Sure, those PAA devices allow for teleportation travel, but still...!"
"No school for Yotsuba today, Otsune-san," the master telepath assured the older-looking woman. "Ani-chama wanted to get rid of all 'evidence' when it came to his supposedly 'living' in this dump here for the last decade; Rinrin-chan came up from Ōsaka to help out and Shirayuki-chan came by to keep the tea flowing. All pictures are gone, any records in the house replaced with what things SHOULD have said when Ani-chama was rescued from this place by Ayone-obachama back before 9/11. Once the fools and the rest of the idiot parade get back here from Uru, Ani-chama's 'parents' are going to have a lot of explaining to do once they find their bank accounts drained of all the money that was embezzled with the help of the fools in the local police box."
The five cruisers sagely nodded. "Yoiko-san told us your family's people downtown are helping the Keiho-kyoku — or whatever's in charge of that sort of thing now after the Yanks screwed things up like they did — investigate those greedy thieves to send them eventually to Fuchū Prison and a date with the hangman if they decide to be stupid about it," Kitami stated. "How soon would they need us to go round up these goofballs to measure them for some decent hangman's rope?"
"That's up to Reigi-san...!"
"HEY! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU BRATS?!"
Yotsuba, Rinrin and Shirayuki exchanged knowing looks. "Ah, the first Darwin Award contestant steps on down," the Master Interrogator trilled knowingly as they and their new shipgirl friends all looked south...
...just as a middle-aged man in the standard duty uniform of the Tōkyō Metropolitan Police Department, the silver one-bar rank of a constable in said force on his tunic, came storming up, his face twisted in a scowl and his baton out. "You're trespassing on private property!" he said as he moved to grab the arm of the Great Chef of the West over the property wall...
ZZ-ZARK!
...then he screamed in agony as the mixed magical/technological shields put over the property by Rinrin as well as a certain arch mage sorceress older half-sister of hers violently reacted to his reaching into a place where most people were NOT supposed to go. As he collapsed to the street gripping his burnt extremity, Yotsuba drew out her PAA, mentally keying into it to get this man's picture and compare it to Toranoseishin Finances' records concerning people of interest surrounding her brother. A second later, a small holographic screen came up with a quick bio in English script. "Ooh, dirty cop checky here for sure, girls!" the master telepath then drolled, making the other girls present gaze her way. "Constable Sakurada Jun'ichi; he's the paedophilic bastard who's turned a whole tonne of girls from the Taian Commercial School into his private brothel of teen prostitutes."
Instantly, the very air around the five reborn cruisers dipped to well below freezing, making Kotatsuneko yelp before he bounded over the property wall to snuggle close to Shirayuki. "Is that a fact, nya...?" Tamami coolly mused.
Hearing that statement from the Master Interrogator, Sakurada jolted before he bolted up, swinging his baton towards the mouthy girl who knew shit that not even his co-workers at the local police box did...
ZZ-ZARK!
He screamed out again as his other hand was badly burnt from contact with the defences now set up around the Moroboshi property; as he was effectively a permanent resident here, Kotatsuneko hadn't been bothered by the mystical shields that Hirosaki Chikage put over the place on Sunday afternoon after completely shielding the Toranoseishin Finances tower under a very intensive Fieldius Charm which blocked off all who worked in that building from revealing its existence — or what happened within its walls — willy-nilly to anyone who didn't deserve to know what was going on. His baton clattered onto the ground by Kitami's feet, she raising said extremity up to crush the plastic under the metaphysical weight of a 5,182 tonne warship. The loud cracking noise of said act made Sakurada jolt before he screamed out, lunging over to swiftly kick the shaggy-haired woman...
KK-KRUNCH!
...then he dropped onto his only good extremity left, howling in agony after dozens of bones shattered on hitting Kitami's metaphysical main belt armour of 64 millimetres — which was not much in comparison to a capital ship's defences, but given it had been mystically shrunk into human size, the impact shock was magnified considerably — while Otsune walked around her sister to snare what she recognized was his issue radio gear. "Is this being jammed, Shirei-kan?" the adopted Shizuoka-jin asked as she held up said device before the moaning police officer's face, crushing it contemptuously single-handed.
