"Um…where the HELL are we?!"
That blurted-out demand from Hanchō caused all the tōshi who had been moving in on the Dragon Jade to blink, and then they began to take a look around their new surroundings, which had just appeared around them after a quick bout of dizziness accompanied with a fuzzy feeling in their bodies overcame them for what seemed the briefest of moments. "What is this place?" Bunken demanded, her voice barely masking the surge of heart-stopping fear she now felt, as she and the other Three Pillared Gods tensed themselves, holding their canes close to them as they scanned for potential threats.
"Some sort of lounge," Joei mused aloud; the tōshi had been deposited close to each other, so they could easily comprehend what the others were saying.
"But where?" Shimei demanded.
"Open the dome!"
Everyone perked on hearing that voice call out from somewhere to Hōsen's left, and then they tensed as the high circular dome over their heads suddenly opened…
…to see a sea of stars beyond.
"Oh, crap."
Eyes locked on Hōsen. "What is it?" Unchō demanded.
"It appears Kyōrei-chan inherited a lot more from Ataru-kun than just looks."
Silence.
"What did you just say, Ryofu?!" Chōsai demanded.
By then, the dome had fully opened, revealing that the lounge they were now in was on the "weather deck" of what seemed to be a VERY big spaceship designed under the influence of Terran naval architecture that came into vogue over the last century. And this was clearly a warship they were on; everyone was quick to note the presence of sphere-shaped turrets, each bristling with three long-barrelled guns of some sort, all about the size of the average high school. They were located off to Shimei's right and to both sides of the superstructure now to Hōsen's left, where the strange woman's voice had seemingly called out from. As the tōshi took that in, Hōsen then focused on the superstructure, quickly spotting a crowned circular-shaped badge on the outer hull underneath what might be the main bridge. As she walked over to peer more closely at the symbol, she was quick to read the name written in gold on a dark blue rectangle at the top of the rope-ring circle, that underneath what appeared to be a coronet composed of two sail-draped masts dividing the sterns of three eighteenth century ships-of-the-line. "'Haida?'" she read the name, and then she crossed her arms. "Weird."
The others came over to join her. "What type of crest is that?" Shimei asked.
"Definitely military. And Canadian, too," Shungai stated as he pointed. "See the three maple leaves at the bottom of that ring around that two-headed bird image?"
The others nodded, and then they tensed on hearing a polite cough from behind them. "It's the ship's crest of Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Haida," a familiar woman's voice said as people turned around. "A Tribal-class destroyer that served in the Canadian Navy during the Atlantic side of the Greater East Asian War and then served in the Korean War. We hope that when the United Nations accepts her and her sisters into official service, the Canadians wouldn't mind our giving her such an august name."
Everyone turned to find themselves gazing at a woman appearing to be in the last year of middle school, possessing soft and wavy dark brown hair tied in a long ponytail and deep blue-green eyes. A magatama marking her as E-rank hung off her ear. She was dressed in a flattering white jumpsuit with a band emblazoned with VOLUNTEER EARTH DEFENCE FORCE wrapped around her left arm above her elbow. As they took that in, the eyes of the Three Pillared Gods all narrowed before Bunken gasped. "Bunjaku?!"
The girl then smiled. "Hai, Bunken-sempai. It's me!"
Instantly, she was fiercely embraced by all three Kyoshō tōshi. The others were quick to take that in, and then they exchanged knowing looks. Jun'iku Bunjaku, in her first life as Xún Yù, had been one of the closer and more trusted advisors to Cáo Cāo during the latter's slow and steady rise to power as he strove to restore the Hàn Dynasty from near-collapse after Emperor Lìng's death in 189 AD and the elimination of the eunuchs by Dǒng Zhuō. Xún had been a voice of moderation in those days, which had (according to the history books) cost him his life when those who wanted to see Cáo rise further in power helped in getting him promoted to the position of Duke of Wèi. It was later said that Cáo had frowned upon Xún's disagreement of his being elevated to such a high position, thus effectively leading to the latter's death in 212 AD in Shòuchūn.
In this life, however, such had not happened. Despite she being four years his junior, Jun'iku Bunjaku had been a very close friend of Sōsō Mōtoku's. She had often given the older tōshi sage advice as he strove to master his considerable power and make his way up to the leading position among his peers in Kanagawa, where Kyoshō was located. However, much to the bafflement of many, Bunjaku disappeared under VERY mysterious circumstances before she would have entered the first year of middle school at Kyoshō. While those outside Kyoshō secretly wondered if Shiba'i Chūtatsu had the girl eliminated to remove a potential roadblock in her path to being Mōtoku's ONLY advisor, those who knew Mōtoku personally all understood he had been nearly shattered by Bunjaku's disappearance.
And now to find her HERE…!
"So where've you been all this time?!" Kōmei demanded as he reached over to ruffle the younger girl's hair playfully. "We thought something really bad happened to you!"
Bunjaku chuckled. "I was kidnapped by aliens, believe it or not."
Silence.
