Chapter 3 – The Lightning Queen and the Ice Princess
Mirai, Midtown Horizon City
Beep! Beep! Beep!
I groaned as I reached over to the nightstand to grab my phone and disable its alarm, my mind still foggy and practically screaming at me to just shut my eyes again. Carol had kept me in her car for the better part of three hours before finally dropping me back home at around 2 in the morning, so I had not been able to get as much shut-eye as I had hoped.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
My hand almost slammed onto the table, and I began sweeping it around the area where I thought I put the phone down before I went to bed last night. After a few seconds of feeling around, I felt the familiar rectangular shape, grasped it, and pulled it towards me.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Although subdued in color, the brightness of the phone's screen as it displayed the alarm UI blinded my still-tired eyes. Now squinting at the screen, my vision now even foggier than it normally was when I didn't have my glasses on, I slowly guided my thumb to the slider that would disable the alarm, and… Failed. My thumb sat just a few millimeters above the slider.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
I blinked hard, allowing my vision to clear up ever so slightly, and tried again.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
There we go. That was way harder than it should have been….
While rubbing my eyes with my left hand, I reached back onto the table with my right to retrieve my glasses, and promptly slid them onto my face after finding them in a much quicker pace than I had my phone.
By now, my vision was now much clearer, and my body felt less tired than it had been just moments ago. I put my phone back up to my face – what time was it even right now? Judging by how tired I had been, I probably slept through my usual 7:00 AM alarm, leaving the phone to keep on periodically blaring in an attempt to rouse me every few minutes.
Bracing myself and preemptively squinting this time, I opened the phone.
7:49 already? Just reading the time gave me a sudden burst in energy as I sat up straight and rotated my body such that I was sitting with my feet touching the carpet below.
Atago had requested last night that I start of my 'officer conversation' tour with her and her sister today, specifically during the morning. She hadn't specified exactly what time she wanted, but there were only 4 hours left until noon – I had better get ready and fast.
As I slipped out of bed, it occurred to me that Atago also hadn't told me where her house was, but that was something that could wait be asked later, after I took a shower.
Now that I was dried off from my shower, I reached towards my phone with the intent to text Atago about when and where she intended for me to talk to her and her sister. However, it turned out that there would be no such need for that, as I was greeted with a stream of text notifications from Atago as I turned the screen on.
Takanashi Atago [8:32 AM]: Hey, hey~!
Takanashi Atago [8:32 AM]: Hiroshi-kun, I told you the other night to come talk to Takao-chan and I at our home, but completely forgot to tell you where we live!
Takanashi Atago [8:33 AM]: wwwww (1*)
Takanashi Atago [8:33 AM]: We live in Legacy Tower, just outside of downtown
Takanashi Atago [8:33 AM]: Lemme get you directions
Takanashi Atago [8:34 AM]: I'm here! . /m-horizon/a98zHU1nfy (This message was auto-generated by Goggle Maps)
Takanashi Atago [8:34 AM]: When you're there, go and buzz into the floor 50 penthouse – that's us!
Takanashi Atago [8:35 AM]: We're free around 11 if you want to head over today
Takanashi Atago [8:35 AM]: Cya soon!
Takanashi Atago [8:36 AM]: [Sticker emoticon of a chibi Ranka Lee's 'Kira!' pose]
'Okay! I'll see you then!' I typed a simple response back.
Exiting the screen showing my texts from Atago, I looked at the time displayed on the phone – 9:17. 11 was still relatively early in the day, and it was unlikely that it would take more than three hours to talk with Atago and Takao. I could probably squeeze in my intended talk with Ooyodo over lunch to keep my detailed impressions of both her and Takao fresh.
Quickly coming to the conclusion that this would be my course of action, I pulled up Ooyodo's texts.
'Hey, Ooyodo-san. Would you be free around lunchtime today for a chat?'
After sending the message, I put the phone down and began getting ready for the day.
As I plopped down onto a seat on the FTS bus that would get me close to where Atago and Takao lived, my phone began to vibrate from within my pocket. After retrieving it and turning on the display, I now saw that the notification I received was from Ooyodo:
Nakano Ooyodo [10:24 AM]: That sounds great, Kanchou!
Nakano Ooyodo [10:24 AM]: Hiroshi-san* Sorry!
