Well time for more trains again. The main reason behind this is that I had an actual dream that described pretty much what I decided to write in this chapter. So I went with it.
I'd like to remind everyone once again Nihonmatsu railyard does not exist, whereas Tokyo freight terminal does. Also there will be a lot of surprises in this chapter hence the title.
Anyways onto the story, enjoy everyone.
Time: 09:00
Date: 20th November
Location: Railyard maintenance shed
"Okay, everything is in place for the new Loco's" I said dusting myself off
"I'm glad that's over"
"I'm sorry Inazuma-san for this"
"It's okay, but now I want to go and get a bath" she replied
"I second that" I said heading out of the building with Inazuma following behind.
It has been a busy 15 days since the fireworks festival and the main reason is that the day after the festival Kaa-san had a video conference with all of the Kanmusu bases and had stated that the exchange program had finally entered its first stage. This caused everyone to become rowdy but were quickly silenced by Auntie before mother continued to speak.
Out of the multiple bases that comprised of Japan's Kanmusu program only three had been chosen to be part of the exchange program. Our base was one of them and as soon as the video conference had ended the group went into a huge uproar so yet again I found a clear space and fired my cannons and silence fell in the room.
Auntie then reiterated what she said before when the program was first announced and everyone once again firmly decided that whoever came they would all try to get along with them, hell most of them were wanting to meet the foreign ship girls.
Everyone split up after that and when off to do their own thing, my sisters had sorties to go on with some of the others and I saw them off. But just as I was about to head to lunch I was dragged by Auntie into her office where the head officer from the JMSDF's rail division was waiting via a video call.
The information that was gathered from that call was this, due to the shortage of staff dedicated to freight delivery to all of the bases. All bases as of now had to pick up their own supplies from the various freight terminals dotted around the country, in addition to that the bases had to provide their own electric freight locomotives due there being a shortage of diesel freight locomotives.
This meant that the line from Hakusan station to the railyard, including some of the shed, had to be extended and electrified due to the fact that we already had an EMU on the base. Luckily the person had stated that a professional crew would get the job done as quickly as they could. Then the call had ended and auntie gave me permission to have the rest of the day off in order to process the information that was given.
But I still went on my scheduled sortie because it would help me mull things over in peace on the oceans. Of course my kill count was upped when some Abyssals disturbed my silence and pissed me off there was however a very weird looking abyssal that gained my attention.
It had the body of a wo class but instead of a hat it had a flight deck on its right arm but no bow was seen and the planes were launching themselves, but what really confused me was the presence of torpedo launchers on its legs, 4 torpedos in each launcher.
I didn't know what to think of this thing, but it needed to be put down. Thankfully I had gotten quite few shots from my planes as well as video footage on my phone. I then blew the beast to bits, it did put quite a fight though before going down. I then noticed it left not one but two cores behind…. MIND BLOWN!... They did differ from each other though I knew that much.
I then immediately picked up the pace and headed back to base, where I ran and barged into Aunties office whilst she was in a call with Kaa-san and doctor Mizu. I caught my breath before reporting my findings which left all three of them in shock and I was asked to leave and whilst they went over what I had told them.
For the next week after that incident the wiring crew came and went in a massive blur, it was amazing to watch how fast they put up all of the necessary wiring in a precise manner, plus they had to revamp the existing line in to keep up to modern standards.
I also had to get in on it due to the fact that I needed proper training in order to service and maintain the wires and other components that comprised the electrical circuit and as a result I now knew the in's and out's of the entire system.
On the 13th auntie called into the office once more, but due to the fact that I just came back from another sortie I was extremely tired and hungry so she decided to keep the talk brief. Auntie boiled it down to that she had gotten a hold of an electric freight locomotive, she wouldn't tell me what it was under the guise of a surprise, and I had to go and pick it up from my favourite place and that was Nihonmatsu railyard.
Now this got me excited because I got to see Chian and Miya again. Auntie then snapped me out of it and then told me that after I picked up the loco, I was scheduled to pick up a rake of supplies from Tokyo freight terminal. Where whilst the train was being made up I was allowed a few days of exploring and having fun before heading back to base.
The main reason why I was given some time to myself is because of how many Kanmusu bases were heading to the railyard at the same time and since my train was last on the list to be put together, which irritated Auntie to no end, it was going to take the longest hence the couple days of relaxation that I was given.
My excitement had spiked even higher at this and seeing as I had a lot of personal funds that I had put away due to the pay I got from both my job in the railyard and the fact that Kanmusu get higher than average pay, I had hard cash to blow but I wasn't going to be stupid with it.