"Naturally," the Technological Sorceress of the East contently purred on seeing this particular bastard taken down by his own stupidity, making Sakurada croak. "Heh! 'Darwin Award'! You sure were right about that, Yotsuba-chan!"
"Checky!" the Master Interrogator trilled in amusement; she HATED dealing with people like this.
"Reparations have to be made to the girls this monster hurt, kuma," Kumiko coolly warned.
"Hime's already filming it for those poor girls, Kumiko-san."
Eyes locked on the Great Chef of the West, she holding up her PAA. "Anonymous messages can be sent," Shirayuki trilled.
"Fair enough for me then."
Eyes locked on the now-evilly smiling middle sister of the Kuma-class cruisers.
A second later, Sakurada was pitched screaming way off into the eastern night sky. "WHOA!" Yotsuba yelped as the slight back-blast of force from such a toss by the adopted Iwate-jin — the Kitakami River from which Kiko was named had its source on the slopes of Mount Nanashiruge within the namesake town of that prefecture in northern Honshū — ruffled everyone's clothes.
Calmly relaxing herself after sending said paedophilic bastard for a mortar bomb flight beyond the eastern coast of Chiba Prefecture well out into the Pacific, Kiko made a poise. "Super Kitakami-sama has arrived!" she dramatically declared.
Everyone stared at her, then laughter escaped the others...
To Be Continued...
WRITER'S NOTES
Character notes: Arakida Yui is my name for the unnamed girl who wished for a boyfriend in the Yatsura manga story "The Bluebird of Happiness" (manga chapter #281). Inoue Tamako is a character who would have appeared in a side story to The Senior Year which hasn't been published; her story is better described in Parts 16-17 of Boy Meets Girl Meets Metahuman. Wakaba Ryōichi and Kusunoki Isamu are based on dōjinshi characters created by Zenra QQ; their given names are my invention. Shizuma Shun AKA "Akane" and Kōyama Sora AKA "Aoi" are based on characters by Nemunemu; their family names are my creation. The Intergalactic News Network (INN) and its home planet of Zeiwan were both introduced in TSY. Sasaki Sāya is based on a dōjinshi character created by Binto. Masamune Kitahachi AKA "Kira", Nozaki Kazuyuki AKA "Kazu", Ishimura Hiroshige AKA "Hiro", Kazu's older brother Nozaki Kazukiyo AKA "Kazumi", Hiro's older brother Ishimura Tokutarō AKA "Takumi" and Hayashida Yūki are all based on dōjinshi characters by Makuro; family names and proper given names are my creation. Note that Kazumi and Takumi are based on unnamed lookalikes to Kazu and Hiro which appear on Page 4 of the first issue of Bijoux Fantaisie; due to such similarities, drawing familial connections was a no-brainer to me. And the Taian Commercial School was first mentioned in the Yatsura anime story "Goodbye Season" (anime episode #64).
Translation list and source language (all Japanese unless otherwise noted): Bigiotteria — Costume jewellery (Italian); Nesetimtuto — Literally "land of beauty", local analogue to the United States (Yizibajohei); Ganguro — Based on the phrase gangankuro ("exceptionally dark"), this term is often translated "dark tanning"; Tene — Lord, the basic suffix honorific for a Gifted male (Yizibajohei); Vosotuto — Land of Rain, analogue to Qatar (Yizibajohei); (Name) e yōkoso — Welcome to (name); Seikei Daigaku — Seikei University, a private general studies post-secondary institution in Musashino; Ajia Daigaku — Asia University, a private business/international studies post-secondary institution also located in Musashino; Shōshō — Navy rear admiral/Army major general/Air force air vice-marshal; Bleachtaire — Detective (Irish); SD — Short for Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS ("Security Service of the Schultzstaffel Imperial Leader"), the intelligence service of the Nazi Party (German); Torishimariyaku — Business director; Nekoyūrei — Cat ghost; Tōkai-Tōsan — Literally "east sea/east mountain", this is an area of Japan around the southern and eastern regions of Chūbu in and around Nagano; Keiho-kyoku — Police Affairs Bureau, sub-department of the pre-Second World War Interior Ministry which served as the central control organ for all civilian policing.