Nakano Ooyodo [10:24 AM]: Would you be fine with meeting at the café across the street from Nagato Station?
Nakano Ooyodo [10:25 AM]: Atago told me you were going to stop by her place today, so you should pass by it on your way to Legacy Tower.
'That's fine with me. See you at 2!' I quickly typed back, before switching to my phone's navigation app to double check that there was indeed a café across from Nagato Station, and sure enough, there was.
The rest of the bus ride went by smoothly, although there were quite a few times when I caught myself thinking about how much nicer it was in Carol's car. I should definitely ask her about getting one the next time I talk to her…
After a short walk from Nagato Station, I stood in front of Legacy Tower, one of the tallest residential buildings within Horizon City, and apparently the home of the two Takanashi twins. It was also, of course, one of the most expensive places to live within the entire fleet. It came as no surprise to me that the two daughters of a well-established military family would live in luxury, but just standing here gave me a sense that I was way out of my league…
Trying my best to exude the confidence and swagger of the building's residents who were all around me, I pulled up Atago's texts from earlier and walked up to the access panel in front of the tower's locked doors, referencing the text to navigate to the communication channel to the 50th floor penthouse. As expected, the screen informed me that the penthouse did indeed belong to Admiral Takanashi's family.
I pressed the button to open communications to the suite. "Hello? Atago-san? Takao-san?"
No response.
I began typing up a text to Atago, informing her that I was currently at their building and asking where she was.
As I waited for Atago's response, my thoughts wandered towards the two twins who would soon be my responsibility. Was I even worthy of command over those two, who were probably groomed for officer positions from birth? Why were they even assigned to a frigate anyways? I would think that daughters of an admiral would get the easy desk jobs, or operator positions on the Battle Horizon, not some Northampton in a scouting squadron…
No. Now wasn't the time for these kinds of thoughts. I did my best to shove my doubt into the back of my mind, while simultaneously calling forth Carol's pep talks to me over the past few days...
"Ufufu..." A familiar voice softly laughed from directly behind me, interrupting my thoughts. I turned around to confirm who it was. She wore a casual outfit consisting of a pencil skirt and a loose-fitting top, emphasizing her large chest... She had long, dark hair, crowned by a black hairband with a ribbon with that reminded me of bunny ears. Her pretty face was one that could not be described as any less than 'gorgeous', and her dark, amber eyes made it nearly impossible to avoid staring.
She was, of course, the Lightning Queen, Takanashi Atago.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Hiroshi-kun~!" She said before cheerfully before striding past me and towards the door, unlocking it with a gesture of her left wrist, which I now saw was adorned by a glistening silver watch, in front of a scanner.
She twirled around back towards me as she entered the building, "Come on in~! I'll show you our home!" she gestured at me with a 'come here' motion.
In response, I simply nodded, and followed her through the entrance. As I followed her to the elevators, my eyes naturally wandered around, studied my new surroundings out of curiosity – it was the first time I had ever been in here, after all. For such a fancy building, the lobby seemed quite plain; as one would expect, there were some tables and chairs sitting around, but no one was around to use them.
What really caught my attention, however, were the various paintings displayed across the walls. They had a distinct sort of 'old Earth' feel to them – one painting depicted a scene of a field of flowers surrounded on all sides by a harsh, desolate wasteland, cluttered with the wreckage of human and Zentradi ships alike. Another painting showed a thriving coral reef, teeming with life of all sorts, that had taken root on a sunken VF-1 Valkyrie. These paintings were surely befitting of their display within the building known as 'Legacy Tower'.
My thoughts on the building's décor were ended as Atago and I stopped in front of the elevator. Upon stopping, Atago immediately pressed the call button; the panel indicated that it was currently on floor 29, leaving us in for a bit of a wait.
As we waited for the elevator, Atago began rummaging through a pink plastic bag at her side, which I had not noticed earlier. When she finally secured what she was looking for, she pulled it out, revealing a plastic cup filled with an icy light liquid, likely an iced coffee or tea. Promptly, she offered the drink my way, "For you~"
As we made eye contact, it struck me how similar she looked to her twin. Accessories aside, if not for her hairstyle and the mole under her right eye, it would be nigh impossible to tell the difference between her and Takao – they were twins, after all. Hopefully I wouldn't have to deal with playing that sort of game with them anytime soon...