After the talk was finished I went to prepare for the trip and seeing as I was going to the 'holy land' I waited until dinner to take down requests from everyone on the base and it seemed that they all wanted something.
As a result the next day I went to the Niigata bank and made an account that was going to be a shared account for all of the Kanmusu on the base, I then deposited all of the money I had gathered from the girls and a few hours later the account was fully activated and was ready for use.
This leads us to the present day, after the bath I split up with Inazuma in order to get ready and make sure everything was packed. I then headed over to the station where Akashi was waiting in the ET122 to take a bunch of the girls on their shopping day. It didn't take long for everyone to show up and soon after we were onboard and then we left for the mainland.
As auntie had turned round to head back to her office she stopped in realization of something "Crap, I forgot to tell her about those two. Ah well it will be another nice surprise for her" she said shrugging as she continued to walk.
Time: 11:00
We arrived at Hakusan station once more and I said bye to the girls before heading off to once again take the 3 train journey all the way to Nihonmatsu.
On the second part of the journey I managed to buy some Lunch on the train and whilst I was eating I updated my blog which I had started very recently. Blogging had become quite a big hit with the ship girls and pretty much everyone had one, Zuihou-san's was a good read especially when she caught my mom doing some funny things.
Anyways at around half 3 in the afternoon I arrived in Nihonmatsu and immediately called a taxi and headed over to the railyard. When I arrived Miya wasn't at her desk but I could hear shouting coming from the shed so I went there and smiled as I saw both Chian and Miya barking orders at the rest of the workers. What caught my eye though is that the two of them had large suitcases nearby and I wondered what they were for but I shook my head and walked over to them.
"Hey Chian, Miya" I yelled walking over to them
"Hey kid" "Hello Izumi-san, its been a while" the two of them said as they turned around to face me
"Yeah it has" I said hugging them both before letting go
"Busy day huh"
"Yep, so kid ready to see your new loco?" Chian asked
"Hell yeah!"
"Well let's go then" she said with the two of them grabbing their suitcases which spiked my curiosity even higher.
We walked over to the sidings and when my eyes locked on to the locomotive my jaw hit the floor and I immediately ran over to check it out.
"No freaking way, this is an EH800 series these are freaking amazing. I-I can't believe I get to use this puppy" I said getting a little giddy
"Well believe it kid this bad boy is all yours to play with" Chian said whilst a giggling Miya was behind her.
It took me a little while for me to calm down and when I did I gave the loco a once over both inside and out, I then looked out of the No.1 end cab and once again my eyes caught sight of their suitcases and my curiosity finally got the better of me and so I hopped down out of the cab and went over to them.
"Like it?" Chian asked
"Yep, by the way you two how come you have such large suitcases?" I asked in return, the two of them looked at each other before facing me
"Ara, Izumi-san did your admiral not tell you" Miya said
"Nope" I replied shaking my head
"Well as of today the two of us are assigned to the Sado Island base as engineers and drivers, my sister will be taking over the railyard in my stead" Chain said smirking
"That's wonderful!" I said bear hugging the two of them
"Well, I'm glad you two are packed, you're going to need a few days worth of clothes where we're going" I said letting them go
"What do you mean Izumi-san?" Miya asked
"Well, Miya it boils down to this, after we leave here we are to head to Tokyo freight terminal and whilst we wait for a train of supplies to be made up. We have a few days to relax in Tokyo to do whatever we want before we head back to Sado Island" I replied
"Sweet sounds like a plan…. Ah excuse me" she said before walking away to answer her phone
"What are you going to do in Tokyo Miya?" I asked
"Don't know yet, we'll see when we get there" she replied and it was at this point that Chian returned and she did not look happy
"What's wrong Chian" I asked
"I'm gonna keep this short Okay, basically we had another loco ready for pickup but the Admiral that the loco was for just called and cancelled the pickup saying that she had found another loco closer to her base. But since the loco has already been paid for, she said we could keep the money and do whatever we want with the loco." she stopped to take a swig of her drink before continuing
"So now we have a free Loco and nothing to do with it and this is now a problem that I really didn't want to dump on my sister on her first day " she finished saying whilst scratching her head in frustration
"May I see the Loco" I asked
"Huh, sure Miya go and show her I need some time alone to think" Chian said walking off
"Sure, this way Izumi-san" Miya said taking the lead.
The two of us then crossed the tracks to the other side of the yard and headed into another set of sidings.
