RP: YSS Senbu Ep 44 - Mission 5: Epilogue

[5tar]

ON: 6 LY from Halna System - Along the edge of the Ketsurui Nebula




The last hour of the battle was a clearly in the hands of the Red Lion's forces; the Senbu and its commanded units swiftly took care of the fighters and the destroyer. The ship was breathing a big sigh of relief and the bridge staff was allowed a rest. Their replacements came in and most seats were switched over. "Good job everyone; I'm very privileged to be working with such a resourceful group. As for you, Nanjo-hei, your timid behavior might get your unit killed someday. Work harder in the future at keeping constant communication open with your unit. Though the loss of communication during the jamming is understandable, I'm referring to after action and in-between—there should be nothing going on that you’re not involved with figuratively, understood?" the sharp eyed, blonde haired Yamataian officer named Akira said, looking down to Ageha as he spoke.

"Yes sir!" the Pride Squad's ComOps replied loudly, bowing respectfully to the Taii. Her upper lip stiffened as she rose again. I was too nervous, she berated herself. "I won't let you down next time," she added hastily, bowing again in case it helped. What use was all that training if you can't do your job right? And you even got a vacation to connect better with the crew? Shame on you.

"Good, I have high expectations of you Nanjo-hei. You have a lot of potential," he said with a wise sort of smile. "Now, you’re all dismissed—except Vermilion. Your team is on standby, so your shift will continue for another three hours." Then with that, the other two stood up and as the Obsidian comms op quickly made her way out of the pit. The other operator walked up beside Ageha. She smiled to the smaller, less curvy communication specialist and then gestured for her to come with her as she made her leave.

Confused, Ageha followed the other ComOps out of the room and hurried up to walk beside her quietly, wondering where it was they were going and what the woman wanted from her.

Just as the rest of the shift made their exit, the Senbu’s Geshrin First Officer gave his post over to the pink-haired twin. “Chouko Ayane-chui, you have the con,” he said to the NH-X who’d seemed to have warmed up to him, moving towards the lift as the communications pit personnel did. He was glad to leave the bridge even though there was still much work to be finished with concerns to the engagement that had just ended. And so, Nicholas intended to retreat to the office he shared with Shizuka to finish up any paperwork that needed to be done and send official reports into Star Army Command once communications were established again.

As soon as they had exited the bridge, the blonde officer with Ageha shook her head slightly with a jovial smile on her red lips. "Oh that Akira-kun," the ComOp said with a soft sigh before putting a hand on the young Yamataian’s shoulder. "Don't take what he said too seriously, you did really good out there for your first time, Nanjo-hei. Good old Akira-kun used to be in-charge of the Gold Squadron, and before that he used to be an official instructor for armor piloting, so he can say some harsh things some times. As long as you take it as constructive criticism and don't let it eat you up, you'll do just fine." She finished as the two stepped into lift with the other communications specialists. "You have awfully cute hair clips," the older Yamataian woman complemented as she inched closer to Ageha to get a better look.

"Thank you," the shorter Yamataian replied meekly, rubbing her hand on her hair and realizing that she was missing the one that fell out earlier. She had forgotten it on the console with all the stuff that had been going on. Pursing her lips, it was just another mistake she had made.

The curvy Yamataian blonde pursed her lips to the side as she looked at Ageha with a disappointed expression. "Come on now, why are you being all like that for... if you walk out of very battle like that that frown is going to become a permanent part of your face." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and glanced at Ageha, then to the door. A few people shuffled out, and some boarded, but the officer moved forward and pressed a new button on the lift, one that was different then her previous one. "I have an idea that might make you feel better, do you like cake?" she asked, offering to treat the newbie to a pick-me-up treat in an attempt to cure her case of the first battle blues.

Ageha nodded and smiled weakly. "I do like cake. And, you're right. All of my Squadron came back, so I guess I didn't do too bad." She scratched the back of her leg with the toe of her boot as she waited for the lift. "Still, I'll do better next time."

