And the complete Part 12: ****
United States Fleet Activities Sasebo, an hour after lunch..."Oh, I'm stuffed..." "Roll me to the bunk, Rinnie..." Prinz Eugen laughed as San Francisco leaned over to drape herself over the ex-German heavy cruiser's shoulder, she immediately moving to playfully shove her older squadron-mate off. Watching from from across the table, Yonaga smiled on seeing the camaraderie between the nisei-shaped treaty cruiser named after the City by the Bay and the non-compliant cruiser named after Austria's most famous general. "Lazy idiot!" Eugen scolded. "What would your father say?!" Both girls gazed upon each other, then they laughed as Yonaga sipped her tea. Beside her, her youngest sister Izumi could only impishly smile at such a show of positive exuberance between Eugen and her friend. «At least Catarina-san is recovering well from her experience alongside Luise-san, Onē-sama,» the young-looking battleship with the long black hair in the high ponytail preferred by her effectively second-eldest sister flashed via signal lamp behind her reading glasses. «She's always been bothered at times because she was originally made in Germany, yet answered the call in America. I'm so glad that Margarethe-san was so willing to defend her choice like that, even convincing Luise-san about that.» «Yes, it was well-argued on young Margarethe's part,» the carrier mused as she sipped her tea. «And it's understandable that Catarina-san would have mixed feelings about whom she should be loyal to. Given that it was well over a year between her summoning at Kitsap and the summoning of her old fleet mates at Mürwik...» — here, she tried not to laugh after remembering what Hood told her about that insane free-for-all the veterans of the Hochseeflotte and the Kriegsmarine engaged in when they had responded to the summons en masse that day — «...she had time to adjust to being United States Ship Prinz Eugen instead of being Deutsches Marineschiff Prinz Eugen.» She then made a face. «After all, her spiritual homeland neither has a kaiser nor an ocean coast, so she couldn't realistically serve as Österreichisches Marineschiff Prinz Eugen.» "So goes the ways of Empire." That was Eugen, who was giving the two larger ships an amused look. "Apologies, Catarina-san. We didn't mean to make you and Michiko-san feel left out of the conversation," Yonaga stated. "So what are our admiral's plans now?" "Well, with so many now forming the Sasebo Einsatzgruppe..." Here, the spiritual native of Paris and Vienna blushed. "Sorry! Sasebo Task Force, I mean!" As Izumi giggled, the cruiser shrugged. "We need to do exercises together as we get used to each shipgirl's capabilities. Especially your own, Frau Kapitän. Your anti-aircraft missiles give us nearly the same range as your sisters' main cannon. They could prove decisive in case we have a new princess move into the areas once controlled by Kei's elder sister, much less that one princess down in the South China Sea we destroyed two years ago. Given how often unter-..." Again, she caught herself. "I mean submarines and destroyers have been seen in the Korea Straits, the East Sea, the Sōya Strait and the Okhótskoe Móre, there has to be some installation princess supporting them somewhere..." "'East Sea'?" Yonaga asked. "The 'Sea of Japan' as you would know it, Yoiko," San Francisco stated as she gave the other shipgirl a warning look. "Given how much the Koreans were willing to pour food into Japan even when they were also trying to help their cousins in the north recover from when the Abyssals decided to get rid of Kim Chŏng'ŭn and his regime in P'yŏng'yang after they tried to fire nuke-tipped missiles at them seven years ago, people in Kyōto decided to drop any objections about making 'Tonghae' and its translations the internationally recognized name of that body of water." She sipped her coffee before she shook her head, recalling the one time she had been deployed to Wŏnsan on the East Sea coast escorting a special convoy from Seattle to hep in relief efforts. "It's a miracle the South didn't have issues with radioactive fallout from across the DMZ and that they could forge trade links with their cousins in Killim, Yonyŏng and Namhug'yong-gang north of the Tuman and the Amnok Rivers. With what reports I've read of what South Korean troops found when they hit the outskirts of areas where there were large concentrations of military forces north of the DMZ, it was ugly. People are still dying there." A churlish smile crossed Yonaga's face. "Yes, Brent-san told the crew about that so-called 'brilliant comrade', his 'dear' father and 'great' grandfather." As the shipgirls and human personnel listening to this all laughed — conversations among friends and co-workers tended to fall by the wayside in the mess hall whenever a capital ship, especially an experienced one, began speaking on philosophical matters — she shook her head. "To those of you of that ancient land here today, know that the vengeance your lost countrymen cry out for from beyond the Veil of Heaven will come!" she then called out loud and clear, making several people in the uniforms of the Navy of the United Korean Republic all perk and gaze her way. "You gave us so many things over the last millennia and more. The crass and filthy way your ancestors were treated — especially during the times of the latter years of Meiji, the whole of Taishō and the early part of Shōwa — is a stain on the honour of all Japan, all the way to Tennō himself." As gasps escaped many of the Japanese personnel there on hearing that assertion, the carrier smiled. "I spoke to Tennō about your presence here after I returned from Scotland to look in on Reiko-san's son. I know of those loud fools who decry your people as 'thieves' for what happened in Chinhae over the last five years. That you gave a true home for many incomplete sisters to several of my fleet mates speaks highly of the ethics the great yangban scholars such as Master Toegye and Master Yulgok promulgated to the people of your land." She gave them a delighted smile. "That, of course, being always tempered by the warm heart Master Yulgok's wise mother always projected in the art she painted and the poems she wrote...to say anything of the bravery those like Admiral Yi Sunshin showed when he defended his country from warlords here to his very death at Noryang, urging his warriors on to final victory even when he was felled by a bullet!" A wild scream escaped many of the Korean service personnel there as they toasted the returned carrier with their drinks, many shouting "YONAGA MANSE!" in return. As friends from other nations all got to their feet and cheered that show of respect and thanks from this shipgirl who unintentionally symbolized elements of Japan's imperial past many in the island nation preferred to forget just as most Germans would wish the Nazi period would finally fade from their own collective memories and history, Yonaga turned back to her tea to finish it. Even if she hadn't been appointed fleet flagship for the Sasebo Task Force, she had to make sure there would be no dissension among the ranks when they went out to destroy the enemy... "Yoiko-san!" Yonaga's head snapped over. "What is it, Sumie-san?" Shimakaze screeched to a halt close to the carrier. "You gotta come quick!" the blonde destroyer said as she pointed to a place just beyond the front gates. "Four of my sisters are being attacked by a bunch of old geezers..." The seventh carrier was quickly on her feet and racing out of the room, with Izumi, Eugen and San Francisco following her at flank speed. Watching them go, Shimakaze whistled. "Damn! I'd thought they be all slow...!" She raced off after them, with a mixture of Japanese and American naval shore patrolmen charging after the destroyer... **** Between the base grounds and Kōkai Junior High School, that moment...She once hated all Japanese. It was understandable, of course. Having been kidnapped from her home village of Nogŭn-ri once she had been detected to possess magic long before she would have entered grade school, Kim Ŭijin had been taken to a desolate island way out in the Pacific. There, she had been hurt again and again by mean Japanese soldiers of a special Imperial Army unit in hope of awakening her magic in a specific way so she could be used against the nice Americans who were trying to liberate her homeland and other places. It didn't happen until very late in what the Japanese called the Greater East Asia War. when a large number of magical American Marines and Canadian soldiers wearing tailed fur hats came to the island to put a stop to what the mean Japanese soldiers were doing to young children. Along with dozens of others who had been captured by the mean soldiers over the years to be hurt like she was; among them were children of European and American couples who had been living in China at the time and even Japanese children who worshipped the God of the Christians from the island of Kyūshū, Ŭijin was sealed in a cave by magic and black jewel-like stones while the adult magicals fought a vicious battle over several days against the attacking Allied soldiers. Just as one of the