Snippet 27: Harry Leferts
Harry Leferts
Suave Shadow Cabal Kaiju
Hands in his pockets as he walked along, Harry tilted his head some towards Siusan, "Ever been to one of these, Grandmother?"
The Irish fox shook her head as she looked around curiously, "No, I have not." Frowning some, she gave him a slight smile, "I will admit that even for one as old as I, this is... new." Siusan frowned some but nodded, "However, I am rather interested to see how one of these... Summonings, happen."
With a hum, the teen cocked his head to the side, "Well, it is different depending on the nation and country that is performing it. Different peoples, different traditions, you know?"
Nodding, Siusan became thoughtful, "Yes, that would be true enough, Harry-Child. But what about ships from long ago? Recently, I came across a village in Eire that had shipgirls from when I was but a Kit."
It took a moment, but Harry realized what she meant, 'Eire? Ireland?' Filing that away, he hummed, "True, but that is mostly due to historians and the like who studied the culture. Some of the students were the ones who summoned them through guesswork..." A frown on his face, he shook his head, "Which... is sort of frightening considering what we are playing with."
Siusan grimaced at that and gave a sound of agreement, "Yes, it is best not to mess with such powers willy-nilly. Though I am not surprised that people do so..." Lightly chuckling, she smiled a bit, "After all, it is a strength of humanity to be so curious."
That got a grin and a nod from the young wizard beside her.
Minutes later, they reached the building that contained the Summoning Pool and entered it. They joined Nagato who gave them a small nod and smiled at Siusan, "How are you doing today, Siusan-San?"
Looking up at her, the fox gave a slight tilt of her head, "I am doing well, Nagato, thank you. This old Fox has been enjoying the time so far, and what I have spent with my Grandson." With a slight bow, she sighed, "Thank you again for having me."
Nagato just waved her off with a chuckle, "You don't need to thank me, Siusan-San. I am more than thankful to you that Harry now has a grandmother through you. Just..." A grin appeared on her face, "Don't outfox me by giving him and Hoppou a lot of treats."
Confused briefly, Siusan let out a bark of laughter and shook her head, "That was something that Lily-Child would have said, I think." Eyes lighting up as she looked back on memories, happier ones, the Irish fox sighed, "I miss her."
Gently, the Battleship placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a light squeeze, "I am not surprised. From what I hear she was a wonderful woman who I would have liked to meet when she was alive." Seeing the puzzlement, Nagato leaned down, "I did meet Lily once, in the Other Realm, where us shipgirls come from and where we briefly go when we get out rebuilds and such. She... passed on some things to me, to make me better able to help protect people, especially Harry."
Blinking away tears, Siusan sniffled a bit, "Yes, that does sound like Lily-Child." She paused for a moment, but spoke in a bit of a broken tone, "If... if you should happen to come across her again, could you... could you tell her how sorry I am?"
Expression softening, Nagato shook her head, "From what she told me, she is watching over us. So I have no doubt that she already knows, Siusan-San." Lips quirking upwards a bit, she snorted, "And probably thinks that you're being silly in that there was nothing to forgive."
With a slight nod from the fox, and some brightness coming back to her expression, Nagato gave a final squeeze of her shoulder. Head tilted to the side, Harry gave his Grandmother a smile of his own before blinking as they began to stack the summoning materials, "Huh, so you're using quite a bit of those that I made, Mum?"
The Battleship crossed her arms before nodding, "We are, as a matter of fact, Harry. After all, that is what they're supposed to be used for." Both the boy and the shipgirl shared a smile at that, "Besides which... we are close to when the Solstice happened. Considering what happened when we held it on the Harvest Moon, some people think it could give a boost."
Harry considered that for a few moments before making a sound of agreement, "That is true, I guess. Magic is a bit odd like that."
For her part, Nagato simply chuckled before remembering something, "I heard that something happened yesterday, Harry? Between you and one of your friends involving Yamato's... Smol?"
With a blink, the teenaged wizard sighed some and nodded, "Hai... we came across Yamapi at a food stand and she wanted some food. But then she asked for me to go and see Akechi-San to cheer her up."
Eyebrow cocked a bit, Nagato frowned, "From your tone, it didn't."
Shaking his head, Harry grimaced, "Barely got the chance to try as she took off running to the graveyard. Her parents are concerned about her... all I got is that her little sister died a couple of months ago in a car accident and she blames herself for it. Akechi-San's parents were dismissive of it and stated she believes their daughter was killed, not in an accident but by something else. I... think that she might be right."
Her own eyes narrowing, his adoptive mother opened her mouth before pausing. Remembering what was happening during Summer, she had a sinking suspicion as to what it might have been, "You mean that whole thing with a cursed website?"