"Thank you Taka-" I started, but instantly slipped and fell down a ditch by almost uttering her twin's name, which was now at the top of my mind. I attempted to cover up my mistake by clearing my throat before continuing and correcting myself, "Takanashi-san."
While I thought that was a clever recovery, it still sounded like I was trying to say 'Takao' instead of 'Takanashi', which unfortunately for me, Atago seemed to recognize...
"Hmph," she pouted, swiftly withdrawing the drink from me and teasingly sticking her tongue out at me before continuing, "Atago. A~ Ta~ Go~! That's my name, and you'd best remember it!"
Atago's exaggerated motions had caused the drink in her hand to begin swashing within the cup. Realizing this, she put down the items on the floor nearby before resuming her stance directly in front of me.
She then let lose a barrage of teasing pokes my way to emphasize her warning to remember her name. Atago certainly was very touchy, not hesitating to poke my forehead, chest, stomach, and even cheeks. While her pokes were more in tease than in anger, they were still quite annoying, and she seemed to have no intention of stopping. It was also quite embarrassing, seeing as we were still in the lobby of the building.
Ding!
The elevator had arrived, and with lightning quick reactions befitting to her occupation as a Valkyrie pilot, Atago ceased her assault on me, saving her the embarrassment of having to explain her actions to any spectators.
The door now slid open, revealing a middle-aged man inside.
"Good morning, Ms. Takanashi." The man greeted, giving a quick nod in our direction.
"Good morning, Mr. Wolfe~" Atago replied with a bright smile as I simultaneously gave a short nod of my own and moved aside for the man to get through. As the man passed, Atago picked up the drink-containing bag she had previously left on the floor.
"Looks like you've got a date today!" He added as Atago and I stepped into the elevator. He started chuckling as he continued walking towards the entrance, "Treat her well son, or the Admiral will be on your ass!"
I felt myself freeze up a bit, forgetting about how Atago was just poking me to death and now focusing on how others were perceiving us. Did we really look like a couple to that guy?
Atago giggled as she pressed the button for her floor. "Jeez. Even old men like him can be so fascinated with romance..."
The elevator began moving up as she continued, almost as if she could read my mind, "For your information, Hiroshi-kun, I don't really see ourselves in that way; we've only known each other for a few days after all."
"I don't either, Atago-" I attempted to agree, before being interrupted by her.
"However~" She said in a sultry tone as she put her index finger to her mouth and shot me a devilish smile, "If anything were to happen between us while we're alone, you'd take responsibility, right?"
I blankly stared at Atago for a split second as my lips moved to form the phrase 'What?'.
"Just kidding~! Don't take that too seriously now!" Atago reached into her plastic bag once more and offered me one of the drinks within, defusing the awkwardness in the air. "Here. Just don't forget my name this time."
"I swear, it was just a slip of my tongue, but thanks, Atago-san..."
"Remember, just 'Atago' is fine!" She immediately responded back, reminding me of what she told me last night, as she reached back into the bag to retrieve her own drink. She offered me a straw from within.
"Thanks, Atago." I replied, making sure to address her how she wanted, as I took it from her hand and put it into my cup.
"That's more like it~" She said as she inserted her own straw into her cup.
"Let's have a toast! To our friendship!" Atago said excitedly as she tilted her drink towards me.
"To our friendship!" I replied enthusiastically, touching her cup with mine. It was a big relief that Atago seemed to be taking a liking to me. After all, she was equal to me in rank, and would likely be the second most important person on the ship after me – we needed to work together, and being friends would make that much easier.
Ding!
On our toast, the elevator had arrived at the Takanashi residence – the penthouse of the 50th floor.
"While we wait for Takao-chan to get back, I'll give you a quick tour!" Atago said, pulling me out of the elevator and into the elevator lobby of her home.
She began taking off her shoes and putting on a pair of slippers she withdrew from a shelf next to the elevator door. Once she had done this, she pulled out a new, fresh pair and handed them to me.
With a nod,I took them and began removing my shoes for the slippers. Not even a second after I finished, Atago tugged on me once more, and led her into her home.
