Twins they are
darthcourt10
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Harry Leferts
Walking along, Akimi frowned a bit as she glanced around before tilting her head, "Hmm..."
That made Harry look over his shoulder at her and tilt her head, "Is something wrong, Akimi-Sensei?"
In reply, she chuckled a bit and wagged a finger, "Akimi-San, Harry-San. I am not one of your teachers yet after all." Akimi then frowned and gave another look around the ruins, "But... to answer your question, there is something feeling... off about this place." At his look, the Battleship shook her head, "Nothing truly bad, but it feels like it should be worse than it is."
Grimacing, Harry only gave shake of the head, "There... is very good reason for that actually. And it ties back quite a bit in regards to what happened when we found it."
Somewhat disturbed, Kokoro shuffled a bit closer to her older sister with Megumi putting an arm around her shoulder. The younger Nekomata then swallowed, "Why do I feel like I won't like what I hear?"
Not saying anything, the thirteen year old glanced first at Hana and then at Yamato. The older Battleship had her lips pressed thinly, but nodded just the same, "Hana-Chan can hear about this, Harry. After all, she knows a bit about... what happened, during the war."
Only nodding, Harry gave a sigh, "As I mentioned before, this place was built to build ships for both the non-magical navy and the small magical one. Near the end of the war, in the non-magical world, they shifted away production for Battleships and Heavy Cruisers towards either lighter warships, or Carriers. Part of it was that the facility here was to build heavier combatants for the war, especially due to the secrecy that surrounded it thanks to magic." Waiting for a moment for that to sink in, he continued, "But the issue was that even with the help of magic, there were issues with both manpower to build the ships and supplies themselves. The second was easy enough to solve as with alchemy, creating iron, or rather transmuting low grade ore into much higher grades or even pure iron, was not impossible. However, the first..."
Already knowing where this was going, the only Natural Born Yamato gave a nod even as she felt a bit sick, "Slave labour."
Slowly, Harry gave a nod, "Hai, though they took it to another level entirely using POWs from the war, especially non-magical ones." Glancing at Akimi, he took a deep breath, "There are certain dark potions that can do things like strip free will from someone. Reducing them to nothing more than robots made of flesh and bone rather than metal. In such a state, they continue to work, no matter that. They do not tire because they cannot feel such, they can break bones and the like and continue while ignoring such. And they have no complaints as to their treatment, you can stack them in small rooms for 'Rest periods' and they will not do anything. The perfect automatons... and even death does not necessarily free them as you can make them into inferi or something like the Voodo zombie and continue to work them as animated corpses. Both were used, though only the first was really done here."
Just staring at him, Akimi could feel only feel sick at what she was hearing as it was a perversion of magic. Yes, there was reports of such... but they were all 'Cleaned' of the more disturbing aspects and mostly shied away from. The sound of someone being sick made her turn to find Kokoro had rushed to a nearby bush and was puking and she was not the only one as Hana was right beside her. When she turned to Yamato, the larger Battleship shook her head, "We were disturbed by this, to say the least..." Turning to where Shinano was gently rubbing both Kokoro's back and Hana's, she sighed, "No matter how much we may have hated the Americans at the time, almost all of us and our crews feel such an... abomination... goes far beyond the pale and we can only hope that those responsible are currently in Jigoku."
Very slowly, Akimi nodded with a small voice, "Hai, I share that agreement."
Inside of her bridge, she could feel her grandfather shaking his head in pure dismay.
The lone wizard of the group waited until all of them had calmed themselves, "Well... as you can guess, that left something of an... imprint, here."
Scoffing, Karen growled a bit, "No shit." At the raised eyebrows, she winced, "Sorry, you don't deserve that, it's just..."
Rather then be angry, Harry just nodded, "I can understand, so don't worry about it. Perfectly understandable to be honest to be angry at this." Scratching his head, he glanced around, "Anyways... when we found this place again, there was a number of Yuurei around, both of the POWs as well as those who staffed this place. It goes without saying that neither group liked the other being here, or being here themselves in the case of the POWs."