mean soldiers came to the cave to make the children lash out at the Americans and Canadians coming to save them all, a nicer group of Japanese soldiers then came to the island, led by a woman with spooky black eyes. They ended up helping the Allies beat up the mean soldiers, then they tied them up on the parade ground. The woman then read something that made the mean soldiers scream out in agony and die. But try as the Allied soldiers and their nice Japanese friends might over the following week, they couldn't find where the children had been hidden, even after Ŭijin and her friends screamed out many times for them to come to the cave. Once the soldiers departed after giving up the search, the children fell asleep, tired and exhausted as well as starving. Fortunately, the magic inside them kept them alive; even if they still felt the urge to eat, they wouldn't succumb to hunger. Over a period of time whose length the children couldn't comprehend, the black crystals that shielded them from the Allied magical soldiers changed colour to a pretty dark red shade. When that happened, the children finally managed to get out of the cave to find that the camp the mean soldiers created for them was effectively wrecked. Fortunately, there was enough food on the island to keep them healthy and happy. Even more so, there were many books in many languages that helped teach the children all about magic, having survived thanks to a small library that weathered the attack quite well. In those books were descriptions of the type of magic the mean soldiers wanted them to use. Obscurial.After reading what the soldiers of Unit 731 wanted to do, Ŭijin cried. She didn't want to become a MONSTER! Nor did all her many friends. So they stayed on Nakanotori-shima. Until the day the umibōzu — as Ŭijin's friend Miyake Harumi called them — came. While the children were powerful in their own right, the umibōzu — or "Abyssals" as they later came to be called around the world — just kept coming. Taunting the children many times with offers to become like them, giving them a chance to lash out at the stupid humans who left them on the island to die, away from families and friends. Fortunately, the magic the children possessed was powerful; mixed with the red crystals they now wore as jewellery, they were able to beat back the mean things time and time again. However, the children soon realized the best thing to do was to get off the island and get to Japan; they were running out of food since the Abyssals were stopping them from fishing and the creatures just didn't seem to want to leave them alone. Finally, John Granger — a English boy whose parents lived in Shànghǎi — discovered how to apparate. Combining their powers, the children teleported off to appear in f*ckuoka, a nice city on Kyūshū. Fortunately, the Japanese military authorities these days were far much nicer. Assuming the children were just refugees having come to Japan from China after the Abyssals totally devastated the eastern half of the country, they were allowed to reside in the great port city, given the chance to have something of normal lives even if they didn't have parents or guardians protecting them. Cared for by missionaries from around the world, the children of Nakanotori-shima took the chance to learn about the previous seven decades of history in the normal world so they wouldn't be discovered in case relatives of soldiers from Unit 731 were still around and wanted to use them against innocent people. Along the way, Ŭijin and her friends learned of shipgirls, the noble spirits of warships brought to life as human women who were the only ones who could fight the Abyssals on even ground. Naturally, the native of Nogŭn-ri in Ch'ungch'ŏngbuk-to became a fan of all the many Korean shipgirls who were helping transport food across the East Sea from their homeland to ensure people in Japan didn't starve. Now four of those girls who had answered the call to arms at Chinhae — Project V6 class destroyers Pongp'ung, T'aekp'ung, Ch'ungp'ung and T'anp'ung — were visiting Sasebo after escorting a food convoy from Pusan to Shimonoseki. Sure enough, there were mean people here. People who HATED the fact that those nice Korean shipgirls — who could have been Japanese shipgirls; Ŭijin didn't really understand what happened there — were actually serving the newly reunited country and not Japan itself. And were willing to even HURT them to make them serve Japan! Seeing the loud and rowdy crowd move to entrap the blonde-haired shipgirls and force them away from the main gate of the base, Ŭijin shuddered as she felt a terrible surge of power race up from her heart to begin to change her. She had control over her power... ...but in her heart, she was still a child. Nice people were being hurt... ...and she had the power to stop the mean ones from hurting them... **** Kōkai Junior High School..."What the HELL...?!" Roma looked over at Moroboshi Ataru. "What is it?" The Terran "tag race champion" shuddered as that heavy wave of ki washed over him for a second, then his left eye glowed brightly. "Someone is about to become very angry at someone, my Other," he said in that booming metallic voice that indicated that his own hidden side was about to come roaring forth from the depths of his soul to overcome him. "Someone who doesn't approve of those loud-mouthed fools who hate the idea of our Korean friends 'stealing' shipgirls." Hearing that, the third of the Littorio-class battleships hissed. "Merde...!" **** By the front gate..."WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" The small crowd of elderly gentlemen — augmented by younger boys who seemed to be normal bōsōzoku to the few onlookers safely off to the sides — spun on hearing that cold woman's voice, then they brightened on noting who was now approaching them. "YONAGA BANZAI!" their obvious leader — who was dressed in an Imperial Army uniform with the markings of the Kempeitai on the sleeves, corporal's tabs on his collars — screamed in relief on noting the fifth of the Yamato-class had come. "YONAGA BANZAI!" the others of the crowd surrounding the shipgirls who appeared to be close sisters to Shimakaze howled. "SILENCE!" Their jaws all snapped closed as they stared in confusion at Yonaga. Trying not to shake her head in disapproval at the sight of such worthless dregs moving to constrain Shimakaze's younger sisters from moving about freely, the carrier then focused her attention on Pongp'ung. "Pongp'ung-nari, I apologize on behalf of Tennō and the people of Japan for the actions of these hooligans." As the crowd of militarists gasped on hearing her address the shipgirl who should possess the "proper" name "Minekaze" by that warped name — not to mention use one of the dog-eaters' honorifics for her...to say anything of using the name of the HEAVENLY SOVEREIGN to denounce loyal natives of Japan in PUBLIC! — Yonaga bowed her head to the young destroyer before she focused anew on the protesters. "All of you, move away from them now," she ordered as her hand rested on her katana, her thumb pushing the blade out of the scabbard slightly. "Disperse and never return." The militarists all shuddered... **** Nearby...Ŭijin's eyes widened on hearing that name. Yonaga.She shuddered as she felt the long-buried rage that had clouded her heart and overcome her soul many times over the last seven decades since she was first brought to Nakanotori-shima recede as a sense of hope filled her soul. The Angry One. The one being the umibōzu feared above all else. She was HERE! And if she was willing to protect the pretty Korean shipgirls...? "Ŭijin-a?" Ŭijin perked, then she turned before smiling as a Japanese girl her physical age — thanks to what had happened to her on that island, the native of Nogŭn-ri had been literally frozen in time at the cusp of puberty for decades — came up to join her; both girls were hiding themselves behind the corner of a wall framing a family home just a block away. "What's going on?" Miyake Harumi asked before she looked around the corner herself, then she blinked. "Who are they?" "Mean people, Harumi-chan," Ŭijin answered. "Those are Korean destroyer shipgirls who were trying to visit the base. The mean people stopped them and tried to hurt them before Yonaga-daegamnim came to make them go away." Harumi blinked, then she shuddered as one of the old men — dressed in an all-too familiar Imperial Army uniform — began to scream at the tall and muscular carrier. As several other shipgirls — Yonaga's little sister Izumi, the ex-German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, American heavy cruiser San Francisco and the Korean destroyers' elder half-sister Shimakaze — all moved to glare at the yelling old man and his snarling friends, her own heart started to shudder as the darkness overcame her. "Harumi-chan..." Ŭijin moaned on sensing that...
****
By the gate..."...SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF, YONAGA-SAMA! USING THE SACRED NAME OF TENNŌ TO ACTUALLY DEFEND THOSE FILTHY DOG-EATING THIEVES FOR DEFYING THEIR BETTERS! WE TRIED TO CIVILIZE THEM ALL THOSE YEARS AGO! YOU ACTUALLY SUPPORT THEIR STEALING OUR SHIPGIRLS...?!"
"SILENCE!"