The light generated by the Mirai's artificial sky shone brilliantly into the brightly colored, open area of the Takanashi residence. This penthouse was easily larger than my own apartment, and I thought that my place was decently sized! A full-size Zentradi could probably walk around here with ease...
Just from what I could see so far, the space was magnificently decorated and furnished. To my left stood a grand piano, with shelves on its left holding a few models of various warships of both the water-going and space-going variety. To my right was a large television set accompanied by an equally large coffee table and couch a bit deeper into the penthouse.
"Well, just don't stand there gawking!" Atago said brightly, popping in front of me and pulling me out of my observation, "What do you think?"
"It's certainly larger than I had thought it would be…" I replied. I entered thought again briefly, thinking about something more interesting to say than simply 'it's big'.
"Oh," I added an idea popping into my head, "and I like the light theme you have going on here. It almost makes it look like heaven. It must be a pain to clean this place though."
I chuckled a bit at my statement and was promptly joined in laughter by Atago.
"Yeah," Atago said lightly. "Okaa-sama was quite proud of her work in decorating this place; I'm glad you like it. And for your information, it was and is quite a pain to clean around here. Otou-sama and Okaa-sama don't usually hire people for cleaning; it's usually us four sisters who clean. It was especially tough when we were children, cleaning stains on light carpets is not an easy job, I'll tell you that…"
Atago sighed nostalgically at her remark. I thought it was good that the Admiral seemed to have raised his children to be self-sufficient rather than spoiled; the more I learned about them, the more it seemed that the two twins would be good help around the ship in the near future. However, wasn't there only Atago and Takao? When did she ever mention there were four sisters?
"Atago, you have more sisters other than Takao-san?" I asked.
"Ara, it seems I forgot to tell you about them," she said, putting her finger to her chin, likely fast-forwarding through our previous conversation to see if she had talked about them. "Well in short, our house has two sets of twins – the oldest pair is Takao-chan and I. Then, there's the younger pair, about two years younger than us - Maya-chan and Choukai-chan. They're in class right now, so you probably won't be seeing them today."
"I see. It must be lively around here with two twins." I lightly commented before changing the topic, "Also, speaking of Takao-san, where is she?"
"Hm… Takao-chan…" Atago said softly and looked down at her watch. "Well, usually around now, she's wrapping up her morning training, so she'll probably be back in 15 or 20 minutes. That gives me enough time to show you around!"
Atago firmly grabbed my arm and began leading me deeper into the penthouse to begin her tour.
Jeez, this girl really likes pulling me along...
And so, for the next 15 minutes, Atago happily and enthusiastically gave me around her home. As expected, it was rather spacious and luxurious, befitting of a distinguished family like hers. The penthouse was divided into two floors. The first floor consisted of the common areas, such as the living room, kitchen, and dining room. There was also Admiral Takanashi's personal study and office. Additionally, the first floor had a deck spanning around it, giving a grand view of Horizon City, and really, the rest of the Mirai, below. The second floor consisted of more private rooms, such as the twins' rooms, their parent's room, and a guest room. There was also a more private television room in addition to what appeared to be a training dojo.
As Atago led me down the stairs back to the first floor, a faint 'Ding!' could be heard from the elevator lobby.
"Takao-chan~?" She called out, "Is that you?"
"Hai~" A familiar voice, ever slightly deeper than Atago's, called out in a deadpan fashion.
Atago hastened her pace down the stairs, dragging me along, to greet her sister.
With an almost sprint-like pace, we reached the elevator lobby, and Atago opened the door, catching Takao as she was taking off one of her shoes. As Atago had said, it indeed looked like she had just returned from a workout, as she donned a simple red track jacket and a pair of black sweatpants.
"Welcome back, Takao-chan~!" Atago said as she drew her twin into an embrace, acting with such excitement as if they had not seen each other in years.
I amusedly watched Takao struggle against her sister, desperately trying to push her away to no avail. This was a completely different Takao than the one I had seen last night and onboard the Battle Horizon. From her bright blush to her higher pitched voice, and hell, even her range of movement was unlike the cold composure I had seen and come to expect of her over the past two days.
"Atago, stop that this instant," Takao demanded her sister in-between breaths. "I am not in the mood for your teasing."
"Aww~, you never are," Atago pouted, her hold on Takao still firm. "Fine! Say the magic words and I'll let go~"
Takao gave a long sigh in response.