"Seeing where we are now, that doesn't surprise me," Shungai noted.
"So where did you get this ship, anyway?" Bunken demanded.
An impish shrug. "I had it built."
More silence.
"HOW?!" Shimei demanded.
"WHERE?!" Hōsen added.
"AND BY WHO?!" Unchō snapped.
Bunjaku yelped as she moved to hide behind Bunken, her eyes wide as she stared fearfully at the three strange women who had screamed at her. Before the three older tōshi from Kyoshō moved to jump the others to protect their leader's childhood friend, an irate voice then boomed out, "KAN-SAN! STOP YELLING AT HER!"
Unchō awked on hearing Gentoku's incensed shout, and then she turned to gaze on the leader of Seito, who was now dressed in pyjamas and a pair of fluffy slippers, her fists to her hips as she glared at the taller and older woman. Standing beside her was a smirking Hiromi, who had slipped on a pair of Tomobiki High track pants over her nightshirt, her arms crossed as she gazed sympathetically at Unchō. Also present was a young man, a first-year middle school student with scruffy crimson hair and deep green eyes, dressed in the same type of white jumpsuit (also with armband) as Bunjaku currently wore. He also had a magatama which marked him as E-rank. On seeing him, Unchō then blinked a few times before her jaw dropped in shocked disbelief. "Kōketsuei…?" she then eeped out as she shakily pointed at him, her jaw now down around her knees.
He then smiled. "Hai, Haneko-nēchan!"
Hearing him call her that, Unchō winced before she gave him an annoyed look. "Hey! You know you're not supposed to call me THAT!"
"Unchō-dono, you are currently a guest aboard a ship that Tsukihana-san and Ayami-san have both worked quite hard to see constructed," Hiromi then stated as she glared intently at the other tôshi. "Besides, it has been several years since he last saw you, as it has been several years since Ayami-san has seen Bunken-dono and her friends. At least have the common decency to keep THAT in mind!"
Unchō felt herself ducking for a moment as those words lanced into her, and then she tensed as she moved to march up to this strange woman who had seized the Dragon Jade in Hong Kong…and then she found herself cringing as she felt Gentoku's glare fall once more on her. "Kan-san! Leave it be!" the leader of Seito snapped.
A gulp. "B-but Gentoku…!"
"I SAID 'LEAVE IT!'"
Unchō nearly curled in on herself. "H-hai…"
Laughter filled the lounge. "My! My! My!" Hiromi then trilled as she gazed in sympathy at Unchō before turning to Gentoku. "I think she really does fancy you, cousin." As Gentoku's face instantly turned red, the reborn emperor then clicked her tongue. "One certainly can't question Unchō-dono's most impeccable good taste."
Unchō blushed tomato-red as Gentoku awked and Hōsen and Shimei both fell over laughing. "HIROMI-SAN!" Gentoku bellowed out as she gazed in wide-eyed fright at Hiromi.
"Hey, wait a sec' here!" As eyes locked on Joei, the leader of the Angels of Chōan pointed at Hiromi. "Why'd she call you 'cousin?!'"
"Spiritually, Joei-dono, we are distantly related, though I personally can't say how far the generations actually separated us in our first lives," Hiromi stated.
Kōketsuei then smiled as he waved to the older girl while Bunjaku moved over to stand at her other side. "Hiromi-onēchan, in her first life, was Liú Hóng."
"The Xiàolíng Emperor of Hàn," Bunjaku added.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
"Reitei-sama…?!"
That had come from Kakuji.
As all the visiting tōshi — save Gentoku, Hōsen and Shimei — gaped on hearing the Rakuyō senior's words, Hiromi sighed as she turned away, heading to a set of stairs that led below. "Kakuji-dono, I prefer not to be called that," she said before she glanced over her shoulder. "If you must, I am Ryūkō Kyōrei."
The others blinked as they took that in…
Minutes later…
"So Ataru-kun found the magatama bearing your soul when he was just a child and kept it around as a 'good luck charm,'" Hōsen recapped as everyone stepped onto the command bridge of the Haida. "He only started wearing it on his ear after that incident with that alien queen who also wanted to marry him, when he was brought to this Okusei planet by that big red dragon that came to rescue him from being forced into a marriage with Lum that he'd been bullied into by his parents and hers beforehand."
"And when the mind-healers on Okusei detected your sentience inside his mind sometime afterward, they arranged to have a bioroid body specially prepared for you so you could live your own life separated from Ataru-kun," Shimei added as the visitors paused to take in the spacious structure around them, currently manned by a half-dozen women appearing to be of high school age, all wearing the same jumpsuits that Bunjaku and Kōketsuei currently had on. "But they were only able to get that body for you just before this Rupa fellow showed up to claim Lum's hand in marriage last week."
Hiromi nodded. "Quite correct."
"So where is your brother, anyway?" Bunken asked.
Hiromi then sighed as she walked over to the central chair, located near the back of the bridge space. "He may not survive as he was born," she answered. "I was not the only separate sentience outside his own within his mind. There was another."
