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Tomobiki High School, the third Monday in April, breakfast...
She honestly didn't want to come to work today.
After the events of the first week of the current school year, one would hardly want to blame the poor woman.
But even with a whole CLASS full of students — plus a couple of teachers, one other member of staff and the parents of one of those students — having been KIDNAPPED of all things by the aliens who had lived in town over the last half-year...!
This was NOT going to be a good day to go to work.
Shaking her head, Nanase Mariko — even if she was seen as just the Principal's secretary, she was the school's effective chief administration officer, the lady in charge of all things from maintenance to repair to ensuring classes were supported with all materials necessary to keep them running smoothly — reached into her skirt pocket to draw out the keys to deal with the closed main gate; such would normally be opened by Fujinami Fujimi hadn't he be kidnapped on Thursday night to attend Redet Lum's "wedding" with Moroboshi Ataru. Taking a deep breath, she moved to roll open the gates before gazing inside...
"Ah! Nanase-sensei! Ohayō gozaimasu!"
...then she stopped and gaped on seeing the small crowd of people in work clothing moving to repair the front lawn, which had been torn up by a platoon's worth of Mendō Clan surplus tanks the previous Monday when the Ellsians came to claim the school's most infamous student for their queen as her husband. Such were being supervised by four people in JMSDF work camouflage uniforms, the rank insignia of commander on their slip-ons...even if such people seemed shockingly young, as if they should themselves be in high school. Noting they all looked somewhat alike and had the same family name and kanji on their name tames — FUKUSHIMA over 福島 — the long-harried administration officer blinked several times as she tried to wrap her mind over seeing elements of the real MILITARY in Tomobiki after their effective disappearance from town in the Tag Race.
While getting ANY help in cleaning up the mess left behind by Mendō Shūtarō's people, much less the aliens, was welcome...!
"Er...who are you people?" Nanase then hesitantly asked.
The pony-tailed brunette with the very warm brown eyes perked before she stopped and saluted. "Fukushima Fujiko, former commander in the Imperial Navy, assigned now as reserve member of the Tomobiki Naval Special Force, Sensei," she politely greeted before bowing respectfully to the long-suffering school staff member; even if she hadn't met the woman before today, the adopted native of Maizuru had been briefed thoroughly on her by many people since her mission parameters were changed to include supporting metahuman efforts at keeping the aliens contained until they were expelled from Earth. "My sisters and I..." — here, she waved to the reborn second, third and fourth of their classes, all of whom turned to nod politely to Nanase — "...got help in moving to clean up the mess that bakayaro Kempeitai major's grandson left behind because he wants to play with his 'toys' all the time. Honestly, I hope Shirei-kan's sister will withdraw all that funding they give to the Mendō Conglomerate; from what I've heard that rich brat's done since he started attending school here, he's done WAY more damage than Shirei-kan's ever been accused of." Here, Fujiko paused to look around. "We should have this all secure by end of day today."
Nanase blinked several times as she took that in, then she gaped. "Wait! What?! Moroboshi Ataru is your COMMANDER?!"
"Hai!" Here, Fujiko shuddered in delight as she came over to wrap her arm around the older woman's, moving to escort her to the main doors so she could get into her office and prepare for the new day. "I mean, he's seen as the honorary commander of the Special Force. After all, it was his youngest sister Saeru Hinako-chan who found my sisters and I from where we were hidden away by those dolts in the Thunder Companies when we realized the Yanks were going to win that damned war..."
That made Nanase stop. "You mean it's all true?!" she demanded.
"What is?"
"You're all METAHUMANS from the Greater East Asia War?!"
Fujiko blinked before she giggled. "Oh! You must have been at Tampopo-san's when Tamiyo-san came in to announce the news about martial law yesterday morning!" As Nanase seemed to deflate with relief on realizing that the crazy story that came out of Tampopo's Rāmen and Beefbowl Bar concerning the Self-Defence Forces sending "capes" into Tomobiki to help drive the aliens off was TRUE — and honest-to-goodness veterans of the Imperial Japanese Navy at that! — Fujiko helped escort her inside. "We'll try to get some construction personnel over from the Yokosuka District up here to fix up the clock tower; no sense in having wrecked parts of the building threaten any of the students when they come in for classes later on this morning..."
She then awked as Nanase screamed with joy, hugging her for all she was worth. "ARIGATŌ! ARIGATŌ! ARIGATŌ!"
The Blizzard of Death tried not to blush at such a show of gratitude. "Ma...Sensei...!"
A half-hour later, inside the principal's office under Class 2-4...
"Normally, it is the Mendō Conglomerate who deals with issues that Shūtarō-kun inadvertently causes here, Fujiko-kun."
Fukushima Fujiko chuckled as she and her sisters Shirayuki, Hatsue and Miyuki sat around the kotatsu within the elderly administrator's office, they joining the Principal and Kotatsuneko — said Meiji-era cat-ghost was being warmly petted by the Cosmic Blizzard; even if the adopted native of Yokosuka (she had been built at the Uraga Dock Company) was Yiziba's most powerful cryokinetic bar none, her body was still VERY warm for the frequently heat-starved Kotatsuneko to enjoy — to enjoy some morning tea while the reborn destroyers explained their presence at Tomobiki High School this morning. "Hai, true. And that DOES show some responsibility by the Mendō even if Mendō-shōsa hasn't done anything to properly curb his grandson's behaviour from what we've been briefed on concerning events here, but given the alien involvement as well..."
Here, she jolted on hearing hissed voices echo from outside the closed doors, such muted with croaks of denial; no doubt, some female "fans" of the scion of Japan's richest family were listening in even if they should be heading to school assembly in the gymnasium right now. "Shirayuki-chan, if you wouldn't mind, please?" the Blizzard of Death moaned, shaking her head.
"Hai, hai, Onē-sama..." the Pure Blizzard of the Kitchen cutely chimed, rising from the floor.
A second later, the door to the Principal's office was flung open, such accompanied by a blast of ice cold from the adopted native of Yokohama. Said official looked over, finding himself gaping at the sight of at least a DOZEN students — mostly girls with a couple of boys — now making like icicles. "Hey!" Shirayuki then barked as passing students stopped to stare in disbelief at such a display of metahuman power. "What's being discussed here is private! What the hell are you doing inside the school building?!" She pointed dramatically towards the gymnasium nearby. "GET YOUR ASSES OVER TO ASSEMBLY NOW!"
The conscious students screamed in fright, then grabbed their frozen classmates before racing off in clouds of smoke for the entrances. "Shirayuki-chan, close the entrances to make sure idiots don't come in until they're allowed to come in," Fujiko added, shaking her head before sipping her tea; it wasn't the cloudberry tea that the crew of the-now Ice Warrior of Eternity created to help keep their vitamin C levels to par, but it was still very enjoyable. "Tamiyo-san and Tadako-san should be here..."