"Please, Atago-oneechan," she said in monotone.
"Yay~! Good job~!" Atago released Takao from her hold, apparently pleased by being called 'nee-chan' by her twin. But wait, aren't they twins? Which one was even born first?
With Takao free from her sister, she completed putting on her slippers and turned towards the doorway into the penthouse – towards me. Our eyes locked and we briefly stared at each other for a moment. The surprised look on her face was all it took for me to know that she wasn't expecting me.
"H-Hello, Hiroshi-san." She said weakly, quickly darting her eyes to the side and breaking eye contact.
"Hi, Takao-san."
Before I could say any more, Atago interrupted me with her own statement.
"Let's continue this conversation on the deck. I'm sure you're a bit tired and want to sit down, Takao-chan." She turned towards me, "Hiroshi-kun, do you mind getting her one of those drinks from earlier? The last one should be in the fridge."
"Of course," I replied.
"Thanks~" Atago gave me a smile as I turned around to head towards their kitchen.
With Takao's drink in hand, I walked out onto the wooden deck of the penthouse. Atago had skimmed over showing off the view from the penthouse deck in favor of showing me the interior, so this was my first clear view of Horizon City from this vantage point.
I paused for a moment just in front of the railings. Being so high off the ground, the view was jaw dropping – I could see it all, from the bustling Neo Tokyo district at the center of the city to the rolling hills and forests near the edge of the dome. If I focused, my vision could just barely pierce through the dome's projection of the sky, allowing me to make out the trailing environment ships and some ships of the Horizon's escort fleet. I could stand here all day!
Unfortunately, I still had to make my drink delivery to Takao. I turned my head to the left towards the girl in question, who was presently seated on one of the couches and deeply immersed in something on her phone. Seated to her left was Atago, who was reading what I assumed was a fashion magazine based on the picture Sheryl Nome, clad in a stylish and sexy swimsuit, on the cover.
So Atago was also a fan of Sheryl… Good taste. She certainly wasn't called the 'Galactic Fairy' for nothing – she had something that appealed to everyone, from her sexy figure to her songs, ranging from upbeat and energetic to somber and emotional; hell, even her heart-throbbing love story with that kabuki actor-turned-pilot Saotome Alto helped her gain even more fans across the galaxy...
"Hiroshi-kun~" Atago called out in an almost seductive manner, her eyes peeking over the magazine at me. "Feel free to stare all you want, but remember that Takao-chan needs her drink before it melts in the heat~"
I gulped at Atago's teasing statement before suddenly remembering the cup in my left hand, as I rapidly became aware of its coldness once more. Without any more hesitation, I walked over to where the two twins were seated and placed the cup on the coffee table in front of Takao.
"Sorry for the wait, Takao-san," I briefly apologized before taking a seat directly across from the two.
"Thanks," Takao said nonchalantly as she picked up the drink, inserted a straw and took a few gulps out of it in a quick, fluid motion, not even looking my way the whole time. She then placed it back onto the table and stretched her arms upwards with her hands interlocked, palms towards the sky.
Jeez... What even did I do to her to make her so… Indifferent to me?
But before I could think any deeper into the Takao situation, Atago interrupted me, noticing that I was staring in her general direction again.
"Enjoying the view?" Atago said, lowering the magazine down to her lap. "What's caught your eye?"
"Oh, it was nothing," I shook my head, trying to not slip up and say anything about the sort-of feud going on between Takao and I. "I was just wondering based off the magazine cover, do you like Sheryl Nome?"
She frowned, and I instinctively opened my mouth to apologize as my head connected that what I had said could be taken as basically saying 'I don't think you're attractive'.
"Aha! You're so easy to tease, Hiroshi-kun~" Atago said with a smug giggle, prompting a sigh of relief from me.
On the other hand, Takao let out a softer, more irritated sigh as she continued scrolling through whatever was on her phone.
"But yes," Atago continued, "I love Sheryl! She's a big inspiration on my wardrobe, and I always find myself listening to at least one of her songs every day!"
Her wardrobe? Nope. I am not falling for that obvious trap and playing into her hand by asking any further about that.
"Well, what's your favorite song?"