Although Nicholas’ destination had only been two floors separated from where the lift had started from on the bridge, all of the Neko exiting and entering and setting new transport points had made leaving the lift more difficult than the tired Shosa would have liked. Even so, he didn’t mind very much. Paperwork was still paperwork, no matter how important it was and a relatively quiet lift ride against a nice, comfortable bulkhead and hidden away behind a throng of Neko wasn’t the worst way that he could think of to waste his time

As for the rest of the Pride Squadron, the wounded group were just getting released from the medical bay, new pieces included. The rest of the group were either waiting for them or had already been ordered to make an after-action report. The ship itself had become alive and busy again with the returning pilots rushing off to their various destinations, the medical staff taking care of the mass of wounded, and, of course, the intel staff looking into what exactly happened while Pride was aboard the YSS Watcher.

"Nnnn... aaah. Keep going, it'll only mean I'll die slowly if you let me stay like this." Chikako's groaning echoed loudly in one of the many medical facilities aboard the Senbu as the Mindy powered armor was peeled away from her torso, exposing the extent of the damages to her body. A terrible burnt gash cut across her stomach, forming a terrible blackened crater in her faintly tanned skin that was dug in no less than two inches at its deepest point. Were she human, she would have died. But consciousness was getting harder and harder to maintain as her body demanded that she ceded additional resources for the coming repairs and she no longer had the rush of battle nor the assistance of Ikazuchi at this point. The wound had opened because they removed the armor too casually, and gushed hemosynthetic blood for the few seconds between her armor was stripped away and she was dumped into a hemosynth tank.

Masako just groaned and still felt tired despite all the healing stuff that'd been done to her, and just like she said, she wanted to go off to soak in the hot bath. But she wasn’t too sure what else she had to do now at the moment. So instead she'd just lean up against a wall and watched what was going on and paid attention to the action to figure it out.

Sakaki, for a time, had been working out in the training room, kicking so hard and fast that she could break rocks. She was trying to let her emotions out this way, but it did not help the cloud of doubt forming on her. If only I had teleported a little sooner, Masako and Udeda-heisho would not have been in such a state, was the center thought of her frustration. The Neko eventually finished, but still with uncertainty in her future. I can only do this much I suppose, though as a warrior I expect better of myself.

Pushing away from the wall, Masako would start to walk off again after noticing that they weren't being recalled to do anything. "Whooo! Time for a rest," she said and started to head for the main baths, hoping they're be empty for the time being. "So only myself and Ueda-heisho were seriously injured huh? That's good," she mused to herself. "Hey Chikako-heisho, how're you feeling?" she asked, relaying her telepathic message to the person in question. "Hey Sakaki, where'd you go off to?" the busty blonde Neko said telepathically since it was the best way to discreetly contact someone.

Masako would hear a plain, irritated voice. "Oi! Boin-chan. Tell everyone I'm okay, but that I'll be out of commission for an hour or two," Chikako messaged her curtly, before going silent.

"Hahaha, alright Chi-chan. But I think that the medics already know that. But I'll relay it on to whoever asks," Masako replied and only smiled and shook her head, making her extremely long hair swish around as she did. "I need a nickname for you since you're calling me Boin-chan."

Sakaki was re-dressing into her uniform while replying to Masako. “Training. Have you fully healed, Masako?” After asking that via the powers of Neko telepathy, she headed to the lifts, dressed in uniform with her katana at her side.

Masako paused as she headed for the lift to get to the place she was going. "I'm fully healed but I still ache all over, so I'm heading for the artificial hot spring. Want to join me for a soak?" she asked her friend.

Sakaki paused for a moment, but still felt like it wasn't a good idea. “No, I should eat something,” she replied, but probably more like said to herself, though it was reasonable as she hadn't eaten anything since the conflict.

"Hmm; alright. Maybe I'll see you afterward," Masako replied and continued into the lift.

Masako blinked a bit as the lift didn’t function apparently due to damage done to the ship and sighed and headed for another one and hit the button to summon it. Pausing for a moment to brush a hand through her hair, a habit she had. Luckily she'd been provided with a new uniform to wear, but it was having a hard time stretching over her liberal bust. Inadvertently, she summoned the lift Nick, Ageha, and the bridge officer were riding, bringing them to where the medical ward was.