As he nodded, Siusan frowned at him, "What do you mean, Harry-Child?" Quickly, he explained and her expression became one of distaste, "Ah, one of those. Yes, I am familiar with the concept though not with how it was done in this case."
Tone lowering, Harry shook his head, "I contacted Tatsuya about it and asked him because it tickled a little something that I remembered him mentioning. He was busy, but... Benio was able to answer for him. Apparently they almost managed to rescue a little girl who was being beaten by one of those things, but were just too late. They mentioned that there was a older girl, who they thought was her sister crying that it was all her fault..."
Dots connecting in her head, Nagato sighed, "The timeline would fit. And it would not be hard to imagine that perhaps she had written in the website in a moment of anger, not believing it for a moment. As well, the whole car accident does stink of a cover up by the magicals. Though how they missed her in it..." Shaking her head, she grunted a bit, "Then again, considering who we're talking about, they might well have missed her and just decided that people will think that she's crazy."
Clicking her tongue, the Irish fox with them shook her head, "The young child is not to blame for this. One of the greatest crimes that has come about due to the hiding of magic is that such things are possible." With a sigh, her expression became one of sympathy, "The foolish child did not know any better in this case."
With a glance towards her, Harry suspected that she knew about how it would feel in Akechi-San's place. He, too, could sympathize with her, though he furrowed his eyebrows some as he swore in his head that he had a dream or something before shaking it off. After all, he could always just look at this dream journal when he got home. Right now, the Summoning Ceremony was about to begin if the fact that Haru was taking her place was anything to go by. So while his thoughts were partially towards his sympathy towards his former schoolmate, they were also towards the Summoning.
Unknown to him, both Nagato's and Siusan's thoughts were also like his.
Meanwhile, the ceremony continued as it normally did with an opening from Haru followed by the Warship's March. And as usual with a successful ceremony, they could all feel a wind pick up, causing the candles around the room to flicker in the breeze, though they did not go out. Eyes widening some, Siusan pointed as the various summoning materials began to vanish into sparkles of light that trailed off into the Summoning Pool, which began to slosh and bubble, "Look at that..."
Lips twitching a bit at the awed tone, Harry only nodded, "It is always impressive to see, Grandmother. But that just means that it was successful." Seeing the shipgirls perk up, he cocked his head to the side, "Mum?"
Humming, Nagato gave a chuckle, "I am getting multiple contacts on sonar approaching, Harry. Far more than just one... Seems like this is one of the more successful ones." Almost as soon as she said that, various shipgirls burst from the water. One of them caused more than one blink as she looked somewhat similar to the Kongou sisters, though like Kongou herself looked like half-European and half-Japanese, with her black hair in a style similar to Kirishima's. Another difference was that her "Headband" only had one of the odd Bridge attachments which went upwards at an angle. Seeing her hull, Nagato blinked and looked between her and the surprised Kongou and Haruna, 'She... resembles them.'
Blinking, the shipgirl looked around before spotting Goto and saluting with a shy, unsure smile, "Design B-40, Japanese Battlecruiser, designed in Britain. H-happy to be here?"
Ignoring the excited whispers between his girlfriend and her sister, Goto smiled and nodded, "Welcome to the physical world."
Turning, he noted that a few others there, including a young girl looking around in confusion with some of the biggest turrets he had seen on someone that size, two of them. Another shipgirl there though was a Submarine in a familiar uniform, and hearing a gasp he knew that the shipgirl with the same uniform had spotted her. Seeing him, said Submarine gave a salute of her own even as she bobbed in the water, "Admiral, good day to you. I'm the eldest of the Sentoku-class, first ship, I-400. Hmm.... Shi...o...n? Yes... Shion... please call me that."
One of the two smaller vessels bowed to him after he greeted Shion and nearly fell over before she caught herself. She was dressed in a uniform like an Elementary student would wear and sheepishly grinned, "Um, good day, I'm the name ship of the Chidori class, Chidori. Please take care of me."
Simply chuckling, Goto gave her a nod, "We'll do our best with that, Chidori-San." Finally, he came to the last ship and gave her a curious look, "Hello, and you are?"
Rapidly blinking, the shipgirl stared at him and then around before focusing on her turrets as she mumbled to herself, "I'm a shipgirl...?" Spotting everyone now staring at her, she swallowed and looked forward, still completely lost, "U-um, I'm Akechi Momo? And... Honshu? The Name ship of the Honshu Class Coastal Defense Ships." Chewing her lip, she looked around, "W-where's my Onee-Chan? I-I've been hearing her saying sorry, but I don't know where she is..." Teary eyed, Momo looked up at the Admiral who had wide eyes, "Um, Mister Teitoku? C-could you help me?"
For several moments, everything was quiet before it exploded into whispers and shouts. Blinking, Nagato turned to Harry and cleared her throat, "Harry? Could you get in touch with Akechi-San? Or get the school phone number to Ooyodo? I think that we're going to need it..."