"Hm," Atago paused to think for a second. "I've been listening to 'graphite/diamond' a lot recently after Choukai-chan showed the anime opening version to me. Say, Takao-chan, do you remember what that anime was called?"
Actually, I knew what anime it was from. Although I hadn't watched it, I was very familiar with its franchise since it was becoming increasingly popular on the Horizon fleet, and really the rest of the New UN as well. It was from…
"Spacy Fleet Girls," Takao responded immediately, rolling her eyes and sighing.
"Thanks, Takao-chan~" Atago clapped her hands before going to her phone and typing into it, presumably searching it online.
"Don't bother searching it, Atago. It's quite the stupid concept," Takao looked over at her twin said with a stern, confident voice. Honestly, this was probably the loudest I had heard her since our first meeting before the battle.
But, as expected, Atago ignored her and continued on her light research of Spacy Fleet Girls.
Basically, Spacy Fleet Girls, also known as Uchugun Kantai Musume, or simply 'SFG', was a large multimedia franchise originating from the planet Frontier, or as it was previously known a few years ago before its successful emigration, the Macross Frontier emigration fleet. It had humble beginnings as a character card-based RPG centered around personifications of various warships of the Frontier's escort fleet as women with quirky and memorable personalities.
Following the Frontier's victory in the Vajra War, SFG exploded in popularity, prompting multiple spin-off games, manga, novels, character song albums, and most recently, an anime adaptation. As Frontier began to export SFG media along the Galaxy Network, they soon found that they had found a cultural equivalent to their military goldmine known as the export of the VF-25 Messiah. Seemingly every artist across the galaxy had begun to draw their favorite warships of the New UN Spacy as SFG characters, while local media companies were clawing at each other for rights to distribution of SFG, as well as rights for creation of new official characters to the franchise's roster.
It could practically be considered a miracle that Atago had avoided learning about 'Spacy Fleet Girls' over the past year as it became more and more popular.
"Why do you say that Takao-chan? This looks pretty neat to me," Atago commented enthusiastically.
"Yeah, it's pretty popular, too, you know?" I added in.
"Well, firstly, it makes no sense that girls dressed in anything between an admiral's uniform and a glorified, skimpy swimsuit and equipped with exoskeletons that vaguely resemble warships can go toe-to-toe with entire fleets of Abyssals, or whatever the enemies in SFG were called," Takao explained to Atago, not even batting an eye towards me.
An aura of elitism began to emanate from her as she crossed her arms in a disappointed manner before she continued, "And secondly, the whole 'project', if it can even be called that, is a crude bastardization of more respectable military series like Super Dimension Fortress Yamato 2012 or Battle Valkyrie Shigure. The only reason that garbage like Spacy Fleet Girls is popular is purely because attractive women are involved, not because people respect the warships the women represent."
"Really?" I asked, genuinely confused. "To me, it seems like Spacy Fleet Girls has increased public interest in aspects of the Spacy other than Valkyries, pilots, and warships with the name 'Macross' or 'Battle' in them," I argued, briefly glancing towards Atago as I finished my sentence. "I've had several people come up to me since SFG became popular that expressed a lot of genuine curiosity and interest in what we do as the crew of a warship."
"Wow! That's really great!" Atago commented, before Takao could respond.
For just a split second, it seemed like Takao and I had a shared thought as we stared a hole into Atago in response to her statement.
She rapidly waved her hands in front of herself, "Sorry! I know I'm a pilot and all, but I know where you're coming from, Hiroshi-kun. You know, Takao-chan-"
Atago paused, which I found rather uncharacteristic of her – she always knew what to say, or at least that's what I had made of her based on her reputation as well as my experience in conversing with her.
Atago spoke up again after a few seconds, "Er, you know Takao-chan, maybe Spacy Fleet Girls isn't that bad. How about you try watching the opening with us?"
That definitely wasn't what she was going to say, but I don't think it would be very appropriate to ask into it, so I just politely smiled and nodded in agreement to Atago as she switched her phone's display to its holographic setting.
Without further ado, the display flared to life. As Sheryl began to sing the line of graphite/diamond, several flights of VF-25s streaked past the camera, which then zoomed into the direction the fighters had appeared from to reveal a woman wearing modified New UN Spacy admiral uniform that was white instead of the traditional crimson and had no sleeves. Based on her exoskeleton ship rigging with its twin booms and her domed, bright orange visor, this was obviously supposed to be a representation of the legendary Macross Quarter.