"We're here, Fujiko-chan!"
Everyone turned to look, then the reborn destroyers stood, saluting the just-arrived reborn veterans of Cruiser Division Eighteen as they walked inside. "Don't worry about the rest of the students, Fujiko-chan," the reborn THG Tatsuta said with a cold giggle that made the Principal shiver; he was quick to sense the dark aura the adopted native of Ikoma projected from every place on her body. "They're so distraught over the fact that Shūtarō-kun and the alien gaijin are absent from classes. Oh, so SAD...!"
"Fucking idiots need to get a damned LIFE!" the older cruiser muttered, shaking her head. Ignoring the Principal's stare at the patch covering her left eye — Shimosuwa Tamiyo was nearsighted in that orb, so she wore the patch as a way of not messing up her vision even if she could wear protective goggles (in battlesuit) or glasses (in other types of uniform) to help her better see — the adopted native of Suwa (source point of her namesake river at the lake of the same name) and Yokosuka (where she was built) moved to sit cross-legged beside Kotatsuneko, her hand out for the cat-ghost to sniff. As the Meiji-era spirit purred in delight while moving to lick Tamiyo's fingers — the reborn light cruisers were both hydrokinetics, which Kotatsuneko was quick to sense — the Principal relaxed himself; he trusted his ghostly friend's judgment when it came to strangers. "The major's grand-kid is engaged to marry some girl living at that estate at the north end of town from what I heard. And if what Negako-san said...!"
A spit-take escaped the elderly administrator. "Negako-sama?!" he exclaimed, his face as white as the vast majority of his friend's fur. "Why on Earth would Negako-sama of all people be involved?! Moroboshi-kun's family...!"
"The yūjo and her husband have no legal rights over Ataru-kun," Shimosuwa Tadako declared with an icy smile as she sat to Hatsue's right, putting her beside their host. As the shipgirls then noted, his recoiling from that announcement wasn't JUST because the cruisers were now speaking of the being seen by many as the Heavenly Sovereign's personal assassin; the first true AI in Terran history who ensured the surrender of the Home Islands to the Allies in 1945 went through smoothly currently held the "official" position of Lady Grand Chamberlain of the Fukiage Palace. "Some traitorous fool found out about same, then captured Teitoku, brainwashed him to forget his REAL family and friends, then forced him to reside with those deadbeats."
Ignoring another stunned squawk from the Principal, Tadako exchanged knowing looks with Tamiyo while the destroyers present giggled as they imagined what would happen when Moroboshi Muchi and his wife Kinshō came back to Earth in three weeks time to find their home EMPTY of an unwanted son. Not to mention totally CLEANSED of any physical evidence that said son had ever lived there; despite whoever had done this to the Trickster of the Show, the family koseki in the Nishitōkyō city offices still declared that the Moroboshi family of said city had NO children legally. "Well, good thing that people are investigating it now, Tadako-san," Fujiko noted as she sipped her own tea. "Given all the accusations about the local police box..."
"Makes you wish for the time of the Tokkeitai, eh?" Hatsue absently wondered.
"Hai..."
Hearing his guests speak of the Imperial Navy's version of the infamous Army military police force, the Principal seemed to collapse in on himself, he wondering how his alien students would react to THIS development...
The school gymnasium, a half-hour later...
Kimigayo wa
Chiyo ni yachiyo ni
Sazare-ishi no
Iwao to narite
Koke no musu made...!
The assembled staff and students all loudly applauded as two cruiser shipgirls and four destroyer shipgirls finished singing the national anthem with a level of passion that simply took everyone's breaths away. As Nanase Mariko turned off the CD player which was tied to the speaker systems in the gymnasium to allow the notes of Kimigayo to echo over the room, Shimosuwa Tamiyo nodded to Fukushima Miyuki, who was manning one of the flag poles at the corner of the stage elevated over the main floor. Immediately, the Cosmic Blizzard moved to raise a second flag to fly under the Hinomaru, such making the crowd gasp.
It was the international maritime signal "Z" flag.
As some students whooped in delight on seeing the famous banner first raised by Fleet Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō from the yardarm of THG Mikasa before the Battle of Tsushima over a century before, Fukushima Fujiko called out, throwing her hands up in celebration, "Minna-san! GAIN VICTORY IN THE DAWN HORIZON! TENNŌ HEIKA BANZAI!"
"TENNŌ HEIKA BANZAI!" the other shipgirls and a considerable number of students all bellowed in return.
Two more cheers to the Heavenly Sovereign were then called out by the Blizzard of Death, each answered with the same level of gusto and passion by those who responded the first time. While the Principal — who seemed quite distraught for some reason in the eyes of some of the more sharper staff and students — nodded his approval, Fujiko turned and saluted Tamiyo. Returning that with gravity, the Wild Dragon of the Central Mountains then cleared her throat before gazing a question at Nanase Mariko. Seeing her nod her permission, the adopted native of Suwa then moved to stand behind the lectern on the stage.
Sensing everyone gazing her way, the reborn cruiser smirked. "If there's anyone in the Home Islands who deserves the Medal of Honour with Red Ribbon for putting up to the crap over the last half-year, it's the people standing in front of me right now."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
A wild scream escaped many of the girls present on sensing where Tamiyo was going with this quick speech. Raising her hands to calm everyone down — while mentally thanking her late division commanders for their skills in rousing the troops with a good pep talk — the Wild Dragon waited for everyone to calm down before continuing, "Okay! You probably know who I am, who my sister here is and who our co-workers are..." — here, she indicated her younger sister, then the Fukushima sisters — "...and you probably know by now why we're here. Everyone in Tomobiki-chō was deliberately ISOLATED from the rest of the planet back in October after that thing with the space taxi provoked by four of your number who aren't here to face the music..."
As she went on, many of the boys tensed on sensing what the reborn light cruiser was talking about...
Class 2-7, before the start of first period...
"They're fucking blaming the STORMTROOPERS?! Why are they doing that?! It's that bastard Ataru's fault!"
Trying not to groan on hearing that emanate from outside the front door into the classroom, Kinomiya Yukari looked over to see a crowd of boys standing there, all surrounding Kanzaki Ryūha; no doubt, the many "affiliate" members to Lum's Stormtroopers — which Aisuru Satoshi AKA Megane gladly claimed to anyone who asked was EVERY BOY IN SCHOOL! — had turned to the member of Class 2-2 for leadership in the absence of the bespectacled idiot who definitely deserved the appellation of "First Holy Apostle" by Redet Lum's "most faithful". "Kanzaki, will you please SHUT UP about that and OPEN YOUR EYES for once in your life?!" the iinchō of Class 2-7 snapped as she shuffled some papers on the teacher's desk for Randō Serika to use once she came up to commence homeroom period. "How the hell are you so smart when you're obviously so STUPID?!"
