And another little short on the same vein:
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A Girl's Name: Bountiful Unto God
by Fred Herriot
Based on Kantai Collection, developed by Kadokawa Games; Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko; and Koihime Musō, created by BaseSon
Including characters and situations from Urusei Yatsura: The Senior Year, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot; and Phoenix From the Ashes, created by Fred Herriot
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Tomobiki Senior High School (in Nishitōkyō), one nice spring afternoon...
"Moroboshi Ataru, please report to the Principal's office."
Looking up, the lanky teenager with the shaggy hair done in an off-the-collar style and the dark brown eyes perked before he shrugged, then he rose from his chair. "Hai! Hai...!" the so-called "cancer of Tomobiki" — who had earned even MORE interesting curses from his peers in the wake of the effective final removal of the alien presence from this particular suburb of Tōkyō just a month before — trilled to himself as he walked out of Class 2-4, not sparing anyone any glance.
Of course, there were the whispers and the pointed stares from many of his peers, especially all the lifeless fools who still lusted after a certain Oni warlord's daughter and had hoped that things would have returned back to "normal" after the potential threat of someone else wanting to marry Ataru was eliminated. Ataru ignored them. Even if they were nominally led by Mendō Shūtarō, they didn't have any of the real power necessary to help Redet Lum get back to this planet so she could pursue her "darling" anew. And while there were many things about the would-be heiress of Uru's Throne of the Maidens that Ataru did miss, he wasn't in any sort of mood these days to contemplate something as long-reaching as marriage.
Especially given who his grandmother was...
...and how that one simple relation had helped Ataru drop the equivalent of the Soviet's legendary Car'-bómba from 1961 on the aspirations of many neighbouring galactic powers concerning the third planet of Sol.
Of course, trying to explain it to the idiots that attended this school was a waste of hot air in the end...
...and Ataru had other things to consider right now.
Walking to the main floor, he made his way to the central corridor that connected the school's classroom wings in the centre of an "H" shape copied from many Western designs when Tomobiki Senior High was first constructed in the years of the Taishō Era after the Great War. He was quick to see the school's junior nurse and the senior shrine maiden of nearby Senshōbu-jinja, Sakurambō Sakura, standing near the principal's office, peering intently at the closed door of the elderly chief administrator of the school. There were small crowds of admiring boys standing nearby, questioning looks on their faces as they wondered what was agitating the supermodel-like twenty-something that had stolen hearts among Ataru's male peers as Lum had.
Ignoring her, Ataru walked up to the door and knocked. "Kōchō-sensei?"
"Enter, Moroboshi-kun."
"Hai!"
The door was slid open, allowing Ataru to step inside, he shutting the door before Sakura could move to follow him. As a squawk of surprise and outrage escaped the older woman, a secret smile crossed his face as he moved to stand before the balding Principal's desk, bowing respectfully to the older man. Much that Ataru often got annoyed at the times this man forced his students through nearly life-threatening "physicals" for some of the dumbest reasons imaginable, he did admire the older fellow for his willingness to tolerate a lot of the craziness that had haunted people's lives after Lum declared Ataru her "husband" nearly a year before in the Tag Race, then moved in to live with him at his house full-time.
"You wished to see me, Kōchō-sensei?" Ataru asked.
The balding, bespectacled administrator sighed. "You've been drafted, Ataru-kun," he stared without preamble before relaxing in his chair and sipping his tea. "You'll be representing our school among the civilian aides being called to support the kanmusu at the various bases here in the country so they can better carry out the fight against the Abyssals. Given the potential threat from Lum-kun and her people in case K'ekhech-dono can't get the system secured in time before she gets out of hospital, you'll be relocated to Sasebo on Kyūshū. From what Kirishima-san just told me about the considerable number of bouquets delivered to all the kanmusu currently in Japan and elsewhere, there are many who are looking forward to meeting you. I don't understand why, though." He then gave the younger man a knowing smile. "Though I suspect..."
"There is a good reason, Kōchō-sensei," Ataru noted, then he took a deep breath. "You honour us all by your presence here..."
Here, he paused dramatically before smiling as he looked over his shoulder.
"...Chihaya-hime."
That made the Principal's eyebrow arch. "'Chihaya'...?"
An amused titter escaped the beautiful British-designed fast battleship that was now standing in one corner of the room. Also present was Kotatsuneko, who had his normal space heater-equipped low table set out on one side of the room; Kirishima and the large cat-ghost from the late Meiji era had been enjoying tea when the school's most infamous student came in.
Staring at the fourth of the Kongō-class who was named after a volcano in southern Kyūshū and had been born as a warship in nearby Nagasaki, Ataru was quick to see that she wasn't dressed in her normal shrine maiden-like top with the dark grey skirt underlined with a petticoat and thigh-high stockings that served as her normal sea uniform and work uniform ashore. Much to his private delight, the shipgirl was dressed in a beautiful sweater over a pair of form-fitting jeans; she had even elected to not wear the golden headband that resembled the wings of her pilotage within her square bob-cut black hair. Noting the very interested glitter in her dark grey eyes under those reading glasses of hers, Ataru tried not to blush too much. While the look on Kirishima's face reminded him of the way Lum often looked at him, there was an aura of discipline and maturity in the fourth Kongō-class fast battleship that the warlord's daughter from the planet Uru clearly lacked.