Looking the camera dead in the eye, she materialized a bow and shot an arrow into the camera's point of view, and the screen faded to black. As Sheryl's voice faded away momentarily, the logo of Spacy Fleet Girls appeared on the screen, which drew heavy inspiration from the iconic 'kite' insignia of the former UN Spacy before its reformation into the modern New UN Spacy.
As Sheryl's voice returned, the song became more relaxed. Similarly, the opening transitioned into a scene of multiple supporting characters enjoying daily activities, from eating, watching television, and of course, swimming. However, the next second, the singing became more intense, and again the scene shifted into the girl representing the Quarter fighting several robotic-looking enemies, who were chasing her. Suddenly, she turned back and unleashed a flurry of arrows onto her pursuers, with each arrow transforming into a flight of Messiahs in a flash of light.
A much larger foe appeared, and it looked like the Quarter was finished for, but the other girls from earlier in the opening suddenly came into view and assisted the Quarter, unleashing an awesome barrage of heavy quantum beams, missiles, variable fighters, and artillery shells onto their enemy. The opening ended as Sheryl's singing stopped, but the song continued on instrumentals only for a few more seconds as the camera focused on a relaxed, smiling Quarter before panning up into the sky of what seemed to be the planet Frontier due to the sharp yet organic ring surrounding the planet.
Atago was the first to speak, "I think it looked really exciting!"
I nodded, "Yeah, I haven't seen it until now, but I think they put a lot of effort into it just judging from the animation quality for the opening."
"What about you, Takao-chan?" Atago leaned over and poked her sister in the cheek when she didn't comment after me.
Takao sighed, clearly unimpressed, "I really don't understand why you like it, Atago... I stand firm with my earlier opinion."
After that, the three of us, or rather just Atago and I departed our conversation about Sheryl and moved to more unexplored territory…
Putting her teasing and slightly lewd mannerisms aside, Atago was quite easy to talk to. She always had something related to the current topic at hand to keep driving the conversation forward. After talking about Sheryl, we went on to things like our favorite media, food, and other similar light topics in order to familiarize ourselves with each other.
Occasionally, Takao would add in her thoughts, but only when she was prompted to by Atago, never on her own accord nor by my request. However, it was clear to me at this point that she was a big fan of military media, as she did respond with Super Dimension Fortress Yamato and Shigure which she had also used earlier as examples when complaining about Spacy Fleet Girls, when Atago asked her to tell me some media that she enjoyed.
Atago leaned over to look at Takao's phone and gasped, "Ara, look at the time!" She stood up and picked up her purse, which was lying on a chair adjacent to the couch she and Takao were sitting on. After glancing into the bag briefly, she continued, "Sorry, Hiroshi-kun, but I'm afraid I have to get going now. I also promised to do the rounds with my new squadron's pilots. Feel free to stay for a bit longer if you like!"
With that, she gracefully swung around on her heel and began towards the elevator. As she reached door separating the penthouse from the deck, she stuck up her hand and waved, "Bye, bye!"
"See you soon," I waved back.
"Stay safe, Atago," Takao called out, eyes still locked onto her phone.
"Hai~" Atago's voice called out from within the penthouse.
A moment later, the elevator had arrived, and the two of us were now left alone as Atago stepped onboard and the doors closed.
For the next few minutes, Takao and I sat in complete silence. From what I'd observed of her over the few days we've known each other, she didn't seem to be too much of the talkative type. The other day at dinner, I don't think I saw her talk to anyone besides her sister and Ooyodo without her being addressed first. And even just now, she didn't speak until Atago prompted her to...
I stared into space, pondering about what I could talk about with Takao to break the silence. However, my expectations were shattered when the first of us to speak up was not me, but Takao herself.
"Shouldn't you be on your way?" The twin asked quizzically, barely looking up from her phone, "Atago is gone now, so your business here should be over, no?"
My eyes narrowed at Takao as I responded, "Why would I do that? I came here to talk to you as well, Takao-san, not just your sister."
"Is that so? Well, whatever suits you, Hiroshi-san," she said, her voice trailing off as she put her phone in her pocket and got up from her seat and headed back indoors.