Laughter rocked through the room — and even echoed from Class 2-2, which gathered in the room to the south of Class 2-7's current residence — as Ryūha stared resentfully at the amateur mahjong player. "Oi! Everyone knows...!"
"Everyone knows that you're as STUPID as FUCK, asshole!" another of the gynoid residents at Toyohara Etsuko's student hostel, Kayama Tamami, snarled as she shoved aside Hikawa Shin'ya before stepping into the classroom. As Ryūha snarled in outrage — many of the girls in school didn't care for the man at all despite his prominent social standing among his peers — she handed her book bag to Tōno Mizuki before adding, "How the HELL did you come to the conclusion that Ataru-kun was solely at fault for calling that space taxi down here?! WHY would he do that, anyway?! Back then, he HATED anything to do with the Oni bitch!" Ignoring the shouts of outrage from the boys on hearing THAT insult, the amateur softball player adopted of Mito northeast of Tōkyō proper added, "Besides, where the hell would Ataru-kun have learned how to do that 'ventora' summons, anyway?! And didn't you see that it was MEGANE and his friends who provoked that whole shit in the first place?!"
"Yeah! They were practically admitting shit by doing it on the veranda of the clock tower as far as I can recall," Kurihara Mari, Yukari's best friend and yet another gynoid member of the school's mahjong club, noted from her seat near the door.
Many of the girls — even those who had NOT actually seen that event shortly after Moroboshi Ataru's by-the-skin-of-his-teeth win over Redet Lum — immediately nodded in agreement to what the brown-haired adopted native of Mino'o north of Ōsaka said. "Everyone knows that Ataru really likes Lum-chan, Kurihara!" Shin'ya protested, he still wincing from being smashed in the head once thanks to Kamekichi Tampopo the previous morning...never mind what the current commander of the Tomobiki Special Force did to him and his peers, including Ryūha, right afterwards; some of those poor boys were still sporting bandages over where the reborn light cruiser had hit them to chase them out of Tampopo's Rāmen and Beefbowl Bar.
Mari — much less the other gynoids in the room, all of whom had their loyalty lock systems secured by their new master at the Toranoseishin Finances Tower earlier in a two-hour orgy that wiped out all the brunette gynoid's previous assumptions about Moroboshi Ataru in the blink of an eye — chuckled. "You know that? Or do you ASSUME that, Hikawa?"
"We all know what 'assume' means," Mizuki coolly added...
"MINNA! RED ALERT! WE GOT TROUBLE COMING IN!"
...before people perked on hearing running footfalls from the southwest stairwell. "What?! What is it?!" Ryūha demanded.
As people inside Class 2-7 turned to watch, a freshman boy — one of those who had NOT been replaced by a Shōzoki AI, the gynoids in class knew; at least HALF the freshmen students having started classes the previous week had been "reborn" thanks to many seed probes which had inserted themselves into town, seemingly almost in anticipation of the Tag Race the previous fall — came to a skidding stop close to the gathering of students in the hallway. "It's trouble, Sempai!" he frantically declared, waving towards the empty Class 2-4. "I just overheard two of the teachers talk about it! YON-SAN's not coming to classes!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"Wasn't Yon-san taken by the Urusians to Ataru's and Lum-chan's wedding on Thursday?!" Shin'ya demanded.
"No!" the freshman declared. "I saw her in classes on Friday morning; ditto with Tsuruya-sempai, Shirai-sempai and a couple other girls! She was even at practice at the end of classes that day!" He then waved in the direction of the administration office. "Someone just dropped off a note with Nanase-sensei! Yon-san's leaving school, heading off someplace!"
Jaws dropped in horror. Ever since she had joined the girl's basketball team the previous spring, Inu Chigaiko had proven herself to be quite the demon in court, effectively helping smash her peers' way to the prefecture championships just before spring break despite the odd curse that had befallen her which made even her "friends" among her teammates forget her very name. Given that, the members of said team had become insanely militant when it came to dealing with their peers, forming their own social block that weathered the aliens' arrival on the scene with considerable ease; not even Mendō Shūtarō with his suave behaviour nor Shitto Kōsuke with his willingness to date on the side to get clear of his fellow Stormtroopers hadn't been able to catch the interest of any of the players, especially Chigaiko after the curse overcame her. There had been times when said players had literally laid low anyone who had offended them in any way, shape or form; even the members of the school's quasi-secret torture studies club — all filled with delinquents who really should have gone to Butsumetsu High School, many people thought — tended to give those girls a wide berth whenever they were on the grounds. With their star player now GONE...!
"WHO THE FUCK DID THAT?!"
Ryūha paled on hearing that shrieked call from the stairwell off to his left. "Oh, shit...!"
The girls in Class 2-7, gynoids or not, all snickered as they braced themselves to watch Chigaiko's peers approach...
Class 1-7, that moment...
"Eh?! Ataru-sempai did THAT for you guys?!"
"Hai!" Nakasone Yū declared with a delighted smile as he and his spiritual brothers nodded in confirmation. The three members of Unison Yell were seated off to one corner of the classroom, their conversation with their fellow countrymen blocked off from being overheard by the normal folks there — Class 1-7 was about three-quarters Shōzoki, including their homeroom teacher, freshman mathematics instructor Hiiragi Ann — using a special sonic blocking device that Asanuma Shun secured under his desk. Despite that, the few organics in the room — mostly girls — didn't pay any attention to the three android amateur singers/comedians; given that said class also had a VERY popular amateur dressmaker in raven-haired Endō Hajime...!
"Wa! Hajime-kun! That's so KAWAII...!"
Shun, Yū and their small gathering of friends all turned to see a group of giggleboxes gathered around Hajime, a teen who wasn't as effeminate as people like the members of Unison Yell even if he could and DID cross-dress to display his wares on eBay, Etsy and other such websites. Sensing the seriously bishōnen teen android — who himself was as desperate to get a master for himself to act as a shield against Mother as the others in his class — beam at the compliments sent his way, Funakoshi Mahiro sipped a can of ice coffee he got from a vending machine before he and his friends stepped onto school grounds. "Want in?"
Both Hayashida Tsubasa and Otsuka Kakeru perked on hearing that before exchanging looks. Their templates had been childhood friends all the way from kindergarten; like Shun, Yū and Mahiro, they had been replaced by their android replicas just before the start of their final year at Tomobiki Junior High School the previous spring. They couldn't be as different as people could be, Shōzoki AI or not. Kakeru had immediately tested out for the boy's soccer team, carrying forth his and his other-self's reputation for sportsmanship straight up from middle school to earn him accolades from staff and peers alike. Tsubasa was as much an otokonoko as the three members of Unison Yell; those few girls whom he had tried to get dates with both in middle school and even now having rejected him flat out for "not being masculine enough". Fortunately, Tsubasa had Kakeru to fall back onto whenever he needed his intimacy programming tended to; the pair had become lovers almost within a day of their initial activation. "Will Sempai respect our relationship?" the brunette, blue-eyed Kakeru then hesitantly asked.