The former Kempeitai officer was nearly blasted down by Yonaga's scream. As the other militarists began to cower from the tall carrier, the fifth of the Yamato-class could only sneer as she glared at him. "I speak with Tennō's authority, Corporal," she icily declared as her grey eyes flared. "YOU do not. None of you do!" As the small crowd of bystanders all cheered on hearing that stern statement, the carrier focused on the former Imperial Army military policeman. "You LOST that right when your superiors played games with Tendō's late father in the 1930s, deceiving him into thinking that it was right and proper to brutally RAPE neighbouring countries like the good soldiers of this land were BRAINWASHED into believing was right and proper all those years ago?! Where did the food you've eaten recently come from?!" She indicated the four Korean destroyers in their midst. "It was because of them! Not because of some obligation to this land; Tennō relieved them of any such bonds five years ago! They did it — as their leaders in Kyŏngbok-kung in ancient Sŏul so allowed — out of simple HUMANITY!" She shook her head. "You are no samurai, nor a proper heir of one! You are a mere BANDIT who preys on innocent people...!"
The old man shuddered. "TRAITOR...!"
"YOU LEAVE HER ALONE, YOU MONSTER!"
Yonaga's head perked up...
...just as a tidal wave of smoky dark energy surged down the street from a nearby corner, ripping up the pavement and knocking cars aside as it seemed to focus directly on the crowd of militarists and their young bōsōzoku companions. As Pongp'ung and her sisters all dropped to the street to get clear of that killing wave of energy, it smashed into the crowd, ripping them apart like a mass gathering of whirling saw blades. As Shimakaze joined her half-sisters on the deck, Yonaga stood her ground, allowing her reinforced armour to deflect the powerful magic that had just slaughtered two dozen people in the blink of an eye. While Izumi wasn't visibly bothered by this horrible burst of magic, both San Francisco and Prinz Eugen screamed as slashing cuts appeared on their faces and uniforms; even if they had armour, it wasn't reinforced by mesonium as the larger carrier had been blessed with thanks to her long imprisonment in Sano-wan. While the onlookers screamed and fled the scene and the crowd of American and Japanese security personnel moved to seek cover, the whirlpool of energy seemed to stop and form what looked like a classic image of a black hole for a moment...before it melted into a shuddering girl not even ten years of age, dressed in in a f*ckuoka SoftBank Hawks T-shirt under a stylish jean jumper. Before anyone could ask anything, another girl came running out from behind the corner of a wall to join her. "Harumi-chan!"
"You alright, Captain?"
Yonaga turned...then she blinked on seeing a scowling, silver-haired American marine master gunnery sergeant, a wand in his hand as he aimed it in the general direction of the two children. "Seventh Marine Division?" she asked.
"Seventy-fifth Marine Regiment, Company 'C', Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett, Ilvermorny Masters Class of 1938, at your service, Captain Itō," he said with a polite smile and a proper salute, which Yonaga returned while several of his normal friends moved to helped the wounded cruisers nearby. The look of pride on his face after he announced all that made the carrier nod in approval. "Assigned as special security augmentation to the Kyūshū Magical Association."
Yonaga nodded again before she perked as the other girl — clearly Korean even if she was dressed the same way as her friend — looked at the one who had just slaughtered the militarist protesters like she just squashed some very unwanted bugs. "Harumi-chan!" the other girl scolded. "Say you're sorry!" She pointed at the moaning Eugen and San Francisco in emphasis before she looked at her friend. "They're only cruisers! They're not as armoured as Taegam-nim is! Pabo!"
Harumi wailed as Yonaga blushed at being called THAT. "I'm sorry!"
"Fix it up!"
Nodding as if she had been scolded by her mother, the Japanese girl then held out her hand towards Prinz Eugen and San Francisco. Both cruisers then seemed to glow as magic flowed into their bodies, instantly healing their wounds and repairing their clothes. As MGySgt Beckett gaped on seeing that, Harumi lowered her hand, then she ran over to bowl Eugen over with a hug. "I'M SORRY!" the native of Kyūshū wailed as she nearly crushed the steam out of the cruiser's boilers.
Yonaga stared at this, then she perked as Izumi tugged her jacket. "Onē-sama, what is she?" the younger battleship hissed.
"Obscurial, ma'am," Beckett answered.
That made his platoon commander, Lieutenant Doug Papich, gaze at the native of Chicago. "Master Guns, didn't you once tell me after we were briefed on Nakanotori-shima that any kid that becomes an obscurial can't control their magic?"
The older man nodded. "Aye, sir! That's what I was taught when I went for specialist training at Seven Hills before the damned war started after Pearl Harbour. This..." He shook his head as he waved to the sobbing Harumi, who was now being comforted by a doting Eugen. "This is totally beyond anyone's experience, sir. I've only seen control of magic at that level only ONCE in my lifetime." As Papich gazed once more at him, Beckett shuddered. "Admiral Heather Thompkins, sir."
"Look on the little ones' wrists, Master Gunnery Sergeant."
Hearing Yonaga's warning, Beckett looked at Harumi...
...then he wryly chuckled on seeing the beautiful silver lace bracelets on the girl's lower arms, the strands wrapped tightly around a dozen or so glowing dark red crystals. "Yeah, that would pretty much explain it, Captain."
The carrier then sighed. "Mijin-ssi, you and your sisters care for your young countryman there," she then bade Pongp'ung, nodding towards the other girl who had come to the scene; she had been quick to spot the mesonium-lined bracelets she also wore. As the four Korean destroyers and Shimakaze nodded, Yonaga sighed before she perked, then she glanced in the general direction of Kōkai Junior High School. A semi-humanoid creature was cloaked in darkness near an overhanging tree, his place marked by a glowing left eye. Nodding faintly at her junior navigation officer's grandnephew, she then gazed on Eugen. "Bring the child with us, Catarina-san. We'll make sure they're properly fed before we learn their stories."
"Jawohl, Frau Kapitän!" the ex-German cruiser said with a curt nod...
****
Admiral Richardson's office, an hour later..."How much control over their magic do these kids have, Miss Negako?"
"At least seventy percent, John," Moroboshi Negako said as she gently massaged the various kyūsho on Kim Ŭijin's face and body, making the native of Nogŭn-ri giggle every time the ninjutsu grandmaster did that. "Save for when she encounters something that reminds her of her experiences on Nakanotori-shima, she is a young girl who discovered and mastered her magic far sooner than what one might expect of someone who has not been invited to commence formal education."
As Miyake Harumi ate the beautiful muffins that had been provided to her and her friend by the Sasebo culinary staff, Josiah Bartlet took a deep breath. As he was the senior ranking person in the room, he had placed himself at John Richardson's desk, the admiral standing to his left rear. "If you people scoured that island, Master Gunnery Sergeant, how in the name of God did you miss over three dozen children trapped in a cave?!" the American president then asked as he tried to keep his own temper under control. "How did General Yomigawa's people miss that?! She knew the whole story of that damned place!"
"Magic and ebony mesonium, Mister President. Not to mention probable use of the Fidelius charm to keep the cave's location secret," Thomas Beckett answered. "Whoever was the one who imprisoned those kids used ebony mesonium crystals to reinforce his magic to keep them penned there. With that, the kids had no way to break out of there even if they allowed their obscuruses reign over their magic to get them free. They weren't trained to make proper use of their magic; doing THAT would have had them turn against their captors right then and there." As the others nodded in understanding, the native of Chicago took a breath. "Even if the man who put a Fidelius on the cave died — if it was that, by the way! — the crystals would have hidden them from us. We didn't think to get General Raeburn over to scan the island; she was too busy cleaning up things after the Battle of New York." That was the last major metahuman battle between the War Hawks and the Übermenschen during hostilities, which effectively wrecked the latter force even if survivors were able to mount one final "banzai charge" against the Liberty Legion at the Battle of Toronto after VJ Day. "Fortunately, their magic was so strong that, over time, they could subconsciously change the crystals trapping them to ruby format and 'reprogram' them to allow them out."