Against her expectations, Chikako was released from care after only a few minutes, forced out of the hemosynth tank as injured deemed in a more serious condition were prioritized. Although her stomach was still red and raw, the main of the lost tissues had been hastily regenerated, by growing tissues as she was healed and physically grafting them on mid-session. It hurt, but she was alive, moving and fully dressed again, all while being able to keep a coy grin.

Mah mah, I need to wash up because of that hemosynth tank and- she thought for a few moments, until the reality of the mission set in. She was alive, certainly, but there were a great number of people who weren't anymore, and they weren't even able to recover ST data. Kuriko's probably a wreck since she's a total softie... and I'm sure our officers are going to be swamped with paperwork over a fiasco like this. The Empire asks much less of her soldiers when they bring her victory, after all. Yare yare daze She thought for a moment, bumping into a rather tall and buxom Neko, whom she recognized to be the person the armor pilot had just informed of her being indisposed for medical reasons. "Boin... chan?"

Masako blinked some and smiled a bit; her body looked better than she'd seen before. When they got Masako out of the armor, she was perforated by the aether shots. But her rest on the way back had served to aid in the closing of her wounds. "Oh, hi, Chikako," she said, relieved she was ok. "I'm glad to see your whole again."

"See, now that isn't so bad over all now is it Nanjo-hei?" She pursued her lips again after that one, recoiling a little in spot. "You know, calling you by your family name off duty is so stiff, you remind me of a little sister," she put a arm around the smaller Yamataian and smiled brightly, "from now on you're going to be my little sister on this ship, okay Imouto-chan?" she said with a bright smile, poking the tip of Ageha's nose playfully.

"Thank you, Yamasaki-heisho," Ageha replied, bowing her head towards the older, more experienced woman. It was all she could manage on the crowded lift. "I'll try my hardest to be the best little sister I can," she smiled and, bonking herself on the head with a fist she added jokingly, "Ganbatte, Ageha-tan~" She felt kind of silly with the childish talk, but it seemed to be what the senior officer was expecting from her.


PAUSE

 

[5tar]

Unpause




The YSS Senbu slipped through space on its return trip to Aries. The deployment part of the mission to find out what occurred with the YSS Watcher was complete, but left many unanswered questions—those questions would however have to wait until the Senbu was docked. The crew went about as normal after a sortie, many of the crew returning to their daily routine. But mostly, it was a collective sigh of relief as people relaxed and the excitement on the ship calmed down.

Mayuki was done with maintenance for now and decided to unwind. Figuring that she wasn't the only one, the short engineer decided to play in the mess with her instrument. Finding and open area, she pulled up a chair and sat down with her instrument and began to play. Her song is slow and soothing, a musical that was calm and yet slightly complex, like the mind of someone in a middle of a conflict. The Neko had created this song for the military in mind, despite herself never planning on being a part of the conflict. The song however remains nameless, as the engineer hasn't planned on being in a middle of a battle.

Sakaki had actually lied to Masako and had headed back to her room instead of eating. Taking a lift back there were a couple of others that joined her but she hardly noticed as she rode it back to her quarters. I wonder... if there is a possibility of returning for my sword, it is a disgrace to lose it on the first mission of it's use...

I wonder, why do I feel like this, wondered Sakaki about her recent frustration and increased determination for training. Not wanting to think about the matter too much in a public lift, her thoughts still managed to slip though. ...I am a warrior, I put feelings after my duty as a soldier. Yet at that one instance I... then suddenly the lift stopped at her exit. A bit startled that she had daydreamed, and that no one was on the lift anymore, she exited and headed to her room.

The blonde bombshell ComOp led the smaller and much cuter Ageha to the lower officer accommodation deck where their mess was a little more formal and comfortable. It was more like an upscale Yamataian café than the cafeteria setting of the enlisted mess bay. The officer led the Pride Squadron's communications specialist to a table and sat down at a seat across from the other. "The sprite in charge of this mess is actually a really good baker. Her cakes are getting quite famous among the officers here," as she said that a tiny little Neko sprite floated over to the side of their table. She had purple pixie cut hair and wide, matching purple irises.

