"'Be it ever so humble'…"
"…'There's no place like home.'"
Hearing the Sebone cousins make that quote, Hiromi sighed as she relaxed in the command chair on Haida's bridge. "Do you two do that on purpose?"
Shimei and Hōsen stared at her, and then they exchanged a look before they giggled. "Not as often as we did when we were kids," the former then admitted as the starship slipped into her particular place in orbit, which was well over a thousand kilometres above mean sea level, right over a point two thousand kilometres due west of Vancouver Island. Haida — along with the starships Arizona, Yamato, Paekbŏm and Zhèng Hé (respectively representing the United States, Japan, the two Koreas and China) formed the "North Pacific Division" of the Volunteer Earth Defence Force (the units currently near Neptune and currently under the control of Enjutsu Kōro formed the "North Atlantic Division" of the VEDF). Shimei took a deep breath. "Back when we weren't Ryomō Shimei and Ryofu Hōsen, but Sebone Mimōko and Sebone Shikuko."
Hiromi nodded in understanding. The drive that made tōshi the way they were didn't really start appearing until near the end of elementary school, when the onslaught of physical puberty began to trigger the necessary hormonal changes which would allow a potential warrior to better absorb the knowledge and experience contained with his or her particular magatama. Of course, unlike her current guests, Hiromi never had a chance to experience some of the jarring emotional turmoil those like Shimei and Hōsen had endured. Given that the soul fragment of Liú Hóng that had been in the "good luck charm" Moroboshi Ataru found when he was seven was forced to compete for space inside his mind with not only his own soul but the Saikō Jinseijutsu as well…
"Are you going to be awake enough for that test?" Shimei asked her cousin.
Hōsen stretched herself. "It's second period. If I feel tired, I'll skip the afternoon classes." She then stared at Hiromi. "Is Tampopo-san going to give you any trouble if you start zoning out while you're at work after school?"
Hiromi chuckled as she stood up, waving the cousins to the nearby turbolift landing. "If I need to, I get one of the girls Onē-sama found to go down and help out."
The others laughed as they stepped off the bridge…
An hour later…
"Ohayō, Hiromi-chan!"
Hiromi, now in her dark blue seifuku, perked on hearing that voice, and then she turned and waved as Inu Chigaiko and Miyake Shinobu came up to her. She had just stepped out of Tampopo's. "Ohayō, Chigaiko-san. Shinobu-san. Ready for a new day of classes?"
"Pretty much so. How about you?" Shinobu asked as the three headed down the street towards Tomobiki High School. "Did Sonami-san get back home alright?"
"She's fine," Hiromi assured her. "Turns out that her schoolmate from Seito, Kan'u Unchō-dono, came by looking for her, so she took her home." A sigh. "Had to give them a tour of Haida along the way, but it was alright."
The other girls perked. "What happened?!" Chigaiko demanded.
As they headed down the street, Hiromi gave them a quick rundown of past events in orbit and near Neptune. On hearing who had been planning to come back to continue their "sacred" duties, Shinobu and Chigaiko both shuddered in outrage. But then hearing of what also happened, both girls then whooped with delight. "So that's six destroyers gone, three hundred Avalonians freed and none of the so-called 'Great Goddess' Holy Servants' coming here to peep on us anytime soon," Chigaiko then wrapped up. "That sounds like one hell of a night's work for you, Hiromi-chan."
"This little episode is not yet finished," Hiromi warned.
"What do you mean?" Shinobu asked.
"Crown Princess Pukaze, once she learned about the Avalonians, interrogated one of the surviving observers and learned that a whole group of Avalonians had been dispatched here right after the original observers had fled when Nengmek'i-sama and his friends chased off our alien 'friends.'" Both of her companions were quick to sense the sarcasm in Hiromi's voice on her saying that last word. "One of the leaders of the group had a control mechanism that would allow them to obey all their commands. Pukaze obtained it from him, then passed it on to me. When I get the chance…"
"More volunteers for the Defence Force, you mean?" Chigaiko asked.
"But of course, Chigaiko-san."
Both girls laughed. By then, they had joined a growing mass of students making their way to the rustic high school that had been the scene of many an incredible adventure for Hiromi's brother and her current companions over the last year. As they met up with some of their classmates, Hiromi was quick to meet up with Marubeya Momoe and Gekasawa Kumiko, two former would-be girlfriends of Mendō Shūtarō who had been happy to accept the just-arrived Moroboshi Hiromi as one of the gang when she appeared in class the previous Monday, two days after the so-called "Second Tag Race" had started and abruptly ended with Lum and all her friends being chased off Earth by alien dragons. Also with them was Tsuruya Rumiko, the only declared lesbian in Class 2-4, who was also the smartest student in all of Tomobiki and currently harboured a deep crush on her tōshi classmate (which, much to Shinobu's and Chigaiko's surprise, flattered Hiromi very much as, being an Avalonian, she was fully and functionally bisexual).
The calm morning was about to abruptly end, though.
"THERE SHE IS! ARREST HER! ARREST THAT MONSTER!"
Everyone jolted, and then they groaned as a tidal wave appeared before them. And riding on it was none other than Fujinami Fujimi, the manager of the school cafeteria. Hiromi felt her eyebrow twitch as she gazed on the crying tea shop owner, and then she cupped her hand to aim at him. "SEISHIN SHURIKEN ARASHI!"
Mr. Fujinami found himself bombarded with a storm of ki bolts that slashed through his clothes and left sharp burn marks in his skin as the tidal wave beneath him vanished, making him belly-flop to the street. As a pained moan escaped him and he struggled to get to his feet, a voice then called out from the front gates of Tomobiki High, "Sorry 'bout that, Hiromi! Oyaji just found out about what you did to Nagisa last week."