"And they decided to live there until the Abyssals came," Leo McGarry noted as people gazed in awe at the children.
"The umibōzu wouldn't leave us alone."
That was Harumi, who was having her face wiped down by a smiling Eugen with a handkerchief. "So you moved to f*ckuoka, then moved to reconnect with normal society," Yonaga then concluded. "What made you come to Sasebo, young one?"
"Ŭijin-a wanted to see the Korean shipgirls, Obā-chan."
Eyes then locked on the now-blushing native of Nogŭn-ri, who was now having her face stuffed by Ch'ungp'ung and T'anp'ung, both of whom had lunch boxes full of freshly-cooked pulgogi accompanied by nine side dishes in a proper kuch'ŏp-pansang setting, which would normally be served to high nobility in old Chosŏn, not to a farmer's child from rural Ch'ungch'ŏng! "I do believe Miss Kim certainly got her chance to do that, Miss Miyake," Bartlet stated, grateful that rooms like this had been modified by magic and Avalonian technology to allow people to speak their own languages and be understood by all in range of the translation field. "So, Professor, how would the authorities here consider this current situation?"
People gazed on the current director of the Kyūshū Magical Association, Professor Hata Kayoko. Normally the headmistress of the Dejima School of Wizardry and Witchcraft in Nagasaki, the veteran of the War of Liberation — she had been a major in the Third "Nine Kingdoms" Brigade of the Greater East Asia Liberation Army, having helped in the final removal of European control over Indochina in the early parts of that conflict — took a deep breath. "Obscurials are seen as very tragic figures, Mister President," she declared. "Any magical 'accidents' — even those which cause fatalities among magicals or normals — due to an obscurial losing control over herself are not seen as their responsibility. Even if Harumi-chan and Ŭijin-a possess considerable control over their magic — as witness what happened to Commander von Savoyen and Commander Norton — the outburst provoked by that idiot on the street earlier was enough to make Harumi-chan lose total control over herself." She gazed on Harumi, who now had a shamed look on her face. "It wasn't your fault, Harumi-chan. You're suffering from what is called 'post-traumatic stress disorder' these days. It used to be called 'shell shock' and 'battle fatigue' back in your day."
Harumi blinked. "I'm not a soldier...!"
"You would have been a child slave soldier, Harumi," Josh Lyman stated with as tender a voice as he could use. "One who never got the chance to decide to serve." As the others in the room nodded, the Connecticut native smirked. "But you proved yourself better than the creeps that put you and Ŭijin and all your friends in that cave." As the girl brightened on hearing that, Lyman winked. "You even proved much better than those nasty umibōzu you beat up on the island."
"Why do they do that?"
That was Ŭijin. "That, Miss Kim, we all wonder," Samuel Quahog breathed out.
Silence fell over the room...
****
Yokosuka, the Naval District Headquarters, two hours later...
"THEY'RE ALIVE?!"
A wide-eyed disguised kitsune was staring in stunned disbelief at Gotō Kiichi, now hosting his own meeting of interested parties concerning the incident in Sasebo. In the background, NHK News was relaying information of an "attempted terrorist attack" on four Korean shipgirls by militarist fanatics when they had been visiting friends at Sasebo, said attack having been stopped by the seventh carrier of Operation Z, though there had been fatalities. Privately grateful that the leaders of the Eight Magical Commanderies and their friends in the Royal Canadian Foresters had been on the ball concerning this incident — there was no way those poor kids would be able to take being exposed like that without losing control of their magic — the leader of the Fleet Shipgirl Project for Japan could only smile at the current head miko administering the local base shrine.
"That's according to John, Haru-san. The list of people the missionaries in charge of the Displaced Children's Centre in f*ckuoka had matched the names of the 'test subjects' Unit 731 collected which weren't accounted for by the 75th Marine Regiment and 'T' Commando which Captain Tōgō retrieved from the archives," Gotō stated with a nod to Mikasa before he nodded as a glass of Stolíchnaja was handed to him. "Marshal Múrometsa, are you normally this friendly with subordinates?"
"We are all comrades in dealing with the enemy, Kiití Rjúsukovich," Svetlána Múrometsa stated as she finished pouring drinks for the others. The current marshal in command of the combined shipgirl forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States had gone to Nagasaki to visit her would-be enemy from the Great Patriotic War when news came down from Sasebo. After Yomigawa Tsukiko sensed that Albus Dumbledore — who had probably been roused out of bed when the news got to him at Hogwarts – had teleported to Yokosuka to see what was going on, the former leader of the Greater East Asia Liberation Army transported the old leader of the Moscow Magical Front over to be at this meeting. "Much that I can, in a way, understand what motivated those nekul'túrnyje svin'í to create such things given how woeful this country's industry was prepared to deal with a giant like America, that these málen'kije ángely survived it when the idiots who tried to turn them into obscurials died thanks to this oath you told me about, Tsukíko Makotóvna...!" She toasted Yomigawa with her own shot glass.
"Indeed we are," Dumbledore said.
People took a moment to sip the apple vódka provided by Múrometsa, even the young destroyers now in the room. "Da, it is khoroshó," Hibiki mused from nearby as she nursed her drink with the expertise gained from her old Soviet crew. Much to the amusem*nt of the visiting magical leaders — atop Dumbledore, Múrometsa and Yomigawa, there was Headmaster Konoe Konoemon of the Mahora Academy north of Tōkyō, current director of the Kantō Magical Association and the effective head of the Eight Commanderies — those shipgirls who had become close to Harry Potter over the years were at this meeting. While there had been concern from Dumbledore considering the younger-looking destroyers were willing to enjoy vódka, everyone was in control over themselves. "With them here, Garrísha won't have to feel alone during the summer away from Khogvárts."
"Hai, Harry-chan needs more friends. And magical ones at that," Shinano said with a nod. "Those poor children were hurt by those awful people, but they've been able to live in peace on that island until the Abyssals chased them away and they came back to civilization. Yes, it was horrible that no one realized they were alive and living all alone on that island..." The bespectacled carrier looked grim as she added, "I hope some of those monsters are still alive these days..."
"Why do you hope that, Shizuka-chan?" Musashi asked.
A grim look answered. "So Onē-sama can have their heads, Onē-san!"
Icy chuckles filled the room. "Atop that, we can't ask Harry-chan's friends from Hogwarts to come visit," Shinano then added as she nodded to Fawkes, now perched on Inazuma's head. "None have a nice phoenix to help move them across Eurasia."
As Fawkes trilled on being recognized by the second of the Yamato-class to be transformed into a carrier, Yamato herself nodded as she sipped her vódka. "What of Hoppō-chan?" she then asked the visiting magicals. "Given that these children have more than enough cause to dislike Abyssals as a whole, will they be able to recognize the difference between those who want to hurt people and someone like Hoppō-chan, Wokyū-san or any of the others who have become friendly to us?"
"We could do a controlled meeting," Nagato noted. "The news of those children can't be kept hidden from my son when he comes back to Japan next month. I doubt young Jane would want to keep it secret, especially if she moves to make friends with these children as well. Atop that, seeing Harry-chan become friends with these children would certainly help suppress Hoppō-chan's fear. She heard stories about the 'mean kids' who always beat up Abyssals around that island..."
"Pity we never realized what that really meant," Mikasa stated as she sipped her own drink. While she would have preferred a good and aged scotch instead, she had both the British and Japanese sense of good manners to not turn down the offered vódka from Múrometsa, a woman who was a hero in many ways to millions of magicals across all of Eurasia. "We could have found these children years ago and helped them try to break free of whatever other influence might be on them."
"Hopefully, their time on that island would have cleansed them of their original hatred for the maniacs who wanted to turn them into living weapons," Ono Haru breathed out as she tried not to give into a sudden urge to transform into her normal vulpine therianthropic form and allow the tsunami of feelings that had haunted her since she first learned of that cursed "phantom island" to finally vent forth. "If they were able to fight the Abyssals off for so long...!"