The Irish fox shook her head as she looked around curiously, "No, I have not." Frowning some, she gave him a slight smile, "I will admit that even for one as old as I, this is... new." Siusan frowned some but nodded, "However, I am rather interested to see how one of these... Summonings, happen."
With a hum, the teen cocked his head to the side, "Well, it is different depending on the nation and country that is performing it. Different peoples, different traditions, you know?"
Nodding, Siusan became thoughtful, "Yes, that would be true enough, Harry-Child. But what about ships from long ago? Recently, I came across a village in Eire that had shipgirls from when I was but a Kit."
It took a moment, but Harry realized what she meant, 'Eire? Ireland?' Filing that away, he hummed, "True, but that is mostly due to historians and the like who studied the culture. Some of the students were the ones who summoned them through guesswork..." A frown on his face, he shook his head, "Which... is sort of frightening considering what we are playing with."
Siusan grimaced at that and gave a sound of agreement, "Yes, it is best not to mess with such powers willy-nilly. Though I am not surprised that people do so..." Lightly chuckling, she smiled a bit, "After all, it is a strength of humanity to be so curious."
That got a grin and a nod from the young wizard beside her.
Minutes later, they reached the building that contained the Summoning Pool and entered it. They joined Nagato who gave them a small nod and smiled at Siusan, "How are you doing today, Siusan-San?"
Looking up at her, the fox gave a slight tilt of her head, "I am doing well, Nagato, thank you. This old Fox has been enjoying the time so far, and what I have spent with my Grandson." With a slight bow, she sighed, "Thank you again for having me."
Nagato just waved her off with a chuckle, "You don't need to thank me, Siusan-San. I am more than thankful to you that Harry now has a grandmother through you. Just..." A grin appeared on her face, "Don't outfox me by giving him and Hoppou a lot of treats."
Confused briefly, Siusan let out a bark of laughter and shook her head, "That was something that Lily-Child would have said, I think." Eyes lighting up as she looked back on memories, happier ones, the Irish fox sighed, "I miss her."
Gently, the Battleship placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a light squeeze, "I am not surprised. From what I hear she was a wonderful woman who I would have liked to meet when she was alive." Seeing the puzzlement, Nagato leaned down, "I did meet Lily once, in the Other Realm, where us shipgirls come from and where we briefly go when we get out rebuilds and such. She... passed on some things to me, to make me better able to help protect people, especially Harry."
Blinking away tears, Siusan sniffled a bit, "Yes, that does sound like Lily-Child." She paused for a moment, but spoke in a bit of a broken tone, "If... if you should happen to come across her again, could you... could you tell her how sorry I am?"
Expression softening, Nagato shook her head, "From what she told me, she is watching over us. So I have no doubt that she already knows, Siusan-San." Lips quirking upwards a bit, she snorted, "And probably thinks that you're being silly in that there was nothing to forgive."
With a slight nod from the fox, and some brightness coming back to her expression, Nagato gave a final squeeze of her shoulder. Head tilted to the side, Harry gave his Grandmother a smile of his own before blinking as they began to stack the summoning materials, "Huh, so you're using quite a bit of those that I made, Mum?"
The Battleship crossed her arms before nodding, "We are, as a matter of fact, Harry. After all, that is what they're supposed to be used for." Both the boy and the shipgirl shared a smile at that, "Besides which... we are close to when the Solstice happened. Considering what happened when we held it on the Harvest Moon, some people think it could give a boost."
Harry considered that for a few moments before making a sound of agreement, "That is true, I guess. Magic is a bit odd like that."
For her part, Nagato simply chuckled before remembering something, "I heard that something happened yesterday, Harry? Between you and one of your friends involving Yamato's... Smol?"
With a blink, the teenaged wizard sighed some and nodded, "Hai... we came across Yamapi at a food stand and she wanted some food. But then she asked for me to go and see Akechi-San to cheer her up."
Eyebrow cocked a bit, Nagato frowned, "From your tone, it didn't."
Shaking his head, Harry grimaced, "Barely got the chance to try as she took off running to the graveyard. Her parents are concerned about her... all I got is that her little sister died a couple of months ago in a car accident and she blames herself for it. Akechi-San's parents were dismissive of it and stated she believes their daughter was killed, not in an accident but by something else. I... think that she might be right."
Her own eyes narrowing, his adoptive mother opened her mouth before pausing. Remembering what was happening during Summer, she had a sinking suspicion as to what it might have been, "You mean that whole thing with a cursed website?"
As he nodded, Siusan frowned at him, "What do you mean, Harry-Child?" Quickly, he explained and her expression became one of distaste, "Ah, one of those. Yes, I am familiar with the concept though not with how it was done in this case."