Eyebrows furrowing, Izumi glanced at him, "But there's none here now? How?"
Glancing at the ships that they were approaching, he sighed a bit, "Well... we created purification Ofuda and placed them at places around the caldera before activating them-"
Shinano pointed at Harry with a small smile and a nod, "Harry-Chan placed ones in the depths of the ships using diving equipment. All of them."
Her eyebrow raising, Akimi gave Harry an intrigued glance, "You placed them deep within the ships and activated them properly?" At his nod, she smiled, "I would give you a very good grade on such a thing and it tells me quite a bit about the level of Onmyoudo that you are at."
Lightly blushing at the praise, Harry chuckled as he scratched at his cheeks, "Um, thank you." Clearing his throat and ignoring the amused glances, he gave a small shrug, "Right, so we placed them around the caldera and activated them, which eroded the bindings for the Yuurei until last summer they finally broke and all of them moved on." He then looked around, "They've been working for the past nearly two years, so..."
Considering that, the Kitsune Battleship nodded, "So they have continued to purify this place of the shadow lain over it. Makes quite a bit of sense, I suppose." She scratched her chin and hummed, "And I take it that part of the reason is so that we can summon the ships that were sunk here?"
Just turning to her, Harry gave a short nod, "That's right. And we're going to meet their partially manifested spirits."
That got him looks of surprise from those who did not know before they turned to look at the ships before them. For her part, Hana had recovered from her previous bout of sickness and swished some water around in her mouth before spitting it out, part of her imagining that those in charge of this place being in the way of her spit. Turning to the ships, she frowned in thought, "Um, Onee-Sama? Two of those look like Yamatos, but... smaller?"
Giving her a nod, Yamato chuckled, "Yes, those would be the B-65 Class of Cruiser. And they do resemble our hull while being smaller as they were built with only twelve inch guns..." A frown crossed her face briefly, "Though I do wonder if we shall see the fourteen inch gunned ones as they were a bit larger..." Considering that, the Battleship shook her head, "But yes, they do resemble us nonetheless and I suppose are... sort of cousins to us."
Hands behind her head, Hana grinned, "Okay, that is pretty cool."
With a chuckle, Harry shook his head before gesturing at the Carrier, "The Carrier is the Denryuu and is a G.15 class, based on Taihou-Oba." He hummed a bit, "There is also an Akashi class there that you can barely see named Mihara. There's also the I-353, a Tanker Submarine in the Caldera along with a Food Ship of the Irako class named the Kasumi."
A little surprised, Mami stared at him before becoming thoughtful, "Huh, so that gives you... what? Five ships to be summoned tomorrow?"
Much to her confusion though, the wizard shook his head, "At the least to be honest. We're hoping for more to come through when we do so." With a shrug, Harry smiled as they walked right next to the flooded drydocks where the ships were now laying. The sight of which the newly awoken Natural Borns found disturbing for some reason. But then, Harry's smile became a grin as he waved in the direction of the ships and called out, "HEY EVERYONE!"
The eyes of the Natural Born all widened as sparkles formed on the ships followed by transparent forms of the shipgirls. One of them, with pink hair in a page boy style and a uniform like those of the Yamato Sisters, but black with red highlights grinned back and waved, "AH! HARRY-CHAN! YOU CAME!"
Grinning, Harry gave a shrug up to her, "Of course I did, Miitake-Chan. After all, I did promise to do so, didn't I?"
Rapidly nodding, Miitake bounced a bit on her hull, "You did and you always keep your promises." Then, she grinned and gestured for him to come to her, "Now come here right now because I must cuddle you!"
Her sister, whose hair reached down to her back, just facepalmed to the amusement of those looking on, "Could you please calm down, Miitake-Chan? For me?" But she was just ignored as Miitake went on about how much she could not wait to be summoned to cuddle Harry, who snickered a bit, 'Why do I even ask...?'
Taking some pity on her, Harry smiled over at her, "It's okay, Ishikari-Chan. You know how she gets."
With a sigh, Ishikari pulled her hands away from her face and gave him a smile, "I suppose that is true..."