"Would these parasites that are said to develop inside an obscurial be still there in the children?" Kongō asked.
"I strongly doubt it, Onē-sama," Kirishima answered.
"What's your theory about that, Isabel-chan?" Yomigawa bade.
"According to what I read in Scamander-sensei's work, an obscurus develops when a magical child is doing her best to resist the urge to use magic in a very extreme way. Almost like Harry-chan could have become hadn't Reiko-san rescued him." As Dumbledore winced again on hearing that dark theory concerning Nagato's son, the third of the Kongō-class added, "The researchers of Unit 731 on Nakanotori-shima had up to about five years to fully induce this process. Then the Foresters and the Seventh Marine Division came to rescue them. Some of them were used against the attackers, but most were sealed in that cave. Those children then saw you, Yomigawa-gensui, read the Magical Imperial Rescript declaring that Shōwa Tennō had removed all support for their work, thus killing them because they had 'betrayed' Tennō. Then they were left alone after the Foresters and the Marines tried their hardest to find them. A positive experience that reflected well on them as they remained in that cave; this probably helped them free themselves over time when the mesonium binding them turned into ruby mesonium. Once free of that cave, they had DECADES to spend time with each other in peace and harmony, becoming a family in all but name." As the others nodded, Kirishima shrugged. "In my eyes, the obscuruses within their bodies would logically lose strength and eventually disappear. Yes, they still have the ability to focus that level of magic on a desired target — which the Abyssals gave them more than ample opportunity to practice — but they had years of being just normal children."
"Playing with a remarkable 'toy' called 'magic'," Konoe noted as he stroked his beard. As Dumbledore nodded in turn — the respect the heads of Hogwarts and Mahora held for each other was well known worldwide; Konoe Konoemon was the British wizard's chief ally when dealing with political enemies in the chambers of the ICW in Geneva — the leader of the Eight Commanderies smiled. "Most likely, Isabel-chan, your theory is correct. Given that mesonium is involved..."
"Would Onē-sama be able to deal with them still?" Musashi asked from her sister's side. "Much less, would she have time to deal with them, much less the patience? She's still trying to get used to being back in civilization 'again'."
"She could teach them some things, but I'd turn legal custody of these kids to other people," Enterprise noted as New Jersey nodded in agreement. "Don't get me wrong. Shipgirls can do wonders for normal children; just look at what Reiko's done with little Harry." People grinned on seeing Nagato blush at that compliment by the second of the Yorktown-class carriers. "Yoiko's a whole different kettle of fish. If we want those kids to become proper samurai, she's the girl to teach them. But just to be normal kids?" She shook her head. "No. Much that Yoiko's a good person deep down, I'd pick other people."
"Perhaps yourself and Yasuko-san, Yvonne-san?" Gotō wondered. The most famous ships of two navies perked on hearing that, then they gazed on each other. People fell silent as lights flashed in their eyes while the inner hearts of the quite-human women known to close friends as Itō Yasuko and Yvonne Swanson discussed this matter between themselves. As the others politely turned away so as to not "eavesdrop" on that conversation between the long-time lovers, Dumbledore gazed upon Tenryū. "You yourself could be one of those candidates, Tamiyo," the headmaster of Hogwarts proposed, making the tomboyish cruiser gape. "Yours and your sister's caring for young Tsukiko, Himeko, Ikue and Inoue here is known and respected everywhere, even among conservative magicals in Europe." He chuckled as the four Akatsuki-class destroyers blushed on hearing that compliment from their friend's new headmaster. "In fact, many of the people who are moving to make other countries follow the example of the Canadians, the Australians and the New Zealanders when it came to giving shipgirls full legal rights as 'persons' in both the magical and normal realms point to people such as yourself to demonstrate how easily shipgirls can fit into normal society even with their capabilities."
Tenryū blinked. "Well...!"
A knock echoed from the door. "Enter!" Gotō barked out.
The door flew open. "Excuse me, Teitoku!"
People gaped. "Rumiko-san! What's wrong?!" Yamato asked.
Tsuruya Rumiko looked as if she had just been caught in the back-blast of one of the temper tantrums her old classmate Redet Lum was infamous for. "You better get some of those Foresters out here quick, Teitoku!" she stated.
"What's going on, Tsuruya-kun?!" Gotō asked.
"Some kid just showed up and she's about to tear apart Wokyū-san with her magic!"
Gasps filled the room...
****
Outside...
"Please! Please! Please put Haruna's friend down...!"
Hearing that pained, frantic plea from the fourth of the Kongō-class, the pretty red-haired girl of about ten — dressed similarly to her friends who had been down in Sasebo just two hours before, though she wore a New York Yankees T-shirt instead of one for any of the Japanese professional teams — looked at the crying battleship now being comforted by the strange being who had grown out of an old tea set for a moment, then she gazed back at the struggling Abyssal carrier who was now being suspended by sheer willpower in the middle of the air several metres off the ground. "You dumb Jap!" Danielle McWhorter snarled as she tried not to allow the darkness crawling up from her heart to overwhelm her. Even if there was peace now between America and Japan after those huge bombs had been used to make Emperor Hirohito finally call it quits in 1945, the native of Queens didn't have much reason to trust people from this land, her several friends from Nakanotori-shima like Miyake Harumi excluded. "Don't you know what these things do all the time?!" She hissed out as Wokyū gargled, her throat caught in an invisible vise-like grip with the strength of neutronium. "It's things like her that chased us off the island...!"
"No!" Haruna cried. "Wokyū-chan's never hurt anyone! Leave her alone! Let her go! Please! Please let Haruna's friend go!"
"Miss, please calm down!" Rose Potter added. "You can't blame Miss Wokyū for what her sisters did to you and your friends! She's lived close to Yokosuka all the time! She was never close to Ganges Island whatsoever! She didn't hurt you...!"
"YOU LEAVE HOPPŌ'S SISTER ALONE, YOU BIG BULLY!"
Danielle's head snapped over...
...then with a motion like an underhanded softball pitch, she telekinetically sent the screaming Hoppō flying BACKWARDS to smash against the wall of a nearby building, leaving a VERY large indent on the brick and mortar! As the child-like princess moaned while she flopped face-first into the ground, other shipgirls moved to restrain the raging child from Queens — her parents had been Protestant missionaries in occupied Korea before World War Two — and save the struggling Abyssal carrier. Before Akagi and Kaga could get close, Danielle snarled as she allowed her body to melt into pure magical energy, evading the hands of the two elder carriers as she rose into the air. Fortunately, doing so broke her concentration concerning Wokyū, seeing her drop face-first onto the ground with enough power that her clam shell-shaped helmet/flight deck was knocked clear off her head. "WOKYŪ-CHAN!" Haruna called out as she and Rose moved to comfort the dazed carrier.
"HOPPŌ-CHAN!" a horrified Nagato screamed after she burst onto the scene to see her adopted daughter hurt like that, then she spun around to see the raging torrent of energy now out of the grasp of dozens of shipgirls. "Kami-sama...!"
Haru was also on the scene as she stared in horror at the sheer levels of power this woman-child from America had developed over a period spanning seven decades was now letting off. "This is 'control'...?!" the kitsune-born miko hissed in disbelief as Albus Dumbledore, Konoe Konoemon, Yomigawa Tsukiko and Svetlána Múrometsa moved to give themselves clear arcs of fire concerning Danielle, using their magic to try to cage the angry little girl from Queens and ensure no casualties.
"Oh, she's just having her menarche right now."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"Darlene...?" Dumbledore said as he turned to look.
The others also looked...