I stood up to follow her, taking 'whatever suits you'… as my invitation to continue this conversation, if it could even be called that, wherever she went.
Takao proceeded onto the second floor and into the dojo room that Atago had shown me earlier. As she disappeared into a second room deeper within the dojo room, probably to change, I sat myself down on the floor towards the center of the side walls.
After a few moments, Takao returned, now donned in a more traditional outfit, consisting of a well-fitting white kimono top and dark grey hakama skirt. She then took a wooden sword from a rack and positioned herself in the center of the room and began swinging.
One swing… Two swings… Three swings…
I don't think she's going to take the initiate the conversation again…
"Why are you practicing?" I asked, starting with a simple question on her current activity.
"Training," she answered, her rhythm staying steady.
Well, that was a start. At least I know now she isn't going to completely ignore me like she did earlier.
"Training for what?" I asked further. I added with a light-hearted, friendly chuckle, "The age of the samurai has long passed, you know."
However, Takao didn't seem to take that the way I intended it to. She sighed once again, something that I was now coming to expect from her, before explaining in a poetic manner, "Training for self-improvement. Small strokes have fallen great oaks, and constant drops pierce through stone. Those who persevere in their training shall seize victory in the most critical of moments. If I cannot do something as simple as swinging this sword, then what good am I in doing anything more complex?"
"I see," I confirmed to her. That seemed to be a key part of her mentality – she tries to apply her resolve in kendo towards everything else she does. Interesting…
With nothing else to say, I continued to watch Takao for a bit longer. Her movements seemed so exact, with each stroke of her sword starting and ending in seemingly the exact same place. It was almost as if she were some kind of kendo robot.
"So," I began a few moments later, deciding to go back to small talk to learn more about Takao. "What're some of your interests?"
Again, without breaking form or rhythm, she blankly replied, "As you can see, one of them happens to be kendo."
I should've seen that one coming from miles away...
"Well, have you ever done any competitions or anything?" I asked, continuing on the topic of kendo. I didn't really know that much about the art other than the basics, so I would have to stick to generic topics to keep this conversation going. "You seem pretty good at it, so you must have won some competitions, right?" I added.
While Takao had responded nonchalantly to the other questions I posed her, this one seemed to get her.
Her swinging came to an abrupt stop as her form crumbled before my eyes. She briefly turned her head in the opposite direction of my gaze as she took a few deep breaths.
"G-Get out," I heard her say through a strained voice, still turned away from me.
"I'm sorry," I apologized in a softer tone than my usual. I don't know why my question had made her so angry, but it was completely unintentional.
Takao turned back towards me with a steeled, almost fiery look in her eyes before she closed the few meters between us with lightning speed.
"I said, get out!" She said much clearer and angrily now, extending her arm such that the tip of her sword was at my throat.
My fight or flight instincts activated right then, and the next thing I knew, I was back at the elevator, heading down back towards ground level.
As the elevator continued to descend, I couldn't help but thinking about Takao. She seemed dedicated, extremely dedicated at that, but she also seemed to still have that grudge over me. Additionally, there was the brief outburst that she had on me – just what had happened there? Obviously, I had said something that offended her, but why did she take offense from that in the first place? Maybe this would be something that Ooyodo would be able to shed some insight on...
Footnotes:
(1*): w = Japanese text slang equivalent to 'lol'. I was only a VTuber fan for a few months (during the immediate burst in popularity following the Azur Lane/Hololive collab), but this was something pretty interesting thing I learned during that period of time wwwwww
A/N
I feel like I've gotten a lot of my ranting out of the way over the past few months in author's notes, so I don't really have that much to say.
One interesting thing about this chapter was that I actually wrote a large chunk of it back in August/early September of last year (2021), so that's why I was able to get this out a lot sooner than the past two chapters, which I had to start from scratch. I think I'm going to try working on getting a bit more concise with chapters, so hopefully you'll be hearing from me again in about a month or so (hopefully less if I stay focused on writing).
Apologies if there are any typos in this chapter right now. I'm about to go on a trip, and I just finished this chapter last night. I'll do a more thorough proof-read once I get home early next week and edit if necessary.
And that's about it. Feedback of any kind is appreciated. Cya.