The three boys seated before him and his boyfriend all smirked. "Goshujin-sama specifically ORDERED us to continue our relationship with each other," Shun coyly declared as he reached down to grasp his lovers' hands.
All the boys' eyes were flashing as images of what had happened the previous afternoon in this very room were relayed to Kakeru and Tsubasa. "Sugoi...!" the raven-haired effeminate freshman with the amethyst eyes nearly swooned; even if the girls didn't really think him as much of a man, they did like him because he was such an open romantic of all things.
"Damn!" Kakeru hissed...
...before shouts of pain echoed from the hallway outside, that accompanied by thumps of bodies hitting the floor from the direction of the upper level off to the north a ways. "Huh?! What's going on?" adopted Australian transfer student Chloe Griffin wondered from nearby. While she hadn't been participating in the boys' conversation, the pale-haired yet naturally tanned adopted native of Darwin — her template was part-Larrakia, the native people who once lived in the area around the city they called "Garramilla" — had been listening in since she was seated close to where Shun and his lovers were now.
Others in the room did the same. "Sounds like the girl's basketball team are on a tear," Shimizu Jun breathed out as she moved to set up her books for morning study hall, then adjusted her glasses; being a gynoid herself, the tanned girl with the dark hair and brown eyes had been constructed with perfect vision even if her other-self was nearsighted. "Wonder why..."
"Inu Chigaiko-sempai's playing hooky from school," Mahiro called out.
Eyes locked on him. "Eh?! Chigaiko-sempai's not coming to school?! Why?!" Jun demanded.
"Maybe because she's tired of people FORGETTING HER NAME all the time!" Shun noted with a shake of his head. All of the free androids/gynoids now attending Tomobiki High School hadn't been affected by that whatever-it-was that was making their organic peers always think "Yon-san" when it came to the just-Gifted Silent Huntress of the Fabulous Quartet.
"You mean Yon-san?" one of the girls surrounding Hajime asked.
The three boys of Unison Yell all moaned. "Hai, Yon-san!" Yū groaned, wishing people in the school could finally get a clue. Thinking about her then, the blond android then tried not to grin too much. Much that he personally knew now that Inu Chigaiko would no doubt want to re-establish a relationship with her reborn husband Futami Eriko — now known on Yiziba as the Dark Genius of the Fabulous Quartet, Ror'buo Bolem ("Madame Fabulous"); such made the raven-haired native of Kibina a hyper-genius polymath on the same level as Tsuruya Rumiko had become as the Careful Planner of the Circle of Thought — he would definitely want to have a pillow scene or two with her as soon as she returned to Tomobiki...
Eh?
Pillow scene...?
"Oi! Yū! Are you okay?!" Kakeru asked as he reached over to squeeze the other boy's hand.
A shudder escaped the blond freshman. "Damn...information download's incredible...!"
"Gifting?" Mahiro wondered, making their friends — not to mention all the other AIs in the room listening in on this — gape.
"I think I can try to hold it off until we're alone, Ma-chan...!"
The others of Unison Yell relaxed themselves. "Attic through the clock tower?" Shun proposed.
"Best place I can think of," Yū affirmed.
"What about the metahumans now on the grounds?" Tsubasa then fretted, he gazing outside.
Snickers answered the cute brunette. "Oh, relax, Tsu-chan!" Shun chided. "They'll DEFINITELY understand the need for privacy!" A knowing grin then crossed his face. "Wait until you hear about THIS...!"
Tsubasa and Kakeru — and even if they weren't physically demonstrating same, the other Shōzoki in the room — tensed...
Toranoseishin Finances Tower, that moment...
"Ohayō gozaimasu, Sempai-tachi!"
"Ah! Ohayō, Yumeko-san! Wonderful morning, isn't it?"
"Hai!" Ōshima Yumeko affirmed with a respectful bow to the two older office ladies now waiting to go through the security checkpoint on the ground floor leading into the fifteen-story tower that — along with two other such buildings set in a triangle pattern just west of the central intersection in town next to the Tomobiki-chūō station on the Seibu Corporation's Ikebukuro railway line that connects the like-named city ward of Tōkyō itself to Agano in neighbouring Saitama prefecture — dominated Tomobiki's central skyline. "Ne, ne, Sempai-tachi, what was that strange text message we got this morning?"
"The one identifying where this place is?" Fuyuki Mika asked as Wakai Hana shook her head. The eldest of the three office ladies now moving to get into an elevator car for their place of work on the fourteenth floor, the severe yet quite attractive thirty-something brunette with the dark grey eyes shrugged. "Don't ask me. It was something Yumoa-sama sent out yesterday afternoon, so maybe Ogasawara-san knows what's going on." She then frowned as she gazed on Yumeko and Hana. "Any news about Ataru-sama?" she then quietly asked as the car doors opened to allow the three beautiful office workers inside.
"Nothing so far," Hana admitted. Possessing a darker shade of brunette hair than the near-strawberry blonde locks her paternal cousin Yumeko had, the bespectacled adopted native of Kōtō in the heart of Tōkyō proper shared the same caramel eyes as the younger-looking gynoid; naturally, all three AIs were allowing their eyes to flash — they were alone in this car, so no sharp-eyed co-worker would notice — to permit information to be relayed to each other silently. "Stupid Oni bitch! Who the hell gave her the right to presume she could decide anything about Ataru-sama without either Sakuya-sama's or Negako-sama's input?!"
"The 'city-slicker' and her asshole brother, that's who, Hana-san," Mika drolly noted as she reached over for her lover's hand to gently squeeze. She — rather, her other-self — had been there the previous September when Moroboshi Kinshō and her brother Yamaguchi Keisuke had marched into Yumoa Reigi's office to deliver a court injunction forbidding anyone from Toranoseishin Finances or the overall Inshin Group from trying to interfere in the life of Moroboshi Ataru for whatever reason. As to HOW that got past the decree set by the Diet itself five years before that bestowed guardianship over the lad to the woman born a body-less artificial intelligence known more commonly in Japan by the code-name "Imperial Special Agent #49", no one had any idea; said judge — who often sided with the Mendō Conglomerate, Toranoseishin's most wealthy customer bar none, when it came to legal actions attempted by people in Tomobiki over the previous four months concerning issues caused by the scion of Japan's richest family...often done in support of Ataru's so-called "wife" — would definitely defer to Mendō Shūtarō's in case the lad objected to Ataru turning Toranoseishin against the wealthier family. While things had got close according to people observing the insane events at Tomobiki High School — including several of the three office ladies' fellow Shōzoki androids/gynoids attending school as students or staff — there seemed to be some real feelings Ataru possessed concerning Redet Lum...