"Hi, I am Murasaki. I'll be your server for today. What can I get for the two of you?" the spire asked pleasantly.

"Hello again Mura-chan, we'd like two big slices of Shiro's latest creation," Yamasaki answered with a big smile. With a sudden thoughtful look she turned back to Ageha. "I didn't even get to ask, did you want anything else?" the Gold Squadron communication's officer asked politely.

Ageha looked wide-eyed at the officer's mess, reveling in how much nicer it was than the enlisted's was. She tried looking around and taking it all in, but felt hurried to follow the Ittô-Heisho. "A small cup of tea, onegaishimasu, Yamasaki-heisho," she answered when asked, bowing politely to the lavender-eyed sprite.

The small little violet hued sprite nodded at Ageha and then turned to the blonde Heisho incase she had anything else to add to the order. "Oh, I'll take a glass of skim milk please," Aya said and then reached back to pull the elastic from her hair; the long wavy blond locks cascaded freely down her back. "I've been waiting to do that all day, even though my hair is a little messy it's good to let it down," even though she said that the officer was one of those people who no matter what they did, their hair always seemed to fall into place perfectly. "So Imouto-chan, what do you think of the ship so far. Find any special places—people?" she asked as a way of sparking up a little conversation in the Santô Hei.

The young ComOps nodded happily. "Nn! Pride Squad is all very nice. Ushimo-hei even bought me a wonderful present." She thought about the stuffed dog sitting back on her bed. "You have such nice hair, Yamasaki-heisho," Ageha noted, gazing at the officers' perfect blonde hair.

The Heisho smiled, but shook her head all the same in disagreement with Ageha. "How can you say that, it's messy and dirty. I think I sweated a little more than the pilots out there even! I know, we should hit the baths before we arrive in the station, what do you think about that?" she offered, being a Yamataian who was brought up in normal Yamataian customs, a bath offering was nothing more than a friendly way to spend time together with her new little sister. "Oh, what did the Hei get you?" Aya asked, genuinely interested in what Ageha had to say.

Being brought up similarly, Ageha had no problem with the friendly gesture at all. "It sounds like a good idea, Heisho," she responded with a curt nod. "And Ushimo-hei bought me a cute stuffed dog, Ittsun-kun, while I was following them around on their vacation on Kyoto," the Santo-Hei added. "It was very nice of her. All of Pride Squad is."

At this point, a boyish sprite with a tiny pastry chef's hat came out to the table with her small arms crossed over her very flat chest. The violet colored server sprite came out in-behind with a large slice of cake in each hand and then placed the delicious looking morsels before the two communications operatives. The heavenly wedges of deliciousness were a fluffy vanilla layered cake with perfect strawberries in between the layers and topped with a full one in a fluff of whipped cream frosting. Aya went to open her mouth to say something to the sprite, but she was silenced with a sudden shake of the head from the chef, who then pointed to the cake and watched on critically and anxiously. "I think this means Shiro-chan really wants us to try it. Well, itadakimasu!" With that, the blonde officer then picked up her silver fork and proceeded to slowly take a bite size piece and lift it closer to examine. Then, she simply opened her mouth and closed her red lips and ate the bite slowly so she could savor the moment. The white colored Shiro sprite inched closer, even more anxious to how Aya would answer. But she didn't, she turned her hand and gestured silently for Ageha to take her bite.

"Itadakimasu!" Ageha repeated, taking a silver fork for herself and digging into the side of the cake, coming away with a small piece. She placed it in her mouth as she watched the Yamasaki take her own bite. Savoring it in mouth for a little bit before swallowing, Ageha smiled and nodded. "Oishiidesune."