Tone lowering, Harry shook his head, "I contacted Tatsuya about it and asked him because it tickled a little something that I remembered him mentioning. He was busy, but... Benio was able to answer for him. Apparently they almost managed to rescue a little girl who was being beaten by one of those things, but were just too late. They mentioned that there was a older girl, who they thought was her sister crying that it was all her fault..."
Dots connecting in her head, Nagato sighed, "The timeline would fit. And it would not be hard to imagine that perhaps she had written in the website in a moment of anger, not believing it for a moment. As well, the whole car accident does stink of a cover up by the magicals. Though how they missed her in it..." Shaking her head, she grunted a bit, "Then again, considering who we're talking about, they might well have missed her and just decided that people will think that she's crazy."
Clicking her tongue, the Irish fox with them shook her head, "The young child is not to blame for this. One of the greatest crimes that has come about due to the hiding of magic is that such things are possible." With a sigh, her expression became one of sympathy, "The foolish child did not know any better in this case."
With a glance towards her, Harry suspected that she knew about how it would feel in Akechi-San's place. He, too, could sympathize with her, though he furrowed his eyebrows some as he swore in his head that he had a dream or something before shaking it off. After all, he could always just look at this dream journal when he got home. Right now, the Summoning Ceremony was about to begin if the fact that Haru was taking her place was anything to go by. So while his thoughts were partially towards his sympathy towards his former schoolmate, they were also towards the Summoning.
Unknown to him, both Nagato's and Siusan's thoughts were also like his.
Meanwhile, the ceremony continued as it normally did with an opening from Haru followed by the Warship's March. And as usual with a successful ceremony, they could all feel a wind pick up, causing the candles around the room to flicker in the breeze, though they did not go out. Eyes widening some, Siusan pointed as the various summoning materials began to vanish into sparkles of light that trailed off into the Summoning Pool, which began to slosh and bubble, "Look at that..."
Lips twitching a bit at the awed tone, Harry only nodded, "It is always impressive to see, Grandmother. But that just means that it was successful." Seeing the shipgirls perk up, he cocked his head to the side, "Mum?"
Humming, Nagato gave a chuckle, "I am getting multiple contacts on sonar approaching, Harry. Far more than just one... Seems like this is one of the more successful ones." Almost as soon as she said that, various shipgirls burst from the water. One of them caused more than one blink as she looked somewhat similar to the Kongou sisters, though like Kongou herself looked like half-European and half-Japanese, with her black hair in a style similar to Kirishima's. Another difference was that her "Headband" only had one of the odd Bridge attachments which went upwards at an angle. Seeing her hull, Nagato blinked and looked between her and the surprised Kongou and Haruna, 'She... resembles them.'
Blinking, the shipgirl looked around before spotting Goto and saluting with a shy, unsure smile, "Design B-40, Japanese Battlecruiser, designed in Britain. H-happy to be here?"
Ignoring the excited whispers between his girlfriend and her sister, Goto smiled and nodded, "Welcome to the physical world."
Turning, he noted that a few others there, including a young girl looking around in confusion with some of the biggest turrets he had seen on someone that size, two of them. Another shipgirl there though was a Submarine in a familiar uniform, and hearing a gasp he knew that the shipgirl with the same uniform had spotted her. Seeing him, said Submarine gave a salute of her own even as she bobbed in the water, "Admiral, good day to you. I'm the eldest of the Sentoku-class, first ship, I-400. Hmm.... Shi...o...n? Yes... Shion... please call me that."
One of the two smaller vessels bowed to him after he greeted Shion and nearly fell over before she caught herself. She was dressed in a uniform like an Elementary student would wear and sheepishly grinned, "Um, good day, I'm the name ship of the Chidori class, Chidori. Please take care of me."
Simply chuckling, Goto gave her a nod, "We'll do our best with that, Chidori-San." Finally, he came to the last ship and gave her a curious look, "Hello, and you are?"
Rapidly blinking, the shipgirl stared at him and then around before focusing on her turrets as she mumbled to herself, "I'm a shipgirl...?" Spotting everyone now staring at her, she swallowed and looked forward, still completely lost, "U-um, I'm Akechi Momo? And... Honshu? The Name ship of the Honshu Class Coastal Defense Ships." Chewing her lip, she looked around, "W-where's my Onee-Chan? I-I've been hearing her saying sorry, but I don't know where she is..." Teary eyed, Momo looked up at the Admiral who had wide eyes, "Um, Mister Teitoku? C-could you help me?"
For several moments, everything was quiet before it exploded into whispers and shouts. Blinking, Nagato turned to Harry and cleared her throat, "Harry? Could you get in touch with Akechi-San? Or get the school phone number to Ooyodo? I think that we're going to need it..."
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