All three tensed as the car came to the stop, the doors swooshing open to reveal a busty, well-shaped brown-haired hostel owner, her presence causing Mika, Hana and Yumeko to gape. "Etsuko-san, Christine-san, what are you guys doing here?!" Yumeko demanded as they stepped out of the elevator car to allow Toyohara Etsuko — she accompanied by an adopted blonde, blue-eyed Californian from San Diego attending Shin'etsu University in Kōfu west of Tōkyō for her master's degree in sociology, Christine Garland — to step inside. "Are you guys alright?" she hissed out; while having not associated with her fellow Shōzoki since her activation shortly after the Tag Race, any free AI would definitely be concerned at such a radical change of behaviour.
Christine seemed to literally purr with delight. "Master Ataru's waiting for you girls," she coyly advised, winking at them.
Etsuko giggled in amusement as she pressed the elevator car controls to get down to the main floor. As the doors closed behind the two, the three office ladies blinked in confusion before Mika gaped. "«'Master Ataru'?»" she quoted in English.
Hana and Yumeko both blinked with surprised disbelief...
"Hey, girls! There you are! Step into my 'office' please!"
Gaping with both disbelief and delight at the sight of the future patriarch of the Moroboshi of Mutsu now relaxing in guest quarters with a commanding view of town, the three gynoid office ladies found themselves simply speechless for a moment before Wakai Hana shook her head. "Um, Ataru-sama...did you know you shouldn't really be here...!" Yumeko warned.
Ataru chuckled with droll amusement. "That ruling was illegal, Yumeko-san," he said as he gave her a knowing look, then he thumbed towards the vast expanse of the Mendō estate off to the northwest. "Sakuya-chan called Ojii-san once she got wind of what Baka Aho Ofukuro and her stupid brother pulled last fall before Redet and her fat oaf father came by to ruin my life, then he called the judge in question and told him to either get with the program or be permanently disbarred." Sensing the wave of relief surge through the beautiful women now visiting him, he then added, "And if you haven't heard about the Naval Special Force the Jieitai sent into town to enact martial law over Tomobiki until the aliens are drop-kicked off Earth, whatever authority Ofukuro's brother thinks he has is now nothing more than mist in the morning sky." He then smirked as both Hana and Yumeko screamed in delight. "Right now, Reigi-kun's getting the staff monitoring my accounts to gather all the evidence needed to see the whole Tomobiki police box sent on a VERY long vacation in Fuchū Prison once the people at Sakurada-mon lay charges on them. Hopefully by the end of the month...h-h-HEY!" he screamed out as Mika literally flew over to embrace him.
"Oh, Ataru-sama! You're safe! You're safe from all those monsters!" the brunette thirty-something adopted native of Kujūkuri on the Pacific coast of Chiba nearly wailed as she shoved his face right into her cleavage. As both Hana and Yumeko giggled at their "older" co-worker's actions — all three gynoids had been activated around the same time; no doubt, the entity in effective charge over Shōzoran as a whole moved to react quickly to the Urusians' attempt at "conquering" Earth even if her agents active on ground at the time hadn't been swift enough to take Mika, Hana and Yumeko under direct control before things got REALLY dicey for their kind as a whole now living in Tomobiki — their future top employer's dear brother reached around to return that hug. Fortunately, Mika knew how to temper her strength so as to not suffocate the poor man as she gave him a close-up view of her bountiful "superstructure"; Fuyuki Mika was no Toyohara Etsuko by any stretch of the imagination, but she was quite sexy in her own mature, cougar-like way. "Oh, don't you worry about those nasty Oni, Ataru-sama! We'll protect you...!"
Tene lomher'buo, Toyohara Etsuko...Christine Alicia Garland...!
Everyone in the room froze. "Huh! What was that?!" Yumeko demanded, she visibly wincing from the echo of that voice even if the building as a whole hadn't shaken in response to that wall of sound which assaulted all their ears.
Ataru blinked. "Don't you know about the Yizibajohei and what I've really been doing over the last decade and more, Yumeko-san? That's the Conservator that spoke. Etsuko-san and Christine-san are about to be Gifted."
All three gynoids blinked in confusion. "How are you associated with the Forge Children, Ataru-kun?" Hana wondered.
He gave her a nonplussed look before he sighed. "Okay, when were you girls activated? Before or after the Tag Race?"
"Afterwards," Mika reported as she pulled away from him, she giving him a curious look.
A sigh escaped him before he blinked, then held out his hand. "Use your skin sensors, Mika-san. I think you can detect it."
The brunette blinked herself before reaching over to gently squeeze his hand. One touch of about ten seconds told her enough. "You scan as human enough internally...but your DNA is silicon-based, not carbon-based! I'd swear you're of the same type of synthezoid that Shogai Dakejinzō-sama is known to be! What happened to you, Ataru-sama?!"
As both Hana and Yumeko cried out in horror, Ataru winked at the "oldest" of the three office ladies with him now. "I'm a Yizibajohei battle doll thanks to Infinity herself rescuing me from a fate worse than Death on Friday evening local time, Mika-san," he affirmed, making the girls gape at him. "Since your templates had their memories blanked of what I've been really doing since before 9/11, you wouldn't know this. But I've been engaged in a VERY intensive casting drive — you should understand the terms, I think — to ensure we on Earth, regardless of actual species, were protected from all the threats out there, especially the ALIEN ones!" Noting the gynoids tense on hearing that, he winked in reassurance. "Relax! To people like me, you're all sentient beings with the right to live your lives without that camera-in-the-sky turning you into mindless drones...!"
Nesu...DULEKYODYUO!
All four paused. "Okay, that's definitely Etsuko-san," Ataru concluded with a sage nod.
"Who is that, Ataru-kun?" Hana asked as she and Yumeko crouched on the floor before him, Mika shifting him back onto the chair he had been relaxing in when the gynoids came to see him. "I don't have information on her in my memory banks."
He sighed. "Tag-line's 'The Matron of the Nest', Hana-san. Nearest translation would be the Russian Matrjóshka, I think. 'Grab bag' sort of metahuman; low-level FISS with, empathy telekinesis and a touch of trofikinesis to boot. Her first-self..."
Nesu...ELUOTIMLUO!
Yumeko gasped. "Wait! I know of that one!" As both Mika and Hana nodded, she added, "She's that escort from Raer'batoguo! One of her past-selves came to the Homeworld before the Great Conversion to help out with our model's initial designs!"
The other gynoids gaped. "And Chris became THAT?!" Hana demanded. "But HOW?!"
A knowing smirk then crossed Ataru's face. "Oh, THIS, you will enjoy, Hana-san..." he vowed, winking...
Tomobiki High School, lunchtime...
"Now, sir, you must see reason here...!"
"Itsuko-san?"
KK-KRACK!