Now looking between them, Miitake huffed a bit and crossed her arms over her chest, "What is that supposed to mean!?"
Grumbles though escaped her as both her sister and Harry ignored her.
Elsewhere in the caldera, Miu smiled a bit as her and her aunts arrived at where the two Hitobashira had been leading her. Seeing the small monument, she gave a small nod, "So this is where...?"
Both spirits nodded at that, "Where we are buried? Hai, this is where our earthly remains are."
Sitting on the bench, Sakura patted the spot between her and Ume, "Come, sit with us for a time. We wish to get to know our neice a bit better..." A small giggle escaped from her as Miu sat down, "I will admit, neither of us expected for the Carrier Eisōhō would be our niece."
Lips twitching, Miu chuckled a bit as she sat down in the suggested spot, "Neither did anyone else. Otou-San as well as Kaa-San and Okaa-San were surprised by it. But they are also proud of that fact as well." Giving a small shrug, she smiled, "Though I am also proud to be such... though the name doesn't really fit me."
More than a little amused, Ume shook her head, "Being a Crane hanyou, no, I suppose being named 'Nesting Pheonix' does not fit. But then, that was the name that the Kamo Government chose." Almost as one, she rolled her eyes with her sister, "After all, they used your hull and named it such to proclaim that like the pheonix, a new Japan would arise from the ashes of the old one, free of foreign influence."
That brought a grimace to the Hanyou, "Hai, though considering things..." All three lapsed into silence before she gave a small huff and looked from one of her aunts to the other. Scratching her chin, she hummed a bit before she remembered something her father had told her. With a slight smirk, she looked towards their monument, "So, from what Otou-San told me, Harry-San created this place for you?"
On both spirits' faces was a light blush as they nodded, "Hai, Harry-Chan built this place specifically for us. To honour us for what happened."
Slowly nodding, Miu hummed, "I see, I see..." Looking at them, she grinned, "You both like him, don't you?"
At that, their blushes deepened and they shyly looked away, "Is it that obvious?"
Now highly amused at their reactions, Miu chuckled, "Well, only to those who are looking for such. And I have been alive for almost forty years plus however long I was a ship for." Waving a hand, she continued, "But it is obvious that the two of you care deeply for him."
With a soft sigh, Sakura looked at the blossoming trees on either side of her and her sister's grave, "Hai, we do." Holding out a hand, she watched one of the falling petals fall through it, though it slowed as it encountered the 'flesh' of her hand, "Harry-Chan is... special, to us."
On their niece's opposite side, Ume nodded, "Very special." Looking at her namesake tree, she smiled softly, "While we know that it was impossible, even if he was alive then, if we met Harry-Chan when we were alive? We... would not mind having become his wives at that time."
Eyebrow raised, the Carrier looked between them, "Doesn't it bother you that he has a number of girls after him?" The two Hitobashira shared a look and began to giggle to her confusion, "Um, was it something that I said?"
Shaking their heads, the twins shared a look before giggling. Then, Sakura spoke for them both, "No, it was not something that you said rather than the subject matter. Being as Ume-Chan and I were identical twin sisters, we were raised by Haha-ue and Chichi-ue with the expectation that we would be married off to the same man. Even when it turned out that we barely had any magic, the only difference was that we would likely both become concubines to the same man." At the look from Miu, they shrugged with Sakura shaking her head, "Our family was traditional, and it was not such an odd thing in those times."
Just grimacing, Miu glared at nothing in particular, "That does not make it right."
The twins smiled at that with Ume patting her niece's hand, "That makes us even more proud of our Otouto that you think in such a way." Seeing the blush, her smile widened a bit, "Still it would not, and does not, bother us too much. Besides... our Otouto and your parents are of a marraige with two wives, are they not?"
With a sigh, the shipgirl shook her head, "I think that is a bit different. I mean, while Okaa-San was an arranged marriage, she was not trained to be such. And Kaa-San, well, she married them out of love, not duty."