"So I can perceive, Ryūnosuke-san," Hiromi stated. "Did he attempt to sabotage your uniforms or try to abscond with the sports bras I purchased for you?"
Fujinami Ryūnosuke — who, while still wearing the standard boy's uniform (though it no longer had the red 男 kanji on the back, which had been stitched there by her father when she began attending Tomobiki High four months before, shortly after Ataru had returned from his vacation on Okusei and everyone else had got out of the hospital), was clearly female given the noticeable lumps on her chest that were barely restrained by the blue sports bra she had on underneath her undershirt — smirked as she gazed on her dazed father. "He tried. Those ki-traps of yours really came in handy." She crossed her arms. "Guess that shows the difference between an amateur who dabbles in the martial arts and a real martial artist!" she added, pitching her voice up so that she could make sure that her father heard her words.
It worked. "FUJINAMI RYŪNOSUKE! HOW DARE YOU SAY YOUR POOR, SUFFERING FATHER HAS NOT PROPERLY TEACHED YOU HOW TO BE A MAN?! HOW DARE YOU…?!"
WHAMMO! One obstinate old fisherman into lower Earth orbit! "FOR THE LAST TIME, YOU SENILE OLD GOAT! I'M A CHICK!"
"I love the seaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…!"
As he disappeared in a flash of light, Ryūnosuke then jolted before she stared at Hiromi. "Um, Hiromi, you sure the Yamato ain't up that way?!"
Hiromi chuckled. "No, Ryūnosuke-san. Onē-sama warned me that when you hit your father that hard, you normally hit him off to the north and east. Yamato is in orbit right over Iō-tō. That's almost due south of us. You need not worry."
Hearing that, the tomboy breathed out in relief before she followed her friends onto the school grounds, they politely exchanging nods and smiles with the group of policemen, who were currently speaking to Sakurambō Sakura…
Meanwhile, in Tōkyō's Bunkyō Ward…
"So what's the latest news concerning the Dragon Jade?" Chinkyū Kōdai asked.
"Tōtaku sent the Angels out to scout out this mysterious tōshi that's now reported to live in Tomobiki," Genshi reported as the members of the "Ryofu Faction" of Rakuyō Senior High School got together near one of the equipment sheds at the back of the school grounds. "They came back early this morning, but no one's heard anything of what they found or who the hell this tōshi in Tomobiki actually is."
"Any idea why Tōtaku would be interested in this Dragon Jade?" Chōsen wondered.
The tomboyish freshman with the spiky black hair and the narrow brown eyes — most of the leaders of the Ryofu Faction were girls — shook her head. "Not anything specific, Chōsen-sempai, but according to what I did overhear Joei-sempai talk about, this Dragon Jade supposedly has the power to alter a tōshi's destiny. That's the reason Ryofu-sama's cousin, Kan'u-sama and Kakōen-sama went after it."
"To change the destinies of either Sōsō, Sonsaku or Ryūbi, you mean?" Kōjun Kanjinei noted as she crossed her arms, twisting her head around to allow her long dark red locks to drape over her pointed face with their deep green eyes.
A nod. "Exactly…"
"OH, YE GODS! LOOK AT THAT!"
Everyone jolted on hearing Seiren's shriek of disbelief, and then spun around…
…as a lithe form in her modified Rakuyō uniform — Hōsen never bothered with the white undershirt or tie, much less anything like a bra, under the burgundy double-breasted jacket girls attending this school always wore — leapt over the back hedge of the school property, currently riding a golden-mane red stallion that seemed to burn with some strange energy. As the students milling around the school all turned to gape in disbelief and shock on seeing the legendary Sekitoma — as a HORSE! — carry his beloved master onto the grounds, the phoenix-turned-warhorse let out a braying neigh before he turned to carry Hōsen over to where her friends were gathered. "Ohayō, minna-chan," the aqua-haired senior said as she then leapt off Sekitoma's back — just as the horse glowed for a moment, then reverted back to his phoenix body so he could flutter over to perch himself on Hōsen's shoulder.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
You could actually hear a pin drop to the ground; it was THAT silent!
And then…
"NO!"
Sekitoma squaked in surprise as Kōdai leapt over to yank Hōsen out from under the phoenix, the younger tōshi's face twisted in rage as she glared death at the reborn warhorse that had, many times over the last eighteen centuries, heralded the death of each successive reincarnation of the man once born Lǚ Bù. "NO! YOU WON'T TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME, YOU DAMNED DEMON! GO AWAY AND…!"
CRUNCH!
"That didn't hurt…!" Kōdai, her eyes spiralling thanks to the sharp blow she got on her forehead thanks to the Sky Piercer, moaned before she dropped into an unconscious heap at Hōsen's feet.
Hōsen sighed as Sekitoma landed on her shoulder, and then she exchanged a look with her old warhorse. "This isn't going to be easy for me, is it?" she asked. After an affirming chirp from the phoenix, she then breathed out. "Stupid bird…"
Everyone else was STILL stunned speechless…
"Damn."
Staring at the back lawn of the school, a shivering raven-haired, bespectacled brown-eyed girl of the same age as Hōsen was trying not to drop to her knees and weep at the sight of the symbol of the oncoming death of their school's greatest warrior, now peacefully perching on said warrior's shoulder as if his being there was just a minor triviality. But this was no minor triviality. Not one bit.
"Damn. Damn, damn, DAMN!"
Gritting her teeth, Kaku Bunwa turned and stormed off.
Tōtaku had to learn of this as soon as possible.
And as the chief strategist of Rakuyō storms off to find her leader, we…
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(Posted Mon, 17 May 2010 01:42)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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