"This is the Loco in question Izumi-san" Miya said pointing to another red locomotive and once again my jaw dropped and my eyes went wide in shock
"She turned this down!" I exclaimed
"This is a very rare loco only four of these were built, I can't believe she turned down owning a Toei class E5000 set" I was salivating at this seeing rare beast just sitting there in front of me, I then made a decision.
"Well her loss is my gain, I'll take it"
"Huh?" Miya said
"I said I'll take it besides as Chian said she didn't want to dump this on her sister and we could always use another freight loco at the base because if the EH800 breaks down and there's a supply run to be made well we're screwed. So I'll say it again I'll take the E5000 for the base"
Miya then went silent as she pondered what to do. It took her about 3 minutes before she spoke again
"Okay that is acceptable Izumi-san, why don't you head back over to Chian and explain what is happening whilst I head to the office to make the arrangements for the transfer"
"Will do, also before you go is there a freight car I can take I have a lot of things to buy for the girls back at base and I doubt the railyard will have any spare"
"We do have one, we'll pick it up when we leave" Miya replied before heading on her way.
Once the two of them had walked away, I punched a post in frustration. This is something that I really didn't want to happen, especially now that my sister is in charge and it's her first day to boot.
I walked constantly back and forth just trying to figure out what the bloody hell I should do. It was then that Izumi came back to me and explained that she would be taking the E5000 to which I gave her a big hug and thanked her for saving both me and my sister from a major headache.
Then Miya came back with a tablet and asked Izumi to sign the transfer forms that would signify the ownership of the E5000 to her and with that done we all started to prepare to leave.
Chian then went off and got the E5000 and freight car before hooking them both, with the freight car in the middle, up to the rear of the EH800 and then she joined us in the front cab. We were then sent off by Chian's sister who was another bluenette named lilly and I just had to glomp her as she was too freaking adorable.
Anyway, after taking a photo together, the three of us then left Nihonmatsu railyard for probably the last time for a good long while. We then made the 21/2 hour journey to Tokyo railyard where we were instructed to go and park up in the holding sidings.
After that we then locked down the trains before handing the keys to the yard manager and left the yard before then hopping on to a bus which led us to the hotel that I had managed to book on the way down.
As I fell asleep I couldn't wait for the next couple of days of exploring Tokyo seeing as I had never been before. Look out Tokyo here I come.
Time: 09:00
Date: 26th November
Location: Tokyo Freight terminal main building
The last few days for the three of us was simply put amazing, even though the first day was filled with me going around from place to place and securing what everyone back at base had wanted. The next few days after that I had to myself to do what I pleased, on the other hand Chian and Miya decided to go off and do their own thing which I had no problem with.
During my time alone I hit a lot of stores, mainly electronic ones. The reason is that I wanted a PC for my room, because even though we have some in a community area it would be nice to have one of my own to use. I also picked up a new camera, as well as a new phone.
The former because I had to send it back to Yoko-nee seeing as it was hers and the latter because my phone battery caused the circuit breaker to trip in the dorms when I tried to charge it.
Of course I just had to head into a gothic lolita store and pick up some more kimono dresses in various colours and styles. They had really grown on me lately and seeing as I only had one for my uniform I decided to get some more while I had the chance too. *sighs* I blame Yoko for this.
One of the last places I had visited was an anime store, I didn't plan on it but when I saw all of the touhou stuff I went nuts so I bought 2 of everything. Especially the giant Marisa and Reimu heads.
After that was the actual planned last place to visit and that was Super Potato, a retro video game store. Man the nostalgia was real. I remember playing them thanks to my dad and how he had kept them from his childhood, but thanks to a house fire we lost them all. I bought a few systems and games to play with everyone back at base before leaving.
Anyways the fun times had to come to an end and now here I was waiting in the main building of the freight terminal waiting for the go ahead to hook up to the rake of cars so I could then head home.
Chian and Miya had some last minute shopping they wanted to do so they would arrive a bit later on. Now seeing as I had nothing to do I decided to take a quick power nap and quickly dozed off.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" I asked
"This is where the instructions told us to head" a brown haired ponytail girl spoke
"Are you really sure, coz all I see is a room full of chairs and a single person taking a mid-morning nap" I replied
"This could be bad" a long black haired girl said as she started to panic
"Calm down E we'll get to the bottom of this, me, Hornet, vulcan and Miss Langley are all here so don't worry okay" I said hugging the former
"Thank you sis Thank you" Enterprise said hugging back.