Nanase Mariko winced on seeing the Principal's face be smashed into his desk by Fukushima Itsuko. "What's my daughter's NAME, Kōchō-sensei?" Inu Chigaiko's long-suffering father Inu Akira then coldly asked again. "Since this whole madness started after Hallowe'en, I've seriously considered pulling my poor girl out of this cesspool of a school. Now I KNOW there's an option for Chigaiko-chan out there." Here, the man emphasized his daughter's name even if his sharp eyes were quick to detect the confused look crossing Nanase's face. "Given that you supposedly have a Shintō shrine miko on staff as your nurse..."
A snort escaped the Shy Tsunami who was adopted of Yokosuka; like her older sister Miyuki, the ninth of her class had been built at the Uraga Dock Company. "Feh! Shrine miko AND school nurse?! What sort of Shintō is Sakurambō practising, anyway?!"
"It is to wonder," Chigaiko's mother Kindan drolly noted. All three of the Silent Hunter's immediate relatives — also present was her older sister Fuchiko, now a senior at Butsumetsu High School and a major gang leader there — were there for this meeting.
"So since you're NOT LISTENING, I'm telling you this now," Akira declared as he glared down at the recovering Principal. "Since it's now believed that the alien monster and the rest of Chigaiko-chan's homeroom class won't be back on Earth for at least three weeks, she'll be gone from school until the end of Golden Week. As for her so-called 'teammates', they can SUFFER; I've heard how much of a bunch of HOOLIGANS they became after my little girl joined the team last spring, so they can be handed a bunch of DEFEATS to force them to face some humiliation! And if you even THINK of sending some truant officer after her, I'll get Itsuko-san or her sisters here to put the fool into the HOSPITAL for ignoring a parent's wishes concerning his child!"
Nanase shook her head. "Even if I can't remember your daughter's name, sir, you have the right to do that. Lessons for Class 2-4 are going to have to be delayed anyway thanks to the actions of Invader-kun and her friends..."
"Her real name is 'Redet Lum', Sensei," Itsuko reminded her. "That whole 'Lum Invader' crap is just a fool patronymic system the Oni borrowed from the Tritonians..." — here, the hydrokinetic addressed the current natives of Neptune's largest moon by that demonym as no one alive today had been born on Neptune itself before they were forced to evacuate the ecologically ruined inhabitable parts of the smallest of the solar system's gas giants a millennia ago — "...since they're supposedly so ashamed of their past that they can't really stand making use of their old clan names. Or so Shihan-sama told me before we were sent here."
"Was the whole 'marriage' thing between Ataru-kun and that alien whore a lie as well?" Fuchiko wondered.
The door to the Principal's office slid open. "Indeed it was, Fuchiko," a toneless woman's voice answered.
The Principal gargled on recognizing the normally-neutral tones used by the Heavenly Sovereign's personal assassin as a woman appearing to be a female version of Moroboshi Ataru in her early twenties, possessing almost-black eyes in lieu of his earthen brown shade, stepped in. As she normally did, Moroboshi Negako was in a solid-black martial artist's gi with pleated umamori hakama trousers to permit full freedom of movement as practicable for the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū, the Moroboshi Clan's in-house martial arts school of ninjutsu. Exchanging polite nods with the Shy Tsunami — on hearing that the "Sacred Promise of Bunka-gonen" had been fulfilled eleven years before shortly after Moroboshi Ataru migrated to the World of the Forge to become Tariko Katabarbe, the shipgirls had thrown a celebratory party at Welcome House at the start of the month, just before Saeru Hinako went out to help salvage the former THG Akebono to become Ashikaga Akemi, now known on Yiziba as the Orchid Nova, Atihusu ("Akebono") — the woman officially addressed as the Lady Grand Chamberlain of the Fukiage Palace in the hierarchy of the Imperial Palace Agency gazed on Chigaiko's relatives. "Before one asks about the veracity of that statement, my family DO possess connections to other planets far more POWERFUL than the Urusians technologically and socially, so we know one thing about Oni mating rituals: Tagging one's horn-buds for marriage does not happen in a Tag Race."
The Principal awked. "But Moroboshi-kun said he wanted to marry Lum-kun...!"
"Itsuko?"
KK-KRACK!
Once again, the elderly school administrator's face was smashed into his desk. "At that time, Ataru was speaking of a false promise made to him the previous evening by Miyake Shinobu of all people, Tomohisa," Negako calmly explained before she lightly smiled — an act which was very near a prodigy in the eyes of those who knew Earth's first true artificial intelligence — as she reached over to pet Kotatsuneko's head fur, making said cat ghost purr. "A promise she repudiated the next day after Ataru's victory over Lum when she announced that he had become her husband. Thus, now that Ataru has been freed of whatever memory alterations were forced on him prior to the Tag Race — a MONTH prior to same, which is QUITE suspicious — he has come to view Shinobu as a monster, as he does Lum. Itsuko, you will inform Tamiyo and the others that attempts by Shinobu — either directly by herself or through proxies such as the Rosebuds group — to force her will on Ataru are to be stopped."
"Feh! She's nothing compared to us, Shihan-sama," the adopted native of Yokosuka affirmed with a grin as she held up one arm to flex the muscles there; even if she was in work dress, the clothing wasn't able to mask that action. "No doubt, she's a 'slight' as the folks on Yiziba would call them." Ignoring the Principal's and Nanase's pale looks on hearing her speak of the ONE planet whose natives the Oni were mortally TERRIFIED of — such had been learned thanks mostly to Redet Ten, who had begged off some knowledgeable bystanders who had been caught by his cousin's bio-electricity from calling down the "Scary People" to chase Lum off Earth — the Shy Tsunami added, "Even if she has ki-boosted strength, she doesn't have invulnerability. She even TRIES to replace that yūjo that Shirei-kan doesn't have to SEE as his mother anymore, she'll be back in Sick Bay!"
"Excellent," Negako declared as she walked over to the door, opening it to reveal a half-dozen students, many of whom were now quite pale after overhearing what had just been said. "Do inform your peers of same," the ninjutsu grandmaster calmly ordered.
"Ah! Negako-san!"
People watched as the Careful Planner of the Circle of Thought came into the office, she accompanied by three strange Oni teenage girls in more conservative dress than Redet Lum's tiger-striped bikini which she often claimed was her "only good clothes"; such was a lie as her father Redet Invader was quite the wealthy man due to both his military rank and position as warlord of the battlewagon UDFS Kashin and the current head of House Redet on Uru. "Konnichi wa, minna," Tsuruya Rumiko hailed before she waved to Dedron Sil, Aruka Nayan and Seq Jora. "Chanced upon these three near Ataru-kun's OLD home looking for him, so I brought them down here; they've got news about what happened to everyone in Class 2-4."