With a coy smile on her pursed lips, Aya winked to Ageha with her eye that was hidden from the sprites. "Oishi hai, buuut—it might be a little tart for such a sweet looking cake." That sentence looked like a jab to the white spire, whose face just flashed into an expression of despair. "Maybe someone put too much salt in the mixture," Aya continued looking down at her slice and toyed with her fork on the edge of the dish. "We might have to have another attempt at this later Shiro-chan, delivered to our rooms." The speechless sprite nodded and then went to zip off to her kitchen, only to be stopped with one of Yamasaki's hands, she couldn’t help but giggle a little. "It's not bad at all Shiro-chan, another masterpiece. I just have to do that, or you might get full of yourself, you know!" The sprite hung her head and let out a deep relieved sigh, and turned back to face Aya with a scowl. "Hey now, remember, you got to perfect your recipes—I'm still counting on you to make my wedding cake!" Shiro seemed pleased with that; the small Neko's mouth curved into a bright toothy smile, and then she nodded her head twice quickly. "Now if you don't mind, can we get a few more slices for later?" The sprite nodded another few times and then quickly disappeared to the kitchen. Aya giggled happily as she watched the white blur zip in through the swinging doors.

"Wedding cake?" the Santô Hei asked, curious. "I don't mean to pry Yamasaki-heisho—" she asked quietly, blushing a little at being so forward. "Eh, never mind," she said with a quiet, nervous laugh as she tried to play it off and stick another bite of cake into her maw.

"A girl has to have her dreams right? Life isn't all about being in the military, one day I'm going to get married and Shiro-chan is going to bake my cake. I have a whole scrap book of how I want my wedding to be... it's kind of a odd hobby I know, but I've always wanted to have a beautiful wedding someday." She blushed and pressed her face to her shoulder, her bangs bashfully hiding her face.

"Nn," the young communications technician replied. "You'll have to show it to me sometime, Yamasaki-heisho." She smiled and looked up at the ceiling as she took another bite of the sweet-tasting cake. "I've always wanted a small wedding, though, I don't have a very big family." She thought about it, sucking the remains of the cake off the fork, letting it hang from her mouth. "I guess, unless he came from a big family, then I'd want a larger wedding," the brunette said, taking the fork from her mouth to explain.

"Well, your family is one person bigger, you can count on Ane-chan to make things a little more lively. I'll take care of you as long as we're in the same crew!" She smiled at Ageha, just after finishing the last bite. "Let's go take that bath now, we'll be getting to the station any time now and I'm sure there's a thousand and one things you want to do—and if not, well you can borrow my list." She then got up and gestured for the younger ops to follow her out the door, then off the two went.

Nicholas had remained on the lift, sorry that its traffic was dying down—he really didn’t have any objections to being stuck behind a mass of crewmembers as long as it meant that he didn’t have to do any paperwork. But it was as it was, and he pressed in the order for the traveling compartment to take him to where he needed to go. At least the Geshrin had been given the opportunity to collect his thoughts on the battle, giving him a small amount of clarity to what he would write to Star Army Command. Even so, he wasn’t exactly sure what exactly had happened aboard the YSS Watcher.

Masako just waited on the lift, leaning up against the back wall with her arms crossed under her ample bust and sighed some, smiling a bit at Ageha and the ComOps officer as they got off. It was nice to see her making a friend, but she'd wait until the lift got up to the deck she wanted. "So... how're you feeling about that mission?" she asked Nick after a moment.

As the crowd in the elevator dispersed and the Shosa was finally in reach, Chikako took the opportunity get his attention. She tugged on the sweater component of the man's uniform and bowed as she began to speak, her voice curt and direct. "Shosa-sama. How is that man we pulled from the Watcher recovering?" She paused, eyes slightly downcast. Although her main intention had been to avoid seeming too direct when she grabbed him, this also had the rather convenient way of studying his lower body and how he filled the well-fitted uniform pants he donned. "His body was..."