...before they gaped on seeing the girl about Enterprise's height standing there. Dressed in the dark grey skinsuit of a magical battleship in the Royal Canadian Navy, she had pendant 50 on her upper legs in white. Her naval combat dress jacket had the name SAINT GERMAIN on the tape over the right breast under a ship's crest appearing to have been inspired by the coat of arms of British Columbia, with a brilliant red sun in a white field sinking into a sea of wavy blue and white lines representing the oceans. Of course, the dual national ensigns worn by warships of the Royal Canadian Navy Magical Service — the Canadian White Ensign with the crossed eagle-and-anchor-under-naval crown once used by Maritime Command as its central sigil after Unification and the black Canadian ensign with the symbol of the Ministry of Magical Affairs of the Dominion in gold in its fly — were on her sleeves. She didn't have her metal wand out...but, much to the surprise of many people who realized this was the second of the Sunbeam-class battleships, she had a black top hat like a stage magician would wear. Turning to Gotō Kiichi as Dumbledore and his friends all relaxed themselves, the newcomer bowed politely as canned stage music echoed all over the scene. That made all the shipgirls blink in confusion before the newcomer turned and tossed the hat right at the churning ball of energy that had been formed from Danielle McWhorter's magic, a lot of mesonium and her own body.
The hat flew like a Frisbee to land perfectly at the "head" of that energy...
...then, with a loud slurping sound, said energy was sucked right INTO the hat!
All the shipgirls gasped as said hat then dropped to the ground, landing perfectly on the grass. Silence then fell as people — including a confused Wokyū, who had been helped back to her feet by Haruna and Rose — stared at the hat...
...before they gasped as the hat began to shudder like it was caught in an earthquake! Calmly walking over as some of the shipgirls quickly heard a muffled girl's voice from inside the hat, Sundown leaned down to pull it up...
...thus allowing a dazed and fully-material Danielle to appear as if she had been ejected from the hat. Sundown then winked at the crowd she was facing, her dark blue eyes twinkling. "With thanks to my wonderful new assistant here, I will now perform a very stupendous feat of magic that you'll never forget!" the battleship with the braided silver-flecked rusty-red hair then declared after conjuring a microphone out of thin air, using a Sonorus charm to allow her voice to carry over the field. "Be assured, ladies and gentlemen, Her Majesty's Ministry of Magical Affairs of the Dominion of Canada does NOT engage in mass obliviations of non-magicals after witnessing a magical event! Fidelius charms work MUCH better in the long term!"
This earned her whoops of laughter from the growing crowd of Foresters who had come to the scene the instant they sensed one of the children of Nakanotori-shima was on the grounds and was about to pound Wokyū into protoplasm. Noting that the Canadians were not doing anything to prepare for some action, the other shipgirls relaxed themselves as they concentrated on what Sundown was about to do. "So, Danielle, if you will place the hat on Miss Wokyū's head, we shall begin..."
Danielle blinked, her face pale as she sensed many people gaze her way...then she nodded before she walked over to levitate the hat onto the head of the Abyssal carrier. "Wokyū...?" the silver-skinned woman then called out...
...before she was sucked right into the hat!
As Haruna screamed out in shock, all the destroyers and submarines seeing this all gasped in awe at such a show. "Wow! Is that what the Ryūseizen can do?!" Kiyoshimo gasped. "She's gotta be able to turn me into a battleship!"
"Poi!" Yūdachi gushed. "Sensei is so POI!"
"At least she calmed that poor girl down!" Inazuma added.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! BRING HARUNA'S FRIEND BACK!"
Sundown gazed in amusem*nt at Haruna, who looked as if someone had just stabbed her in the heart. "What makes you think I caused your friend to disappear?" the Canadian battleship then asked as her blue eyes twinkled in amusem*nt.
That caused the fourth of the Kongō-class to come up short. She thought about it for a moment before she sighed. "Haruna would not like it if Sundown-sensei hurt Wokyū-chan," she then said as she tried to loom over the other battleship.
People gaped in disbelief at her. "Harumi! Are you f*cking NUTS, girl?!" New Jersey demanded. "Even if she's got just twelve-inch guns, she's got FORTY inches of belt armour and TWENTY of deck armour before you even get into her citadel...!"
Sundown sighed as she waved her hand to shut the other battleship up. "Quiet in the peanut gallery! There ARE children present, Commander!" she snapped, earning her a lethal look from the second of the Iowa-class even if some of the others seeing this laughed at what just happened. Ignoring Jersey, Sundown then reached into the flap of her jacket to pull out a triangular white-and-black cushion the size of the battleship's head, which was shaped like a serving of onigiri.
Haruna gasped. "THAT'S WOKYŪ-CHAN'S CUSHION!"
Sundown was able to deftly dodge the other battleship's attempt at reaching for it. "Yes, it is! And it's magical echo told me a very interesting story! One that's actually quite similar to what happened to Kei's and Anna's sisters!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"WOKYŪ'S A SHIPGIRL?!" everyone exclaimed.
Haruna blinked, her eyes wide with shock. "Haruna didn't know...!"
"Of course not!" Sundown stated. "Given the poor thing suffered a rather bad blow to the citadel when she was involved in launching that attack on Okinawa four years ago when Yvonne had to reveal herself to Yasuko..." — here, the second of the Sunbeam-class pointed to Yamato and Enterprise, both of whom perked on being reminded of that day when the then-disguised intelligence officer was forced to use her rigging to save her future lover from an attack by Abyssal-possessed Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers — "...the dear girl didn't remember anything of what motivated her into joining the Abyssals. So she retreated to that island where you met her after the first cushion Anna made for you was taken by those birds. Once you and she became friends after you got sick, the rest is history." As the fourth of the Kongō-class nodded, the Canadian battleship winked. "You're going to make someone here a VERY happy aircraft carrier once she finally wakes up...!"
"HEY! WHAT HAPPENED?! SINCE WHEN'S IT NIGHT HERE...?!"
Enterprise gasped, her blue eyes wide with disbelief as people locked on the now shaking magician's hat. "Yorkie...?!"
Heads snapped her way, then Hōshō gasped. "You mean that Wokyū-san...?!"
"...is...?!" Kaga exclaimed before she gaped at her old rival from Midway.
With a burst of flank speed, the Grey Ghost of the United States Navy lunged over to kneel beside the quaking hat, then taking a second to utter a prayer in hope of getting what she had deeply wanted for so long, she then pulled the hat up...
"OUCH!"
Everyone's jaws dropped on seeing what appeared to be a raven-haired, near-perfect TWIN to Enterprise now splayed on the ground, a confused look crossing her face as the dark glow of Abyssal power forever faded out from her reddish-brown eyes. A glance down to her armoured thigh-high stockings revealed the hull code 5 over the knees. Given that she had never served as a flagship for anyone higher than a rear admiral, she had only two stars in a stack on her khaki working uniform collar in lieu of the five-star rank insignia of a fleet admiral that had. As a brief bout of nausea crossed Yorktown's face, Haruna blinked several times. "Wokyū-chan...is Yorktown-san...?" she said, looking overwhelmed. "Haruna didn't know...!"
As Rose moved to comfort her girlfriend, Yorktown blinked in confusion as she felt all her boilers light up and her internal systems power up. "Huh...?" she breathed out before looking right to see her own sister staring in disbelief at her. "Hey, E...!" the namesake of the last battle of the American Revolutionary War then said with a faint wave. "Did we win...?"
Enterprise blinked several times before she screamed out, lunging over to swamp her sister with a hug that threatened to snap the other carrier's spine. As whoops and cheers echoed over the scene at such a reunion, Sundown wandlessly summoned her top hat and made it vanish. She gazed at a wide-eyed Danielle McWhorter, who was staring in disbelief at the sight of the first of her class of aircraft carriers returned to proper life as a shipgirl...though understandably confused finding herself in human form and being embraced by her younger sister, who was ALSO in human form. "Good work, assistant!" the second of the Sunbeam-class battleships then said, which made the Queens native stare in confusion at her.
A wooden sign then appeared before Sunbeam. [HEY, sh*tHEAD! CAN I GET MY VOICE BACK?!]