After that our group had calmed her down, we sat ourselves down whilst vulcan, a small red headed girl, went off to the nearby vending machines to get everyone drinks.
I bet you are wondering why we are here, well I'll tell you. The five of us, me, Enterprise, Hornet, Vulcan and Miss langley were here from america as part of the ship girl exchange program. As for why we are meeting the Head admiral here at a freight yard I had no godly idea.
As we all enjoyed the drinks and having a nice chat it was then that a voice spoke to us…..
"Good, everyone arrived safely" we looked to see where the voice had come from, when we locked on to the person. We saw her in full naval attire and behind her was who we assumed was a Japanese ship girl from what we sensed anyway. We then noticed the woman's stars on her shoulders and immediately they all snapped to attention.
"At ease" the woman said to which we all complied
"My name is Rear-admiral Emika Yamaguchi, head of the japanese ship girl program and this is my secretary ship Zuihou. I welcome the five of you who came here, now before we begin I will perform rollcall is that alright?" Emika asked getting nods all around
"Okay then, first up USS Langley CV-1""Ma'am" a black haired older girl replied
"Next, USS Yorktown CV-5""Ma'am"
"USS Enterprise CV-6""Ma'am"
"USS Hornet CV-7""Ma'am" a bob-cut brown haired girl replied
"Lastly USS Vulcan AR-5""Ma'am"
"Good everyone is present and accounted for now let's get…."
"Kaa-san?" A voice said from behind the group
I started to stir from my slumber as I could hear voices and when I opened my eyes and peered out from under my cap I saw two people I recognise
"Kaa-san?" I said, then the group turned around and my mood immediately brightened
"Kaa-san it is you!" I exclaimed jumping out of my seat and running over bear hugging her
"And Zuihou-san too, it's been so long" I said pulling her into the hug, a cough could then be heard garnering our attention which made me break the hug and I went red faced in embarrassment.
"Rear-Admiral, who is this person?" the older girl of the group asked, she gave off the same feeling as Houshou-san
"Permit me to do the honours Rear-admiral" To which I got a nod in response
"Let me formally introduce myself, I am the fourth ship of the Yamato class and the first ship of the Super-Yamato class, Battleship Izumi at your service, It's a pleasure to meet all of you. Also I'm Rear-admiral Yamaguchi's daughter in case you were wondering" I said
The Quintet of girls then went wide eyed in shock at what they had just learned. It took them a little while to regain their composure and they asked questions about what I had said and all they got was confirmation from my mom which is all they needed to accept. They all then introduced themselves to me.
"So, Langley-san, Yorktown, Enterprise, Hornet and Vulcan. cool I'll remember those names for whenever we meet again in the future" I said
"By the way my dear, what exactly are you doing here?" my mom asked
"Freight supply run, I'm waiting to get the go ahead before I head back to base with my co-workers" I replied
"Really now, how long have you been here" mom asked
"About two hours or so" I replied
"Yo, long-haul hour and half also wagon 1 full load" A voice yelled
"Got it" I replied
"Well now I know how long I have before I leave" I said texting auntie to let her know what's going on
"what's wagon 1 and long-haul?" Vulcan asked
"Oh wagon 1 is a Railcar full of various stuff for the girls back at base, as for long-haul it's a nickname that was given to me by the yard master seeing as I have to take the longest train to take back to base. That reminds me, Kaa-san I own my own electric locomotive now" I said beaming before explaining to them how I came to acquire the locomotive.
"Well good for you my dear, anyways it's good that you are here Izumi. Do you think you can take some extra cargo back to your base?" Kaa-san asked
"And what cargo would that be mom?" I asked back
"Why that would be these five wonderful ladies, since they will be stationed at Sado Island from now on until the end of the exchange program" mom replied to which I went wide-eyed in shock
"EHHHHHH!, this isn't good"
"Why is that?" Langley asked
"My stupid auntie" I said
"Now, now my dear why is your Admiral stupid" mom asked a little bit annoyed
"She mentioned that there would be foreign ship girls arriving on base soon, but she never mentioned who. So I'm afraid that shit could hit the fan once the girls sight you when you arrive on base" I said
This caused the girls to panic a little bit before mom calmed them down and explained that there were rules in place to prevent incidents from occurring. This really helped in settling everyone's nerves.
It was then time for lunch at least according to mine and Enterprise's rumbling tummies, so we set off for the onsite cafe where Chian and Miya met us and introduced themselves to the others. As we were stuffing ourselves an important question popped into my head and so I asked….