“Ah… Sakiyurai-hei,” Nicholas said, diverting his attention to the former-Yamataian power armor pilot. “I’m—I’m not entirely sure what to feel. It was a success, but what all of you encountered aboard the Watcher is a mystery to me,” he told her as his attention was diverted to the Heisho with long black and red hair. “I have not checked, Ueda-heisho,” the Geshrin replied with a mark of confusion in his voice; he was not used to being touched. “I am sure he will be able to clear things up, however,” The man stood silent for a moment before awkwardly adding, “Thank you for what you did—both of you.” Saying things like that wasn’t exactly how he usually conducted matters, but he felt that it was something Shizuka would say, and her method of command seemed to be effective.

Masako blushed a bit as he thanked them for just doing their job and shook her head. "Hey, it's no big deal it's our job," she said, the pink color falling off her cheeks in an instant. "And we ran into strange... zombie armors," she said. "The armors were being controlled by something and the IES core was damaged beyond repair," she said, her brow furrowing.

A few people in the lift reacted with quiet gasps and silence as Masako mentioned zombie armor. The telepathic chatter in the lift however became alive and buzzed with activity. When the elevator opened up the next floor and a pair of Neko who exited began whispering something about it as the door closed behind them.

Noticing it, the buxom blonde Neko blinked. "Uh did i say something wrong?"

Nicholas regarded Masako as the rest of the lift gossiped amongst themselves, totally oblivious to the telepathic conversations happening around him. “I’d heard some reports of this over the communications feed,” he told her, “but your firsthand account will allow me to better prepare my report.” The Shosa gave a small bow in thanks to the information. “Shizu—Endo-taisa will be pleased to hear this information, I think.”

"I see... it's unfortunate, but I'm hopeful." Chikako replied, a touch of disappointment about the lack of news in her voice. Her cheeks reddened a little from his words of thanks; she continued, a small apologetic smile on her face. "Even if we're just living weapons, it's a waste to lose more comrades without even being able to find out why." She glanced at Masako and nodded, starting to move away for an instant. "..." She paused, and turned to make a small bow to Nick. "Arigatou, Shosa-sama. But please do not spoil me with compliments after failing a mission, again."

Feeling like she screwed up based on the way they were responding to her and hung her head for a moment and seemed to shrink back and fell silent.

“Your sisters will be replaced, Ueda-heisho,” Nicholas remarked, sounding like his usual officious and authoritarian self again. “They died for the Empire in glorious combat and there is no greater honor.” Without Shizuka there to scold him, the Geshrin believed what he said to be the highest condolence imaginable, even as the few Neko remaining in the lift narrowed their eyes or hid scowling faces at his words. He pulled at the lower edge of his uniform’s jacket, pulling it down flat as he stood up completely straight. “Is there anything else either of you need?” he asked, seeing that he would be able to exit soon. “I will be available in my office if any of you would like to give an extensive report.

Masako listened to what Nicholas said and shook her head. "I'm fine," she said. "It just bothers me a bit but there's nothing more that could be done, we did our best there," she said, trying to reassure herself and Chikako. But when she heard what he said about going to his office for an extensive report, she grinned and approached him from behind and pressed her boobs against his back and ran a finger down the long muscles in it. "Is that an invitation... Saiga-kun~?" she asked in a soft purr and smirked wickedly.

The doors opened for another group to exit on the lift, but with the power armor pilot flirting so heavily with the XO it looked like everyone wanted to see just how the Shosa was going to react to such a direct advancement.

"Boin-chan, that's a rather inappropriate thing to do on your superiors," Chikako barked at the far more buxom Neko, moving up to her and grabbing her by the scruff of her uniform. To her knowledge both her boisterous subordinate and herself were enlistees, but she supposed it wouldn't hurt not to correct the Shosa at the moment. It would be an unnecessary thing to do, and she imagined he had better things to do. "I'm sure Sai—Shosa-sama has better things to do than waste his time pleasuring an under stimulated subordinate."

Masako grinned wickedly and giggled, hiding her mouth behind a hand. "You're right... you're right," she admitted. "I just wanted to see how he'd react to it. And I'm not interested in him like that anyway," Masako said to the Heisho telepathically.