For the cast of Mahō Sensei Negima such as Asakura Kazumi (Windtalker), the events of this series occur after the "Mahora Festival" arc of the manga (manga chapter #s 72-168). The members of Negi Springfield's homeroom class are in the third year of middle school. Note that all hometowns for those characters are my choice, selected from the hometowns of their seiyū.
The beach house noted on in the second scene is the same one which appeared in the twelfth episode of the first Sister Princess anime series, "Vacation is Love". Said beach house is located on the south side of Ōmure-jima/Promised Island from Welcome House, facing out into the Pacific.
Noting on the sister of Moroboshi Ataru who first appears here:
Yotsuba Nemain Dunn (Bleachtaire) — Ani-chama (兄チャマ) (Brother Dearest)
And yes, Yotsuba is a former apprentice of Sherlock Holmes; this is the character who appeared in the BBC 2010 television series Sherlock. Like with the other SisPri characters, her family name (and middle name in this case) is my creation.
Concerning events in the United Kingdom at this time: Had s/he attended Hogwarts at the time of this story, Rose Potter (née Harry Potter) (the Warlock) would be in her OWL year (fifth year) of studies. However, events at Hogwarts were influenced very much thanks to Hirosaki Chikage (Dragonheart) and her newsworthy attendance at the British wand-magical school. Because of this, the Triwizard Tournament (involving Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour) was pushed back a year, allowing an international magical fair hosted at Hogwarts to occur during her fourth year. Also appearing/noted on from the Harry Potter series here are Griphook (who appeared in Philosopher's Stone) and Ragnok (mentioned in Order of the Phoenix). Note that while Ragnok's position at Gringotts (its formal title noted here is my creation) was not noted on in the novels, I borrow the usual convention in HP fanfics which makes him head of the British branch of the goblin-run bank; note that the term kobaloi is my "politically correct" term for such beings, taken from their original Greek name. And Thérèse Peverell (as the living conscience of the horcrux inserted in Harry's forehead scar) first appeared in the Icemaidens series of stories.
The one shipgirl mentioned by Griphook in the final scene here:
Kapitán Pérvyj Ránga Galína Nikolájevna Grígorova-Jurkévich RIF/VMSSS/VMSRF (Linéjnyj Korábl' Gángut [pennant 030])
Galína Grígorova-Jurkévich (LK Gángut) takes after her KanColle interpretation. Her original service was the Rossíjskij Imperátorskij Flot ("Russian Imperial Fleet") AKA the Imperial Russian Navy (short-formed RIF). She would later become part of the Vojénno-Morskíje Síly Sovétskij Sojúz ("Military Maritime Fleet of the Soviet Union") AKA the Soviet Navy (short-formed VMSSS). As she sees herself as Russian even if her namesake battle happened in modern-day Finland, Galína currently serves as part of the Vojénno-Morskíje Síly Rossíjskaja Federátsija ("Military Maritime Fleet of the Russian Federation") AKA the Russian Navy (short-formed VMSRF). Her rank title Kapitán Pérvyj Ránga literally translates as "First-Rank Captain" and is equal to a standard navy captain in other maritime warfare services; such a title is short-formed Kap1. Russia and the Soviet Union did not normally use a universal ship prefix for their naval services, but type prefixes; the term Linéjnyj Korábl' (literally "ship-of-the-line") is what is normally applied to dreadnought battleships, such short-formed LK. Her pennant number is my creation, denoting she's the thirty-first battleship (counting from pennant 000) built in/for Russia; all shipgirls formed from capital ships of the Russian Empire/Soviet Union are numbered in order of planning from 000-049.