This would be...interesting.
"So my calculations were correct. You ARE the one..."
Ataru blushed. "It was necessary, Isabel-san."
"'Isabel'?" the Principal asked.
A chuckle escaped him as Kirishima came over to stand beside him. "You may remember an anonymous letter to the editor of the Yomiuri Shinbun two years ago concerning how some of the officers of the Self-Defence Forces and our allies elsewhere were treating us on occasion, Tomomichi-sensei," the battleship then stated. "Decrying the fact that our admirals and other personnel were more intent on seeing us as 'ships' without understanding that for all practical purposes while we were not fighting the enemy, we also had to adjust to being human women as well." As the elderly administrator nodded in understanding, she added, "Shortly after that, every shipgirl who had been summoned received letters from the person who wrote that letter, they containing proposed 'human names' for us that we could use once the war's over and we're demobilized. After all, a name like 'Kirishima' would be good for a family name, but having just ONE name..."
"'Chihaya Isabel'?" the Principal asked.
"The same," Ataru answered. "The name comes from Chihaya Castle near where Anne-san's namesake mountain is located..."
The older man's eyes brightened. "Ah! Kongō-san, you mean!"
"Hai!" Ataru affirmed. "Given the girls were designed in Britain, I chose English given names for them. Save Harumi-san..."
An eyebrow arched as a knowing look crossed the Principal's face. "Haruna-san?"
"Hai! It seemed befitting!"
Chuckles filled the room. "Well, since you'll not be able to attend school here anymore, I've had your records transferred to Sasebo North High School. Since you'll be living at the Americans' base, you can continue your education there. I'm sure you'll enjoy the break away from all the interest that's been focused on you because of Lum-kun. Do have a good time down there."
He hummed. "No more mooching monks or shrine maidens. No nagging mother. No so-called 'friends' who'd I swear would sell the planet out if it gave them a chance with my so-called 'wife'. No rich fool and his family. And especially no lying 'wife', her hangers on...and ESPECIALLY her so-called 'most faithful'." As the Principal scowled — he was the only person in Tomobiki outside those who worked directly for Ataru's uncle Komeru or his grandmother Nagaiwakai who knew the details of THAT dirty secret Lum kept from EVERYONE she knew on Earth — Ataru then shrugged. "Well, I best get out of your way then, Kōchō-sensei." He then offered his arm to the smiling battleship nearby. "Isabel-san, may I escort you?"
"But of course..." she purred as she slipped her arm around his. "Teitoku."
His cheeks reddened on hearing that as the Principal smiled...
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"Who are you...?"
Sakura gaped in shocked disbelief as Ataru and his new lady friend walked past her without any sort of acknowledgement to her presence, much less answering her question. As the shrine maiden remained in place while her mystical senses nearly overloaded from the presence of whoever — and WHATEVER! — was now accompanying Tomobiki High's most infamous student, Ataru quietly guided his companion over to the nearby shoe locker so they could get on their outer footwear and depart the school grounds. Fortunately for both of them, most of the boys who had been gathered at either end of the central hallway when Ataru came down to meet the Principal had been chased away by the school nurse and shrine maiden, so there were none of the usual idiots ready to confront him, especially with his being in the presence of a very beautiful woman.
"Moroboshi..."
Sakura then blinked as the Principal came up to join him. "Leave him be, Sakura-kun," the elderly school administrator stated. "As much as I know you're concerned about him, his destiny is no longer meant to intertwine with us. Our delightful guest from Kyūshū and all her friends down in Sasebo will make sure of that." He then took a deep breath. "Which will be a relief of sorts. Much that Ataru-kun did spice things up here, the presence of Lum-kun and her friends on this planet would end up hurting us far more worse than what might have happened if her father actually launched that 'invasion' a year ago."
A snort escaped her. Much that she was personally grateful that she and everyone that had been kidnapped by Lum's friend Shigaten Benten when the aliens had moved to "protect" Ataru from Queen Elle had been returned safe and sound to Earth — though she had no idea by who or why — she was more than convinced that the boy's horrible luck would have him once more dealing with his "wife" soon enough. "Doubtful. Who was that girl anyway? What does she want with him."
He chuckled. "Tennō Heika Gunkan Kirishima."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
Sakura was now as white as a ghost. Even if the news of the Abyssal War hadn't played out too much in Tomobiki given the alien presence there over the last year, she wasn't ignorant of events on the high seas. "A kanmusu...?!"
"The same. Ataru-kun has been drafted into becoming a civilian 'admiral' to help those brave women continue the fight against those creatures." He was quick to fix her with a knowing stare, which made her wince; she knew that many parents had a lot of issues having an active shrine miko act as a school nurse. "Please don't bother with your normal comments about his lack of competence in many things, Sakura-kun. You ARE aware of who his grandmother is, I believe."
As the nurse/shrine maiden jolted on hearing that, the Principal turned back to his office...
To Be Continued...?
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