The Shosa stepped away from Masako immediately, turning to face her with a look of bewilderment, shock, and slight anger on his face. “Thank you, Ueda-heisho,” he stated, keeping his tone steady. “You are to address me as Saiga-shosa, Sakiyurai-hei, and nothing else,” he continued, backing away towards the open lift door. Chikako’s gentle tug at his uniform had been immediately noticeable, so what Masako had done sent a shockwave of reaction throughout his body. “D-don’t do that again!” the Geshrin commanded, stepping backwards out of the lift before quickly turning and making his way down the corridor. For the moment, he was more confused about this than he had been about the Watcher incident; he didn’t know whether to court-martial Masako or take her gesture as a compliment. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it, after all—it had just been a surprise.

"Yes, sir," Masako said as Nicholas fled the lift onto the floor he had to be on. "Well, I'm off to the baths for a soak, you wanna join me or you too busy Chikako-heisho?" she asked. "It'll help you relax," she said and pushed the button for her floor.

"It is my duty to keep erratic soldiers on a leash. Ar—arigatou, Shosa-sama," the Heisho replied before dragging Masako away. Under normal circumstances, she might have very well been put on a trial in the foreseeable future, but Chikako had somehow managed to avert disaster by reacting quickly enough. Or at least, this is what she hoped. "Yare yare daze, Boin-chan. That might as well have been sexual assault, given what he would have done if I hadn't pulled you away," she sent telepathically with a disquieted sigh. All sorts of sentences that began with “What sort of idiot?” were running in her head, but none of them were spoken or communicated. Instead, she glanced back and poked the buxom woman on the chest, in the space between her breasts. "Well... I do, a little. So onegai, don't do anything too weird or you'll ruin my chances," she continued, this time replying to the spoken question. "Mou, I suppose someone needs to keep you from raping another Geshrin or Yamataian male, so you got me."

Masako blinked, giving it a thought for a bit. Realizing that Chikako was right, she could've been in a lot of trouble for that. "Well, I didn't mean it like that I just wanted to tease him a little," she said and pouted some and blushed when she poked her in the chest. "H-hey, don't do that..." she said and stepped back, turning a brighter red. Masako couldn't help but chuckle at what she said about raping a Geshrin or Yamataian crewmate. "Uhm, actually... I wouldn't know the first way how to do that..." she admitted sheepishly.

"Well... you have to rub or taste his parts a little so they're hard when they're in you, and you'll probably have to do most of the once he's in the mo-" Chikako said quite plainly, only stopping because she realized that it would probably be horribly embarrassing for Masako to hear. "Mou, even if you don't know anything, you're clearly perverted enough to make me explain the wrong things, Boin-chan," she said in a blank deadpan, rather irritated that she'd even said something like that. Small lips formed into a mischievous grin and she lunged forward into the woman's chest, placing her hands on her ribs to tickle them, her mouth letting out a rather cruel giggle. "This is for making me have to watch over you, baka!"

Masako just turned a bright red at Chikako's explanation and made a gagging face. "Oh that's gross!" she yelped and tried to fight down her gag reflex at the thought of tasting in such a way. But when Chikako pounced, she squealed a bit and giggled as she was tickled. "No, no! Stop it!" she pleaded through her laughs. She'd squirm a bit and try to overpower Chikako and reverse the situation on her, putting her hand on the Heisho's sides and tried to tickle her in return.

"Fufufufufufufu~ it's only fair to do that, Boin-chan! But I won't hold back now!" Chikako giggled even more loudly, as her attacks on Masako's sides intensified. Smiling like a Cheshire Catgirl, the Heisho rolled around, almost gliding in the air as she used her gravity manipulation to maneuver out of her large-breasted target's grasp. Positioned behind her now, her attack would surely be most effective!

Masako continued to laugh, adjusting her gravitic field to float off the ground before trying to pull away from Chikako's attacks and ducked down under her arms, slipping away from her friend’s grasp. She spun around, her ankle length golden hair swirling around her to form a curtain as she did. "You are evil," she said, panting, trying to recover from being tickled like that. "I think you may be a little jealous," she said to Chikako, grinning a bit.

