[Episode 233683] [Episode 233683]"So Lum freaked out over the fact that Ataru-kun — and by extension, yourself — didn't come to her rescue when she was kidnapped by this Rupa fellow and taken to his home planet so he could marry her?" Shimei asked.
Hiromi nodded. Everyone had relocated to the lounge located on Haida's forward weather deck so they could enjoy some late night tea and snacks before the tōshi that had come to Tomobiki for the Dragon Jade would be transported close to their current schools so they could get some sleep for Monday's classes. One of the starship's current crew of seven bioroids — a very cute blue-haired tomboy with dark brown eyes currently using the name "Koizumi Hitomi" — was there, acting as steward for the ship's current guests. "Exactly," she said before sipping her tea. "A couple of days before Prince Rupa ended up crashing his chariot into Onii-san's classroom, we received a message from Onē-sama, who had remained on Okusei helping the Noukiites recover any Avalonian bioroid bodies that escaped Niphentaxian control. Tsukihana-san and Ayami-san were part of that expedition as well." She gazed fondly on Kōgetsuei and Bunjaku before she gazed on Hitomi, who was seated off to one side, unnaturally still as she waited for the next time she was needed with the teapot. "Onē-sama and her friends certainly struck gold in that case. Hitomi-san and her sisters were obtained along with several untemplated bodies, one of which was used for myself."
Eyes locked on the bioroid. "What do you think of that, Hitomi-chan?" Hōsen asked.
The girl gazed with nearly lifeless eyes on the top fighter of Rakuyō. "What I think is not relevant, Hōsen-sama. I was made to exist by someone who took inspiration from an eroge game in Japan he learned of sometime ago. As to what my function might have been had not Negako-sama and her companions located us in their quest to give Hiromi-sama a body of her own, I cannot say; I do not possess that information. As of now, I serve as crew aboard Haida. As to what will happen in the future, I cannot predict. That is for Hiromi-sama, Tsukihana-sama and Ayami-sama to decide."
Silence.
"How horrible…!" a teary-eyed Gentoku whispered.
Unchō's hand fell on her leader's shoulder in a show of support. The other tōshi all tried not to react too much to the total lack of any sort of emotion from Hitomi. "They're all like that, Onē-san," Kōgetsuei stated. "Then again, we've only had them all for just under two weeks. They were all still in cryogenic storage tanks when we found them; all of the 'complete' ones were just fresh from DNA-encoding when we stumbled onto the cargo ship transporting them to a remote part of Niphentaxian space." Everyone was quick to sense the disgust in the young man's voice on hearing him mention that race's name. "Hopefully, if what Hiromi-onēsan plans to do with that cave under Nanban High School works out, all of them should have much better lives to live soon enough."
"How many did you get altogether?" Shimei asked.
"Well close to four hundred physically 'complete' ones with a small group that still need DNA-encoding," Bunjaku replied. "Enough for seven to each ship we have in the VEDF, with considerable spares we can call on if necessary."
Everyone smirked at the young girl's enthusiasm. They had been told that there were now fifty ships like Haida in the "Volunteer Earth Defence Force," all constructed under Bunjaku's and Kōgetsuei's supervision at an abandoned space dock currently orbiting the second world of the remote Den'sha star system, well over two hundred light years from Earth itself. "So how did you pick the ship names?"
The three leaders of the VDEF all laughed. "We had to be somewhat arbitrary about that, Shimei-dono," Hiromi stated. "We first decided to pick names relevant from the fifty largest nations on the planet as of this time. But then we ran into the problem of those nations possessing little if any naval tradition. And then there came the case of the two Koreas, much less China and Taiwan. So there have been compromises."
"But not too much," Kōgetsuei added. "If we want to sell this to the United Nations, we need to show that we don't want to exclude anyone that doesn't want to be excluded. After all…" — here, he waved out into the space beyond Haida to indicate the cosmos beyond Earth, which could be seen off to the starship's starboard side — "…in THEIR eyes, we're not Japanese or any other nationality."
"We're Earthlings," Bunken concluded.
"Exactly," Hiromi stated. "Thus, nationalities will have to be checked at the door."
"So why turn to us for help?"