"Kaa-san, how are we going to get the girls back to base I mean we can't put them in a freight car where they'll be thrown around like ragdolls"
"Don't worry my dear we have a 8600 series EMU waiting in the yard which will replace the broken E130 that your auntie reported last week. The girls will board that and you take them home" she replied
"Well if that's the case, Chian can you and Miya take the E5000 and take care of the girls whilst I'll deal with the freight" I asked
"Sure Kid, we'll head out ahead of you" she replied
"Got it"
We then continued to talk to each other mainly exchanging stories about our various sorties against the Abyssals. They were truly shocked when i told them about my very first sortie. When we finished Chian and Miya took the girls to the 8600 and then hooked up the E5000 and took off, whilst I said goodbye to mom and Zuihou before heading to the cab of the EH800 and due to some screw up *grumbles* I had to wait an hour before being allowed to leave and thus began my long journey home.
The journey home was a boring one the only thing that kept me sane was the communication between me and Chian's train and by the time they arrived at the base I was two hours behind due to track issues. I finally reached Hakusan station central line for the turnaround at 8pm and by this time it was dark, this would be my first night time run, partially anyway. Now I knew what Sendai has to put up with every night, even though I experienced it myself.
Once I made the switch I headed straight to the Island and luckily there was no more delays. Once I arrived I decided to sort the train out tomorrow seeing as how tired I was, but before I could head to bed I reported to Auntie and she told me that despite how bad I thought it would get when old enemies meet, everyone on our side surprisingly welcomed them with open arms and treated them fairly. There was a bit of resistance but that was to be expected as grudges don't really go away that easily.
I then left auntie's office and then when to check on the girls and made sure they were comfortable in their temporary rooms, Chian and Miya had claimed rooms in the railyard saying that is was the easiest place to stay.
Once the check was over I immediately headed to bed as all of the concentrating I had to do today really tired me out.
As I was trying to fall asleep my thoughts were filled with worry but also excitement as I wondered what the future would bring for the foreign ship girls and how they would fit in with the rest of the fleet. Once I sorted my thoughts out I finally managed to drift off into a wonderful sleep.
But then I was awoken by some shuffling in my bed, which kinda creeped me out a bit. I moved my hand around to try and figure what or who was in my bed when suddenly I felt something Pudgy. A voice then spoke….
"Stop it that tickles" A voice said
"S-stop.." another said
I then ripped off the duvet and my eyes went wide eyed in shock as I saw two people staring at me.
"It's been a while sis/cousin" they both said together
"Nee-chan, Itoko!" I said squealing in glee as I dog-piled the two of them
"Woah, easy there sis calm down" she said getting me into a headlock and giving me a noogie.
Meet my cousin Tomoko Miyanaga, that's right she aunty's daughter. If I were to describe her looks I would basically say that she is an average height, long brown haired and hazel eyed fun loving girl. I really do think of her as a younger sister due to how close we were as kids. Also she's 15 years old
It took me about 5 minutes to become free of her grip and by this time my hair had become seriously disheveled, so I got out of bed and turned on the light before heading over to the table and I then started to fix my hair.
"What are you doing here sis, I thought you were with mom? And Tomo-chi what about you" I asked
"I was okay with being with mom's fleet, but I was starting to miss you. So when I had the chance I asked mom and auntie and set it up so that I could stay here for a while" she replied
"Well this is the starts of my week long vacation from school, so I decided to stay here with Aunty rather than back at the house" she replied to which I went and hugged from behind
"It was a really nice surprise to see you both, also sis, did you know Akagi gives similar hugs to you?" I said getting back up and heading over to my dresser
"Really now, I guess I need to speak with Akagi then…. Hey what's that"
"What's what sis…. wait don't touch that!" I screamed as I turned around and saw that to my horror the safe that contained the two odd cores I got the other day, was somehow open and the core was on the ground.
But it was too late to stop the two of them and they both touched the cores and screamed as they were both bathed in a bright white light, I at this point had to shield my eyes from the light. The light then faded and to my shock I saw the both of them now had odd looking outfits that looked really familiar.
It was then the two of us could then hear the roar of footsteps and soon my door was shot open as I saw auntie, Ryuujou and my sister ships standing there.
"Izumi, Yoko, Tomoko what's…. wrong" she started to say but then she saw Yoko-nee and Tomoko in their new forms
"Shit, well Auntie, we have some new ship girls on base" I said as I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly whilst the two of them just stood there in awe and confusion as to what the hell just happened. Tomorrow is going to be one hell of a long day.