The older battleship gazed neutrally at a fuming New Jersey. "I seriously have to scourgify your mouth, Commander," Sundown muttered even if she waved her hand to undo the silencing spell she placed on the second of the Iowa-class.
Jersey winced as Sundown headed inside the building...
****
The Yokosuka base cafeteria, suppertime...
"Welcome back, Lieutenant Livingston."
Blushing madly, the first of her class of aircraft carriers reached over to gently grasp the hand of her new commander-in-chief. "It's good to be back, sir," Yorktown stated, trying not to blush as the assembled shipgirls and normal people inside the cafeteria all whooped in delight. "I just wish I could remember what happened to me. If what Commander Chihaya and Miss Potter told me about my being this 'Wokyū' person is true, I've been derelict from duty for years..."
"Colonel Bolton, what did your healers discover?" Professor Samuel Quahog then asked as he gazed upon the current commanding officer of "W" Commando, who was standing off to one side after Josiah Bartlet took Yorktown's oath of duty.
"Complete blank memories from the moment she finally foundered off Midway to today, Colonel Quahog," Kenneth Bolton answered. Shaking his head, the native of Whitehorse then gazed upon Yorktown, who gave him an appreciative look in return. "There are some faeries within her hull at this time, mostly the reincarnations of those of her crew who died in that battle. She can muster her torpedo bomber squadron, but that's as far as her flight capabilities go at this time."
"Which is not good," a certain carrier then mused from nearby, that cold voice making Yorktown shudder as she recalled what her sister had told her about this particular shipgirl and what might have happened back in 1941 hadn't a certain earthquake stopped the fifth of the Yamato-class from fully participating in Operation Z. "While it was quite advanced for its day after it's introduction to service, the Douglas TBD Devastator was a flying target by the time Operation MI came about."
"A whole squadron. Fifteen brave crews."
Yorktown gazed on Akagi, surprised to see a sad look on the other carrier's face. "Who said that?" the elder of her class asked.
"Admiral Nagumo," the converted battlecruiser replied.
"That should be amended."
Yorktown gazed upon Kaga. "Eh?"
"Three whole squadrons. Forty-five brave crews," the converted battleship said in a voice of ashes. "They came at us so bravely. Like the gallant men who fought at places like Bunker Hill and Fredericksburg. Without any escort." She shook her head. "There was no honour in it whatsoever." Gazing upon Bartlet, Kaga then straightened to attention before bowing deeply to him. "Such a dishonourable thing will never happen again, Bartlet-daitōryō. My life is dedicated to see that happen."
The former governor of New Hampshire smiled. "Remember what His Majesty told you when you reported for duty, Kei."
Kaga gazed upon him, then she sighed. "You are lucky, sir. To me, the shame of everything from Operation Z onward..." She shook her head before she walked over to the table where her friends from the Kidō Butai were having supper.
Yorktown watched her go, then she shuddered. "She won't do hara-kiri, will she?"
"It is our way, Eleanor-san."
Gazing at Akagi, the American carrier shuddered before she gaped. "No! Don't do that, Anna! You got your whole damned life ahead of you! It wasn't your fault! It was the fault of the stupid politicians that got us all into that damned war in the first place!" She grabbed the other shipgirl by her shoulders, causing others to gape. "No! You do that, those sons of bitches that hurt little Dani and her friends win! Don't do that! Yeah, it's your way, but...!" Her eyes then teared. "But...!"
Hands fell on her shoulders. "It's okay, Ellie," Enterprise soothed. "That time won't come for a while yet. 'Sides, Sonia tore a strip off them shortly after she got back to duty." Here, she nodded towards Arizona, who was currently with a flock of destroyers from both sides of the Pacific, including Shimakaze and her four half-sisters from Korea. "We never recognized how different our worldviews are like. If we don't acknowledge that, we've learned nothing from the war."
"Wise words, Commander," Bartlet said as the small group of people who had come with him from Sasebo all nodded. "Now, why don't you introduce some of your fiancée's wonderful cooking to your sister here and get her topped off."
Enterprise laughed. "Aye-aye, sir!"
With that, she grabbed Yorktown's hand and pulled the other carrier towards one of the tables where Yamato and her sisters save Yonaga were relaxing. Akagi watched them go, then took a deep breath. "Well, I have topped up my tanks for a bit and need to get some fresh air. Yoiko-san, would you like to join me?" she then asked the taller and more muscular carrier nearby.
"It would be my pleasure, Anna-san."
Both moved to leave, then Akagi stop. "Oh, Josh-san."
Josh Lyman perked. "What is it, Anna?"
She gave him a disapproving stare. "'The god you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud'?" she asked.
As Lyman gaped at her as he was instantly reminded of that verbal gaffe he made on television one day three years ago, Bartlet smirked. "I've already scolded him for that long ago, Anna," the president stated. "He will NOT do that again."
"Why do I sense there was another story to that?" Yonaga asked.
The former governor of New Hampshire blinked, then he chuckled. "There was. Remind me to tell you of that story, Captain."
"I will remember that, Mister President."
With that, both carriers walked out of the cafeteria. Watching them go, Lyman took a deep breath. "He deserves it more for that than that stupid tag race thing a year ago," he then muttered, making people gaze his way.
"Ataru?" Toby Ziegler asked.
"Yeah," the younger man breathed out. "Even if he had problems because of Miss Negako being in his head like that, that he wrote a letter like that three years ago telling us the truth of what we were bringing into this world...!"
Bartlet hummed. He would soon have to travel back to America. Much that he loved being with the brave, young troops who were fighting to keep humanity safe and showing how much the United States cared for Japan, he had his own responsibilities to concern himself with. Atop that, there was a growing issue back home which soon needed his direct attention. Especially with the most recent incident in Washington state concerning a certain yeoman-turned-ship's clerk whose love for a certain reborn fast battleship made her an "easy" target for fanatical magicals who were desperate to restore a draconian law which had been effectively gutted in 1942. As both he and his current secretary of magic knew, if that law first passed in 1790 was put back into effect, such would ultimately destroy American magical society as many like societies in Europe had teetered on the brink of destruction for decades due to rampant mugalophobia that made the leaders of such groups turn their backs on new blood which could keep their societies alive and vibrant even with the pending collapse of the Statute of Secrecy...
"We'll have to incorporate that into the press release concerning Yorktown's return, Toby," the president then advised, earning him a nod from both Ziegler and C.J. Cregg. "Something that doesn't draw the spotlight on Ataru and the letter he wrote. His family really never did that sort of thing back in the old days and given what happened in Tomobiki yesterday, some people might try to use it as impetus to cause another attack on innocent folks who don't deserve to be hurt like that."
"I'll get on it, sir," his communications director vowed...
****
Sasebo, the Richardson residence, that moment...
"It's almost done."
Hearing that from their new friend, both Miyake Harumi and Kim Ŭijin smiled. As both John Richardson and Mutsu enjoyed some snacks that Jintsū had created for them all, the two girls from Nakanotori-shima grasped the other girl's hand. Seeing that made the one-star from Virginia blink. "How bad was it on that island?" he then asked. "After you got out of that cave, I mean? I just can't imagine how you and your friends lived on that island, isolated from everyone..."
"We had each other," Harumi said as Jane Richardson gazed upon them from her kneeling position close to the stove. "Sure, we missed our parents and friends and all that, but we had each other. Once we could grow our own food, we were okay. There were books in every language you could imagine so we could teach ourselves things. About magical stuff and non-magical stuff." She then sighed. "Some of us wondered what was going on back in the rest of the world, but..."