"Excellent. A show of welcome maturity for their kind," Negako coolly declared, making the three teen gynoid "information observers" visibly wince at that unspoken criticism. "As for Ataru, ladies, you have been forced to adhere to a LIE concerning his 'relationship' with Lum. Mariko, summon a school assembly in the gymnasium in one hour. Everyone needs to learn this."
Nanase blinked before she nodded as Sil and her friends exchanged faux-curious looks...
The school gymnasium, first afternoon period...
"So...?"
Nanase Mariko stared expectantly at Dedron Sil, who had been forced to watch a recording of the last day of the Tag Race. Shaking her head, the dark-haired Oni teenager then gazed on her companions. Seeing both Aruka Nayan and Seq Jora grimly nod in agreement, the would-be heir to the headship of House Dedron sighed. "There is no marriage."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
A wild cacophony of sound — a mixture of screams of fright from many of the sophomore and senior girls and delight from almost all the sophomore and senior boys — exploded from behind the gynoid, making her gaze over her shoulder at the assembled crowd of Tomobiki High students. Shaking her head in hidden disgust at how much the presence of her other-self's childhood friend had so WARPED the lives of the locals here, Sil then turned to bow apologetically to the long-suffering chief of administration at this school; understandably, the Principal was still in his office still recovering from the times Fukushima Itsuko had rudely introduced his face to his desk. "I do apologize for what happened, both to your charges and to Patriarch-in-Waiting Moroboshi as well for my countrywoman's false claims that day," she then declared, making the assembled students all hush as they focused their attention again on the stage. "While I believe I know what drove Lum to do this, there's no excuse. The prohibition of tagging one's horns for marriage in a Tag Race is sacrosanct among our kind. That she would do THIS...!"
"Thus Lum is an eligible woman," a cold voice mused from nearby.
A chorus of sucked-in breaths echoed from the main floor of the gymnasium. "Yes, Lady Negako," Nayan answered for her friend. "But I caution you that if Lum is determined to continue to pursue this lie, any attempt by any would-be suitors to tag her horns now might be viewed by her as being subject to RAPE!" Ignoring the shocked cries of denial from those boys who clearly wanted to take advantage of THIS remarkable revelation to pursue Lum — in effect, to get her away from BOTH Mendō Shūtarō (who was universally HATED by most of his male peers) and Aisuru Satoshi (whose attempts at dominance over the school's social order rubbed too many the wrong way) — the red-haired, tomboyish gynoid added, "Given that your people have effectively walled in all of Tomobiki from what our ship's sensors have detected of that energy field blocking off the district from the remainder of your planet, if you wish to keep your charge clear of her, he must clearly leave Tomobiki."
Moroboshi Negako nodded. "Which indeed he will..."
A wild explosion of cheers answered that from the crowd...
"SILENCE!"
...before everyone clammed up after nearly having their eardrums shattered by that scream from the planet's first true AI. "Much that Heika DOES comprehend your automatic desire to blame Ataru for the several disruptive events that have befallen Tomobiki as a whole — and Ataru is apologetic concerning the events he PERSONALLY was responsible for; he will undergo psychiatric evaluation as to determine why such occurred, of course — the OUTSIDE WORLD does not perceive same." Smirking on seeing the chorus of dropped jaws answer that statement, the ninjutsu grandmaster added, "Ataru has decided due to Lum's actions and the actions of those people such as her cousin Jariten, Shigaten Benten, Oyuki Fuyujo, Aruka Ran, Kurama of Karasutengu and ESPECIALLY Seq Rei that since he inadvertently became part of ENDANGERING the entire human race by his statement that day as you just witnessed — never mind his recovering his memories of his sister Sakuya and his TRUE friends, which all do NOT live in Tomobiki — he will return all medals and decorations awarded to him in the wake of the Tag Race to the issuing governments. Of course, all monetary awards given with those medals and decorations will be returned as well; Ataru's birth mother and her brother have been attempting to embezzle same since such funds were transferred to his private bank account." Ignoring the surprised looks from many in the crowd, Negako added, "Furthermore, given the questions which arose among members of various national congresses and parliaments — especially from the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major petroleum producers — Ataru will proceed to the International Criminal Court in the Hague to explain what happened in the 'world oil theft' incident after the Tag Race. Given what I now know about the TRUE events of that incident — and such will be revealed using metahuman telepaths and magical Legilimency masters; for your information, ladies, such people are gifted in a magical variation of telepathy — the onus of what happened that evening will fall squarely on the shoulders of Aisuru Satoshi and his three companions Urayamu Akira, Daremo Hiroyuki and Shitto Kōsuke."
"YOU CAN'T...!"
KK-KRACK!
Kanzaki Ryūha was now smashed head-first into the back wall of the gymnasium thanks to Negako's blinding toss of a dodgeball right into his face! As people gaped in horror on seeing such a demonstration of skill from the effectively millennia-old being, the ninjutsu grandmaster said, "Do not interrupt me to fulfill your desire to keep matters 'normal', Ryūha. The very LIVES of many of your peers here at school are now in potentially LETHAL danger due to Ataru's desire to be forever RID of all of your presences in his life." Smirking on hearing many in the crowd gasp again on hearing THAT, she added, "Given that many in government here would be wary of the idea of sending Satoshi and his peers to the Hague to answer for their actions last fall — no doubt out of concern for Lum's reaction given how dependent she has become since they have always moved to keep some 'control' over Ataru — the resultant reaction could be that some terrorist group will come see them KILLED." Seeing people's jaws drop on hearing that, she added, "Most likely, it will be someone from al-Qā'idah which will perform such an act."
Jora then perked. "Um, Lady Negako, isn't that the group which destroyed those towers in your world capital city eleven years ago in the event known here on Earth as '9/11'?" the brunette Oni gynoid then asked.
"Indeed the same, Jora," Negako declared.
"THEN WHY DOESN'T ATARU PROTECT US?!"
"HIKAWA-KUN!" Nanase barked out.
"No, Mariko, Shin'ya has a right to ask that."
As people gaped in shock at that show of support and Hikawa Shin'ya tried not to blush, Negako focused on him. "How can Ataru fight off someone determined to DIE in the name of their cause, Shin'ya? He is not trained in martial arts despite his using shinken shirahadori to prevent Shūtarō from causing him harm, so acting against such a terrorist will do him much harm despite his increased resistance to Lum's bio-electrical powers. Furthermore, WHY would he do that for people he clearly HATES?"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
Negako pointed to Shin'ya, then indicated many other boys in the crowd. "TRAITORS TO HUMANITY!" she declared in a voice that seemed to boom over the room, making those boys scream out in denial. "You support Lum's presence on Earth, thus you will be seen by outside observers as accepting of her and her friends' actions since they came to Earth in October."
She then indicated several sophomore and senior girls. "TRAITORS TO HUMANITY BY ASSOCIATION!" Ignoring their shouts of outrage at being so accused, she added, "You all lust for Shūtarō, who has often made it quite clear that he will stop at NOTHING to win Lum's interest in him, thus you will be perceived in the same manner as your male peers."