Eyes locked on Unchō. Gazing at her, Hiromi then smiled. "Because you are all people that I am, to an extent, quite familiar with, Unchō-dono. The noble deeds of all your past-selves are known to me. What made people like Guān Yǔ, Liú Bèi, Lǚ Bù, Lǚ Méng, Xǔ Rǒng, Guō Sì, Fán Chóu, Zhāng Jì, Yuè Jìn, Xú Huǎng, Zhāng Hé…" — she then smiled at her two closest companions — "…and yes, even Huáng Yuèyīng and Xún Yù…" — that made both Bunjaku and Kōgetsuei blush — "…makes you all the more desirable to me." She then sighed as she closed her eyes. "But I cannot — even more so, I WILL not! — demand you all come to me. What I now feel I must ask of you all will be quite a lot for all of you to take."
Hiromi then blinked on seeing tears in the eyes of all the girls present — yes, even the really "tough" girls like Hōsen, Shimei and Unchō — while both Kōmei and Shungai looked ready to choke as they fought to keep their own tears from flowing. "You are too kind to us, Majesty!" Kakuji gasped as she dropped to her knees and gave the traditional right fist-in-left hand salute once used in old China.
"I speak the truth, Kakuji-dono," the reborn emperor said as she stood up, walking over to one side of the lounge to gaze into the vast space beyond Haida. "As to why you all did what you did back then, I care not. I cannot judge you and I will not judge you. The past is the past and it must be buried. For too long, the events of the past have bound your souls in grips of iron. I realise now that such might be difficult for you, but I believe you can all rise to the occasion. All you needed was the chance to look beyond the walls of your schools and see what lay beyond."
Everyone all gazed at her, and then they nodded…
Later…
"So you will return to Seito tonight?"
Gentoku smiled. It had been a quick trip to Tampopo's to recover her day clothes. "I have to. If I don't, Chō-san won't let me hear the end of it."
A hum. The Angels of Chōan and the Three Pillared Gods had already been transported off Haida to return to Rakuyō and Kyoshō directly so they could immediately report what they had learned to Tōtaku Chūei and Sōsō Mōtoku directly. All that were remaining to be transported off were Gentoku, Unchō, Shimei and Hōsen. "Well, one must not upset Ekitoku-dono too much when it comes to the protection of her oath-kin," Hiromi then said before she waved the two Seito girls onto the materialiser pad.
"We hope to see you soon," Unchō said as she and Gentoku bowed to their host.
"Of that, Unchō-dono, have no doubt," Hiromi replied with a fist-in-palm salute.
"Energizing," the bioroid controlling the materialiser, Kimoto Yukari, warned.
Both women disappeared in a shower of energy. Hiromi watched them go, and then she turned to gaze on Shimei and Hōsen. "So, do you…?"
"Actually, Hiromi-chan, would you mind if we stayed aboard?" Hōsen asked.
Hiromi blinked on hearing the Rakuyō tōshi call her by her real name, and then she gazed on Shimei before turning back to Hōsen. "Is there something wrong?"
"We need to talk to you about an honour debt," Shimei asked.
Silence.
"What sort of honour debt?"
The two women gazed at each other for a moment, and then they gazed once more on their host. "My real name is Sebone Shikuko," Hōsen stated before waving to Shimei. "Mō-chan's real name is Sebone Mimōko. I believe both you and Ataru-kun know of our late cousin." Her eyes then misted over. "Uneme Nozomi."
Hiromi's eyes widened…
Later…
"It was somewhat difficult to be alone with Nozomi-san with Sakura-sensei, the Venerable Sakurambō and her…" — Shimei and Hōsen both could sense the scorn in Hiromi's words as she spoke that word — "…following us so closely so we wouldn't 'misbehave.'" As the two tōshi both smirked on hearing that, Hiromi moved to pour herself another cup of tea. They had returned back to the lounge to relax and have this conversation. "Both Onii-san and I sensed right away that Nozomi-san wanted to talk to us about our 'good luck charm'…" — she indicated the magatama hanging off her left ear — "…and what it meant to her. Fortunately, Onē-sama gave Onii-san some control over the skills she possessed and were implanted in his body, so it was quite easy to cause an accident to happen in the movie theatre to delay those three long enough for us to have some time alone." She closed her eyes. "That is when she told us about both of you. And what could soon happen to you both." The eyes then opened, revealing misty orbs. "She loved you both very dearly."