The Heisho floated over to Masako and wrapped her arm around the girl's neck as she dropped down, grinning brightly. "Evil would be grabbing those bags of fat on your chest, Boin-chan. I just did that to distract you a little..." Chikako answered with a dull chuckle, patting the blonde-haired Neko on the head. The entire tickling match had been rather unnecessary, but she figured that since Masako was so shameless, it wouldn't be such a serious matter if she was attacked like that. "Well... that bath would be nice, ne? Just be sure to grab some sake, or a nice Nepleslian vodka before we go in."

"Actually, it's not fat, it's mostly ductile tissue.," Masako said, blushing a bit as she explained it. "I've always had unusually large breasts, even as a Geshrin growing up," she explained as if it was nothing that important. The tickling match wasn't such a big deal to Masako in the end, in fact, it was rather enjoyable. "Doesn't drinking in a hot bath speed up the process of getting hammered?"

"Yes, but it doesn't matter as much now that your body is an NH-series replicant type. It'll be easy for Masako-chan to adjust just how drunk she wants to be, if she knows how to use her own body the right way," Chikako said with a playful grin, dropping her patting hand to give the woman's rounded buttocks a light tap. "Besides, I'll probably be doing silly things before you do. This body has less mass to absorb alcohol with, so I usually have to pace my drinking and maintain my hemosynthetics."

Masako crossed her arms, seeming unamused by the swat and rolled her eyes at it but gave her a cat smile to show she wasn't serious. "Great, shall I try to find something to pry you off the ceiling?" she joked mildly before stepping toward the door as the lift pulled to a stop at their floor. "Or should we hide the floor buffer?" The blonde Neko snerked loudly and started to laugh as she stepped off the lift into the corridor. "I have a funny story to tell you about that if you want to hear it."

"Eh? I'll probably fall asleep before that happens," Chikako said sheepishly, crossing her arms behind her back. "This body is, as I said before, light."

"Oh well. Let's get going then," Masako said and began to head off toward the baths humming to herself joyfully.

In her room, Sakaki was touching the braid in her hair in deep thought when suddenly she sneezed. What could this mean? she wondered. Then, she glanced toward her stuffed Tiger sitting proudly on her bed pillow. How can I fight with feelings like these, Shizuka-sama? Sakaki mentally asked the Tiger.

A Tiger has no fear, but a Lion has a pride... where have I heard that before? Sakaki suddenly remembered. While a fan of the Tsukihime novel, the quote she just thought of now came not from a samurai novel, but someone had said to her once.

“That may be true,” she said while holding the tiger over her while she was lying down on the bed. “The Tiger is one without fear and thus can be a fearsome opponent, Shizuka-sama is like a tiger, though...” She then sat up and moved the tiger toy next to the lion-like one, making a comparison. “We are Squad known as the Pride of the Senbu, we are Shizuka-sama's children to take the role of the lion when she is not able to fulfill that role. A tiger is strong, but not reliant on the offspring, it is forever strong.”

Masako, what animal would you be? Sakaki continued to contemplate. I had always wanted to be a tiger like my teacher before me, but here am I being adopted as a lion. I wonder what animal I used to be? She then drifted to sleep, her dream consisted of samurai, cats, and pizza for some reason.

Once he’d entered the office space that he shared with Shizuka, Nicholas sat down at his desk in a heap, relieved that he was safely away from any Nekovalkyrja. He was amazed that they carried such a design flaw—the apparent sexual appetite—that could extend itself to those who weren’t originally of their species as Masako was. For a moment, he spent time slumped down in his seat, relaxing as he spun it around slowly, until an indicator began to blink at his console. Ah, the Senbu has come back into communications range, he thought, activating his monitor to reveal the new mail waiting for him.

As he clicked through the documents, one in particular caught his eye, so much so that he sat up straight, leaning forward over his display. He opened it with haste, reading and re-reading what that particular communiqué had to say. In all, the Geshrin spent an entire ten minutes staring at the electronic letter. And then, without hesitation Shosa Nicholas Saiga smiled and deleted the document that was now committed to his memory.



END