"The Saikō Jinseijutsu, you mean?"
Silence.
"How in the name of the Buddha did you hear of THAT thing?!" Bunken gasped as she stared in wide-eyed disbelief at Unchō.
The tōshi from Seito grimaced. "A previous incarnation of mine that lived during the Age of Hōei fought the then-host of that being near Fuji-san," she replied as her body slightly trembled. "My ancestor, so to speak, didn't survive the encounter."
"Not surprising," Shungai noted, crossing his arms. "Rumour had it that thing served as the Shōwa Emperor's personal assassin before and during the Greater East Asia War. 'Imperial Special Officer 49,' they called it. NO ONE escaped that thing when it was sent out to kill someone, especially those idiots in the military that wanted to keep fighting even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were obliterated by the Americans."
"That good?" Hōsen asked.
Unchō stared at her. "The perfect killing machine."
The most powerful tōshi of Rakuyō blinked on hearing that. "Is this the one you call 'Onē-sama,' Hiromi-san?" Gentoku asked as she gazed on her "cousin."
"Yes…"
"Hiromi-sama?"
Hiromi perked as one of the bridge crew — on seeing the beautiful tomboyish woman with the shaggy pink hair and deep chestnut eyes, Unchō instantly thought of the term "bridge bunny," which was used to describe the junior bridge crew on the SDF-1 in Chōjikū Yōsai Macross; that was how cute she was — came up to bow to her, going to one knee as she gave a left fist-in-right palm salute with her hands. "What is it, Kyōko-san?" Hiromi asked as both Bunjaku and Kōketsuei tensed.
"A report from the Bismarck," Kagawa Kyōko — as her nametag declared her to be — stated as she straightened herself. "There is another attempt underway by the Neptunians to send a space warp from Kōri City into Tomobiki."
"Is it being redirected?"
A curt nod. "As per your standing orders. It will be snowing soon on Olympus Mons."
Hiromi chuckled, and then she sobered. "Are the girls there following orders?"
The other girl — gazing intently at her, Bunken was quick to sense something vital missing from Kyōko's very soul — shook her head. "Hai, Hiromi-sama. The Bismarck is cloaked as it remains in orbit over Triton. Hood, Richelieu, Vittorio Veneto and Santísima Trinidad are on standby near Neptune's orbit if any Royal Neptunian Navy units detect Bismarck's presence. They will move to subdue any units that sortie anywhere in Earth's direction or move to impede Bismarck as she continues her current mission."
A nod. "Arigatô, Kyōko-san. You may go."
Another bow and fist-in-palm salute by the other woman, and then she walked back to join her co-workers. The tōshi watched her go, and then Bunken gave their host a knowing look. "What is she, Kyōrei-sama?"
"A bioroid," Hiromi answered. "But unlike myself, she is missing something vital."
"A true soul of her own," Bunjaku added.
The others took that in, and then looked at the bridge crew. "So they're nothing more than glorified robots in flesh-and-blood bodies, you mean?" Shimei asked.
"Exactly. And that, of course, now leads to why I had to obtain the Lóngyù."
Eyes locked on Hiromi. "What do you mean?" Joei asked.
The reborn emperor smirked. "What do you know of Nanban High School? And the man who, in his first life, was my second son?"
People blinked. "Kentei?" Hōsen asked…
In the Izu Islands, many kilometres below Haida's keel…
"AH-CHOO!"
People tensed on hearing that sneeze, and then they all looked at the man now seated on his dragon throne. "Bless you, Kentei-sama," Mōkaku said. "Are you alright?"
A moan escaped the masked man who claimed himself to be the reborn Emperor Xiàn of Hàn as he moved to adjust the mask on his face. "Someone speaks of me."
"Who could that be?" Mōyō wondered as she exchanged looks with her sister…
In orbit…
"So you're saying that the souls of dozens of us are in this cave under that school?!" Kakuji demanded.
"And that if any of us die, our souls will be drawn into that place, all to give this bastard more power?!" Hanchō added.
A nod. "That is essentially correct," Hiromi said, a weary look on her face. "When I feel it's time, I will take the Lóngyù with me to that cave and use it to absorb all the lost spirits within them. Once done, I will allow each spirit to merge with the spirit of one of those currently 'volunteering' themselves to defend the planet." She closed her eyes. "According to what Onē-sama once told me, the souls in that cave have now disintegrated to the point where any true sense of what they were originally has been effectively lost to Eternity. I hope — and this, of course, is dependent on our alien neighbours being a party to the plan, especially those who now desire to do anything they can to avenge the 'humiliation' I unleashed on she who calls herself Lum…" — everyone was quick to sense the emphasis in the reborn emperor's words when she said that phrase — "…to be able to free those souls sometime soon."
"Looking for volunteers to help out?"
Eyes locked on Shimei. "If you are willing, Shimei-dono," Hiromi stated.
The diva of Nan'yō could only smirk. "I'd be willing."
The others took that in, and then they nodded as we…
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(Posted Mon, 10 May 2010 02:34)
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