The Sebone cousins both looked like they were about to break down and cry themselves. "She was our only real link to the real world," Shimei said as she took a handkerchief and wiped her eye. "We had to keep the visits down, of course. A lot of tōshi think it's weak to have such connections like that. There are even a few that would gladly try to attack outsiders like Nozomi-chan as a way of drawing us out into a fight. But…" She then shook her head. "Nozomi, why…?!"
"It was something she couldn't run away from, Mō-chan," Hōsen stated as she wiped her eyes. "Just like what's wrong with me and how I can't run away from it, either."
"Stop saying that, Shikuko!" Shimei snapped. "You can't just…!"
A sigh. "Mimōko, do you HONESTLY think I want to live my life like Stephen Hawking?" Hosen asked as she gazed on her cousin. "Much less Teifu Tokubō?"
The other girl blinked, and then she shook her head. "No, of course not." She then sighed. "But there are times these days that you act as if Sekitoma's going to come out any day now! Yes, live your life, but don't throw it away, for Fate's sake!"
Hiromi's eyebrow arched. "What of Sekitoma-dono?"
Hōsen sighed. "Sekitoma's been reincarnated as much as I have," she said as she gazed on the reborn emperor. "But not in the form of a horse. He's come back as a phoenix. And every time that happened…" — she sniffed back tears before a shrug twitched her shoulders — "…my past-selves have all died."
Silence.
"I see." Hiromi then gazed on the Nan'yō tōshi. "What do you think of this?"
Shimei sighed. "I don't really know, Hiromi. All I do know is that I've lost one cousin my age in this life, one I loved very much. And my other cousin…" — she sniffed back her tears as she reached over to firmly grip Hōsen's hand — "…is dying also and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Even if she's Rakuyō and I'm Nan'yō, even if we both are very attracted to the same man and that puts us at each other's throats frequently, the blood between us is too strong to ignore."
Hōsen blinked as she gave Shimei's hand a squeeze in return. "Well, then perhaps it is well that you are both related to Nozomi-san," Hiromi then stated. "After she finally left us, Onii-san and I vowed on her grave that we would do everything in our power to see to it both of you would live full and happy lives." She closed her eyes. "It is sadly unfortunate that Nozomi-san died sometime before our encounter with Elle that, in effect, started this whole saga for Onii-san, Onē-sama and myself. If we could have got her to a good doctor I know of who lives on Tengsei, she could have been healed, even from a 'lung-ice disease.'" As the cousins stared in curiosity at her, Hiromi then chuckled. "That is the Noukiite nickname for cystic fibrosis." She gazed on Hōsen. "Your affliction, Shikuko-san, would known there as one of the 'soul wasting diseases;' the Noukiites believe that when the mind loses control over the body as it would with one afflicted with diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, they believe that elements of the soul rot and disappear, which would put them in great danger after their deaths when they face their King of Kings to be judged for their deeds in the mortal world." She then smiled. "But it is not incurable there as it is on Earth. As soon as I can arrange it, Shikuko-san, we'll have you taken to Tengsei for treatment."
Hōsen's jaw dropped as her mind nearly crashed from that tsunami of information. "Will this cost anything?!" Shimei then asked before gazing worriedly at her cousin.
"Not at all," Hiromi stated. "The doctor in question — his name is Healer K'u-Seu Chusu-Mu Hechnich'-Kaechseu — is a man whom we saved from bandits when we were on Okusei shortly after our would-be 'marriage' with Lum on Uru. We saved his life. Later, at the Okusei Academy, he examined us and discovered Onê-sama's and my presence in Onii-san's mind." A smirk. "We're a rather favoured patient of his."
Both girls laughed. "Well, I suppose you now have two volunteers to help out with your volunteer force," Hōsen said as she pulled her hand away from Shimei's. "Do we have to take an oath like Ryūbi, Kan'u and Chōhi did at the Peach Garden?"
"Well, if you insist," Hiromi noted.
More laughter filled the room as we…
(Posted Mon, 10 May 2010 17:48)
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