As many boys in the room sank to their knees in horror on realizing what the ninjutsu grandmaster was now forcing them to confront and their female peers looked almost ready to break down and cry, Negako relaxed herself. "Fortunately, Heika and His Government recognize that you simply had no idea that the outside world has effectively come to see you in such a light, hence the presence of the Naval Special Force here in town under Shimosuwa Tamiyo's command for the time being. If luck is with them, they will intercept such a suicide bomber before someone comes to harm, so be at peace with yourselves.
"Though I STRONGLY warn you to change your habits and your current allegiances."
As people faintly nodded, Negako gazed once more on the three gynoid observers now "based" on Ceres. "Do relay to Invader that the TRUE matriarch of the Moroboshi Clan does NOT recognize his daughter's claim of marriage to Ataru and will not receive ANY succour or support from our family from this day forward. Whatever agreement Ataru's birth-parents may have made to him and his wife will not be recognized by us. Furthermore, do warn him that if he wishes to press things — as he does show a quite understandable desire to see his daughter safe and happy — that we have connections to Yiziba..."
Much to Negako's private amusement and the students' shock, Sil and her peers all shrieked on hearing THAT NAME.
"...and we will USE same to make Lum behave as a PROPER guest of Japan is expected to behave," she finished before moving to hop off the stage and depart the building to return to the Imperial Palace. "The Naval Special Force will enforce that as required. Furthermore, Shūtarō will be curtailed from attempting to support her by his grandfather Gennosuke. Good day."
With that, the ninjutsu grandmaster left the building, leaving a chorus of horrified people behind...
...even if three certain alien-form gynoids tried not to grin in anticipation at such that performance by Earth's first true AI.
To Be Continued...
WRITER'S NOTES
Character notes: The Thunder Companies were introduced in The Seventh Shipgirl. Kayama Tamami, Kurihara Mari and Christine Garland are from Super Real Mahjong; they appeared in the P6 version from 1996 (note that Christine's middle name is my invention). Hiiragi Ann, Hayashida Tsubasa, Otsuka Kakeru, Ōshima Yumeko, Fuyuki Mika and Wakai Hana are all dōjinshi characters created by Saigado, as is the unseen Ogasawara Hiromi; Tsubasa's and Kakeru's family names are my creation. Endō Hajime is a dōjinshi character created by YK. Chloe Griffin and Shimizu Jun both are dōjinshi characters created by Momonosuke. Note that Chloe's family name is my creation, as is her ancestral aboriginal nation; I did that since she had tanned skin in her own story. Shogai Dakejinzō is a character from The Senior Year, first appearing in "Arrive Reiko-chan"; as an aside, the family of Inu Chigaiko (the Unseen Lady) also appeared in the TSY story "Darling's Secret Date".
Translation list and source language (all Japanese unless noted): Shōsa — Navy lieutenant commander/Army major/Air Force squadron leader; Yūjo — Harlot/prostitute; Tokkeitai — Short for Tokubetsu Keisatsu-tai ("Special Police Corps"), the Imperial Navy's version of the Kempeitai as noted above; Tennō Heika Banzai — Literally "Ten Thousand Years [to] His Majesty the Heavenly Sovereign", though effectively meaning "Long Live His Majesty, the Heavenly Sovereign"; Matrjóshka — Literally "little matron", this is the name for a set of hollow figurines which can fit into each other (Russian); Raer'batoguo — The analogue of Europe on Yiziba (Yizibajohei); Miko — Shrine maiden; Shihan — Martial arts grandmaster; Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū — Path of the Supreme Life; Shinken shirahadori — Literally "naked sharp sword grasp", this is the technique appearing often in anime and manga where one character catches the sword of another with a clapping motion of the hands.
Here is the translation of Kimigayo: Kimigayo wa chiyo ni yachiyo ni sazare-ishi no iwao to narite koke no musu made ("May Your Reign continue for a thousand — eight thousand — generations until the tiny pebbles grow into massive boulders lush with moss"). Said anthem is based on a waka poem published anonymously around 905 CE in Kokin Wakashū, produced at the order of the Heavenly Sovereign Daigo (885-930 CE). The medley used with Kimigayo was first created by John William Fenton in 1869; such was modified and updated by Oku Yoshiisa and Hayashi Hiromori (with arrangements by Franz Eckert) in 1880.
The salute made by Fukushima Fujiko (THG Fubuki) at the assembly shown in the third scene, "Gain victory in the dawn horizon", comes from Gaijin Teitoku. As an aside, flying the maritime signal "Z" flag is a visible encouragement of luck in Japan. Such came from the use of said flag by the commander of the Combined Fleet, Marquis Tōgō Heihachirō (1848-1934), to encourage his forces at the Battle of Tsushima on 27-28 May 1905 against elements of the Imperial Russian Navy. Said flag's use that day conveyed the message "The fate of the Empire rests on the outcome of this battle. Let each man do his utmost!"; this was inspired by the message flashed by signal flags from HMS Victory at the order of Viscount Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) before the Battle of Trafalgar nearly a hundred years earlier, "England expects that every man will do his duty".
The Medal of Honour with Red Ribbon is the Japanese equivalent to the Cross of Valour in Canada; it is meant to salute those people who risked their lives to save others. While Shimosuwa Tamiyo (THG Tenryū) misunderstood the award's meaning, she mentioned it as a way of saluting the tolerance people at Tomobiki High showed concerning incidents since the Tag Race.
Sakurada-mon ("Sakurada Gate") is the metronym for the headquarters of the Tōkyō Metropolitan Police Service; such is located near the gate of the same name on the south side of the Imperial Palace grounds downtown.
Note that the term "Lum Invader" for the female lead of Urusei Yatsura is an assumption made by fans; this is because her father is first introduced as "Mr. Invader" in the first manga story "A Good Catch". Nowhere in either the anime or manga did Takahashi-sensei ever introduce a family name for Lum, much less the other aliens who appeared in Yatsura. The term Redet Lum is taken from Lew Burton's Just A Dream. The family names of Lum's friends — or patronymic in the case of Oyuki: "Fuyujo" means "child of Fuyu"; I created him for the TSY story "Oyuki's Story" — are my invention.
The term Bunka-gonen literally means "Fifth Year of Civilization". This is the local era date for the year 1808 CE. It was in that year that Moroboshi Negako effectively became a sentient being as first noted on in the TSY story "Spirit-War Tomobiki". In later stories I wrote in the wake of TSY, the term "Promise of Bunka-gonen" was coined to represent a metaphysical/mystical oath made by those who would become the hosts of such a being that s/he would help Negako live her life as her own person. In the universe of this story, this happened in 2001 thanks to Tariko Katabarbe (Tuyuki) and Kasuga Ayumu (Infinity).