"They 'erased' us totally, Chunjang-nim," the native of Nogŭn-ri said. As the elder Richardson tried not to wince on reminding himself what had happened at that particular village in the summer of 1950, Ŭijin shook her head. "Erased all the birth records and had people go there to erase the memories of Appa and Ŏmma and everyone else that knew me. They did the same thing to Harumi-chan and all the others they brought to that island, too. All the operational orders about that were kept in the commandant's office. There were copies in a safe in one of the few buildings the Marines and the Foresters didn't wreck when they came to rescue us. When we read that..." She sniffed back tears, instantly earning her a warm squeeze on her shoulder by Jintsū. "Well, we decided we would live on the island. We'd still be there, too, if it wasn't for the stupid umibōzu."
"You've given them some pretty bloody noses over the years, Ŭijin-a," Mutsu noted. She had loved it when the two girls had touched her stomach to sense the lives growing within her hull. "From the few times we've talked to allied Abyssals about that island, they told us about the 'mean girls' who always beat them up and chased them away." She shook her head. "We're just so sorry that we didn't really clue into what was going on until we realized that island was still out there..."
"You girls got off that island six years ago, right?" Richardson asked.
"Hai," Harumi said, nodding while Ŭijin looked over to see Jane move to pull out the wonderful cake she was baking for her new friends out of the oven. "It was so strange coming to f*ckuoka. Back then, it was a lot smaller..."
The shipgirls present all laughed. "You can say that about any city in Japan, Harumi-chan," Jintsū said as Jane moved to get the frosting and all the other things on the cake before she would bring it over to the table.
"And the buildings weren't so tall!" Ŭijin added. "When I was brought here from Pusan back before the war started...!"
Laughter filled the kitchen. "Well, at least you had help settling in," Richardson noted. "Did any of the missionaries come to figure out what was really going on with you? If you were frozen in time like that..."
"We were a lot younger when we came," Harumi assured him. "To make a proper obscurial, you need someone young."
Jaws dropped. "How can you joke about that?!" Jane asked.
"No sense in denying it, Jane-a," Ŭijin noted, shrugging.
"Cripes! They all deserve the POW Medal for that, Admiral!"
Richardson perked as a certain subgirl came in. "Agreed, Lieutenant Rimmer, but I doubt the President could get away with awarding that to a slew of non-Americans. Not without blowing things out into the open that don't deserve to be aired out," the admiral noted as Albacore moved to take her seat at the table before he fixed the subgirl with a knowing look. "Were you able to get hold of what I asked you to get without trying to make some poor supply officer's life hell?"
The Gato-class submarine laughed before she smiled as Jane move to start cutting the cake. Soon enough, everyone was served. Grace was then said by Ŭijin before everyone called out "Itadakimasu!" in Japanese before digging in. As people ate, presents were then produced by Albacore, revealing sets of pyjamas with the markings of their favourite baseball teams on them. While the two girls from Nakanotori-shima then confessed that they had got used to sleeping in the nude and together in all the years they had lived on the island and at the shelter in f*ckuoka — which had earned them concern from the missionaries that had cared for them until now — both Harumi and Ŭijin were grateful for the concern.
Thinking about that, Richardson sighed.
He just hoped that some religious idiot didn't cause issues about this...!
****
United States Fleet Activities Sasebo, that moment...
"All secure, Master Guns?"
"Aye, sir," MGySgt Thomas Beckett declared as he secured his wand in the combat holster that had served him from the first battles against the Greater East Asia Liberation Army in 1942 to today. He then nodded in appreciation at the set of alert wards he set up around the capital ship barracks to await the return of Yonaga and several others from their deployment to Yokosuka to see what was going on with another children of that thrice-damned island that had caused so much in the way of issues back during that war and in the current war. "I'll stay up for the captain and the others to make sure they're tucked in safe and sound for the night. Knowing those things out there won't like it if the 'angry one' teams up with any of those kids..."
Hearing that, Lieutenant Doug Papich chuckled. "I'll turn the watch over. Don't stay up too late, Master Guns. You need your sleep, too. And don't tank up on that stupid pepper-up potion you magicals love to use, alright?"
Beckett chuckled as he exchanged salutes with the young no-maj officer from Tallahassee who hadn't even blinked twice when he learned the truth of the experienced veteran of the magical wings of the Marine Corps and the United States Marshal Service. "Healers would tear a strip off me and feed my guts to a dragon if I did that at my age, sir. You get some sleep."
"You, too."
As Papich walked off, Beckett sighed as he took one final look around the area with both his Mark One eyeball and his long-trained mage-sight. Noting that there was nothing of a magical, mystical, metahuman or supernatural nature that he could perceive — he had been told about that incident concerning the admiral's daughter some months before involving some kuchisake-onna that had got all the way to the Richardson family's quarters near the base, nearly causing a massive gun fight when Arizona, Mutsu, Hiei and Jintsū overreacted. Shaking his head — it was bad enough that normal folks worldwide were being forced to confront the existence of magic, but to force them ALSO to deal with all the other crap that was being woken courtesy of the Abyssals stirring up so much! — the native of Chicago took a deep breath before he headed over to the security room that monitored all the shipgirl quarters, located close to the covered walkway that led to the cafeteria.
He needed a good stiff cup of coffee...
****
Nearby...
Hidden in the shadows, a smiling teenage girl in the track suit of a certain Catholic girl's high school located down the coast from Sasebo could only nod in appreciation as the nice American magical naval infantryman headed off.
Unlike most others in her position, Hyūji Makoto had long understood all the truths of this strange war that she had become involved in by proxy due to what she had been programmed to do by Doctor Murata Eiichi two years before. Humanity was under threat like it had never faced in all its many millennia of existence. Not even the fabled battles between the interdimensional monsters known in certain circles as the "Old Ones" and the meson-powered Pomeranian warlord known in many circles as the "Undying Lord" over twenty-five millennia before equalled the threat the demons of the Abyss presented now to mankind as a whole. And while it was good that something had finally been done to match the Abyssals...!
People had forgot at the beginning that the shipgirls had certain needs.
They had to be fulfilled.
And while Makoto liked it whenever she had slept with those corrupted shipgirls led by Tosa who had come to the island before Arigawa Yui and Hirato Yūko had taken everyone from Saint Maria Christos Girl's High School to safety...
She KNEW her purpose was to be with a REAL shipgirl.
And who better than the Seventh Carrier herself.
"Yoiko-sama..."
Smiling, she slipped easily past the alert ward line that MGySgt Bennett had set up to protect the carrier dorms from intrusion; the mesonium in her blood had been enough to project a masking field around her to protect her from detection. Once she was at the back door, she looked up at the security camera that was there. Smiling again — the camera was a normal device, not augmented by any form of technomancy whatsoever — she walked through the opened door into the two-floor building; due to the late spring heat, the shipgirls often left doors open to allow fresh air to blow in and keep their bodies cool in these times to conserve on the need to turn air conditioning machines and waste power.
Once inside, she slipped off her shoes and moved to scan the directory of rooms set aside for the people permanently based here. Noting that Yonaga had been given a suite for herself on the upper floor away from where Taihô was now residing with Hayashi Kanami, Makoto nodded as she quietly walked up the steps to the upper floor; she could hear the five Sekihô-class carriers on the main floor as they enjoyed a quiet party among themselves. No need to disturb them.
Reaching the upper floor, Makoto walked along the hallway to the one room that had a sign hanging on the door:
伊藤よいこ1等海佐
Capt. ITŌ Yoiko
代永
YONAGA
第六航空戦隊
CARRIER DIVISION 6
Gently opening the door to the spartan room, Makoto took a moment to allow her vision to convert to the near twilight of the room. Nodding, she stepped inside, then closed the door behind her. Gazing around, she then reached up to undo her top. Within a minute, she was totally nude. After folding her clothes on the upper deck of the space, Makoto stepped up and assumed seiza position facing the bed, allowing her breathing to slow down as she entered a trance.
She needed to have all her energy up to properly satisfy Yoiko-sama...
To Be Continued...
****
![[KanColle/Seventh Carrier/others] The Seventh Shipgirl (2024)](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mP8/h8AAvMB+NzmkbcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=)