Rule courtesy of MendelevianDescendent
9476: SCIENCE girls, as much as it would please some of us to have found a metaphorical fountain of youth, we'd rather you refrain from attempts to de-age our human personnel.
Yokosuka, Japan, September 20, 20XX
Sometimes it was good for an admiral to have a look in on his SCIENCE shipgirls - surprise inspections of that sort could prove useful in being forewarned of future techie mayhem as well as provide motivation for the SCIENCEfleet to channel their chaotic energies into something constructive for the war effort. Shipgirls being shipgirls though, many times an unannounced admiral inspection became an excuse to see who could drive the admiral out of their lab the fastest with heinous feats of mad science. Last time this had happened, Provence had accidentally let loose an entire horde of food-based critters all over Toulon, resulting in confused attempts to either round them up or eat them and leading to a fuckload more paperwork for Admiral Masson.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, things were going rather differently over in Yokosuka.
"Akashi? What exactly am I supposed to be looking at here?" Admiral Goto hefted up what looked like a suspiciously short-barreled bazooka, as though the repair ship slash SCIENCE shipgirl had cut a foot or so off the length of the barrel. "Admiral no, put that down!" One of the Yuubaris had run over to him and hurriedly yoinked it clean out of his hands, setting it back down on its rack with such precision it was as if she feared it would go off. "That's still experimental, we're still working the kinks out-" "Don't let Iku catch you saying that," Goto began, only to backtrack a short time afterward. "Never mind, if I remember correctly your lab is almost everything-proof. So what exactly is this thing?"
"This, Admiral, is a Ten-Year Bazooka," Akashi said as she made her way over, hefting up the bazooka and stroking the barrel of the mad invention (like a villain petting a cat) with a bit of a gleam in her eyes. "The original plans came from outside sources I'm not sure I can discuss safely, but leaving aside the question of whose idea this thing was, let's just say that whoever gets shot by it is supposed to temporarily switch places with a future version of themselves. The Yuubaris and I have been trying to reverse the effect, so that it calls up past versions of its targets instead."
"Right." Goto folded his arms over his chest as he raised a brow at the repair ship turned SCIENCE girl. "And why exactly would you want to try pulling this off?" "Well, ah... part of it was so we could study the life cycle of Abyssals," Yuubari admitted, though that was likely a big fat lie or at least only half-true. "But the real draw of it is we want to know what you were like when you were still in the academy!" Akashi piped up, prompting a "What" from the admiral and a raised brow to go with it. "Well, I mean, it must've been a great time in your life if you keep trying to think back to it every time you get stressed ou-oh shit!"
That last bit was the bazooka slipping from Akashi's grasp, and she ended up playing a one-girl game of hot potato with it as she tried to keep it from hitting the ground. The trouble was, her finger slipped, caught the trigger - and with an almighty bang and a great cloud of smoke, the Ten-Year Bazooka went off, its muzzle pointed squarely at Admiral Goto. When the smoke cleared, it wasn't clear who shrieked first, but apparently the SCIENCE girls could do an excellent impression of Kongou's sister.
"HIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!"
There, standing before them, was Shinichi Goto, still very much the admiral they all knew and loved (or hated, depending on who you asked), but looking much more fresh-faced than any shipgirl could remember him being. Yuubari and Akashi could only gape at the sight, as their younger-looking admiral looked down at his hands with considerable confusion. "Well. It doesn't look like I've been sent back ten years in time so thank goodness for that turning out to be a dud." "Uh... Admiral, you might want to look in a mirror." "Huh? Is there smoke on my face or someth-" Goto was cut off as he spotted his reflection in a nearby monitor, letting out a long, low groan of exasperation. "Fuuuuuuuuuck my life, for the six hundred and forty-seventh time running. How long is this supposed to last?"
The SCIENCE girls looked at each other with clear and obvious nervousness, gulping before Yuubari turned to give the admiral her answer. "Well you see the thing is, um, the original effect was supposed to last for five minutes. But since we did some tampering, made some alterations, we're not exactly sure how long until this wears off. Let's just hope it isn't permanent, though I have to say admiral, the new look suits you well." "Dismissed," Admiral Goto replied dryly, shaking his head with a sigh before clearing out of the lab snappily. Lord knew he'd rather not meet the wrong end of any more of their inventions!
Fortunately for him it seemed, his human subordinates refrained from giving him trouble for it. Oh a few asked if he was on a new skincare regimen, and some even dared ask if he had plastic surgery or even Botox, but Goto had heard worse and could shrug it off. No, what was really giving him issues was that his 10-years-younger appearance was causing quite the stir among his shipgirls. Aoba had offered, for the fifth time this year, to include him in a photoshoot for a naval pinup calendar. Akigumo had propositioned him to model for her art, due to the fact that she was forbidden from using any shipboys as her models (and they almost never came to Japan anyhow). Mutsu had been even more flirtatious than usual, greeting him with an "Oh my, how did you get even more handsome than you already were, admiral?". Even Nagato, who usually was the very model of silent professionalism, had to avert her eyes from his appearance lest his looks bring a blush to her normally-stoic face.
Naturally, his girlfriend - some would say wife in all but name and ring - found out about the change in him eventually. From a distance, she saw him in his new youthful glory, Yokosuka's Adonis of an admiral - and she liked what she saw, dess. She liked it a lot. And she had to do something about that sooner or later, preferably sooner in case anyone else had any designs on him because of his current predicament.
It was past sundown when the attack came, at a time when he least expected it. "TEIIIIIIIIIIIIIITOOOOOOOOOOOKUUUUUUUUUUU!" In a blur of white, red, and brown flinging herself at him full tackle to pull him in for a tight hug, Kongou soon began carrying Goto off away in her embrace like a huntress claiming her prey. "Ack! Kongou, what the- put me down, have you been dipping in the coffee again-" The poor man was at a loss for words in trying to talk with the fast battleship currently smothering him in her endearingly excessive affections. Kongou's intentions became crystal clear as soon as she next spoke, and it seemed plain as day that Goto losing ten years from his physical age had awakened something in her she needed to get out of her system pronto.
"Teitoku! Since Akashi-san shot you with that weapon, you're 10 years younger, dess! Now you have even more stamina to keep up with my BURNING LOVE!, dess!"
The ensuing night battle behind locked doors was, to put it mildly, one of the wildest and longest (and best) nights Admiral Goto had ever known to that point.