Simply giving a shrug, Ume shook her head, "And in Harry-Chan's case, we would consider such a thing as being the first; love." She turned her head in, unknown to Miu, Harry's direction, "We did not meet many boys our age while growing up before our deaths. In fact, I suspected that we were to be married off to an older man, if any. The few that we did meet... did not impress us."
It was then that Sakura took over, "Harry-Chan, meanwhile, blows them and any potential suitor out of the water. He is not just intelligent and... rather handsome." That last bit caused the blush on hers and Ume's faces to come back with a vengence as they remembered several things, "But there is more to it than that. He is a kind man and very loyal to those he cares for, which we are honoured to be counted as being among. But he is also brave, understanding, and above all, honourable in a way that those we knew could not match. You can tell that he would stand for what is right rather than what is easy. And that he would walk into Jigoku if it meant rescuing someone he cared for and bringing them back out. Truly, there are few that we believe could match him."
Giggles then escaped from her sister, who shook her head, "As to the others circling him... they are almost all Kami, are they not? And that says much about him as a prospective husband. Besides which..." More giggles escaped her, "It is not like Harry-Chan would be like Ienari Tokugawa with women, nor would he allow for such things as happened in the Ōoku to occur, nor would the others. Thus, it would not be... disagreeable, if it could have happened. And we would be glad to have had him as the Otou-San to any children we might have had."
A sigh escaped from her sister as she slowly shook her head, "But, it is not possible, much to our sadness." She then smiled a bit, "Yet, just the same, we are happy to be friends with him. That, more than anything, is enough for us."
Not saying anything, Miu simply hugged her aunts as they sadly smiled.
______________________________________________________
The others having left, Harry was the only one besides the Twins on the island and the three were walking along as. Here and there, as they walked, the teen wizard would reach into his backpack and pull out boxes of items which he placed down. Looking around them, the teenage wizard smiled softly, "The atmosphere certainly does feel a lot lighter, Ume-Chan, Sakura-Chan. Not nearly as..."
As he motioned with one hand, the two spirits nodded in agreement, "Hai, it is much better now."
Ume then gave a look around herself, "Things are much, much more peaceful now that most of the darkness has lifted." Shaking her head, she gave a sigh, "There will always be a stain here, but... it is far less than it had been and will fade with time."
Hands in his pockets, Harry simply hummed. Glancing at first Ume, then Sakura, he scratched his head, "What do the two of you think about tomorrow? And what is going to happen?"
Much to his slight amusement, the Twins were perfectly mirrored as they cocked their heads to the side at the same time in the same movement. Sakura slowly nodded as she smiled, "We are actually happy to see it happen, Harry-Chan. None of the shipgirls here deserve to be imprisoned here as they are. And we know that they will be able to help defend Japan against her enemies and do so well." Lips twitching, she shook her head and turned her head, "Thus, we are happy to see it happen."
Eyebrow raised, Harry frowned at her, "And the fact that it would leave you alone here does not bother you?"
For several moments, neither twin spoke, but then Ume looked at him, "They are good friends, Harry-Chan. And you are wrong..." Reaching over, she took his hand in hers as on his other side, Sakura did the same, "We are only alone in the sense that we would spend time here. Is one alone when they live in a house and have friends visit? We do not think so. And you, and the shipgirls who come to visit, they mean that we are not alone."
Still frowning, the wizard gave a look to both of them that they could not decipher. Then his lips quirked into an odd sort of smile, "I see." Head tilted to the side, Harry chuckled some, "Well, there is one last thing that needs to be done before the summoning tomorrow..."
Confused, but also intrigued, the Twins blinked. A few minutes found them by two large generators. They were not the size of the ones that were used to show them Haruna's and Rose's wedding, but it was still a good size. Frowning, Ume turned to him, "Harry-Chan? Why is there a generator here?"
In reply, Harry pointed at the cords that snaked away from the generator and to an odd pole, "Well... it is to help. See that lightning rod?" Looking at it, the Twins nodded, "There's a spell on it that transforms lightning into magic. It is supposed to be used to boost wards, but without any attached wards, it simply spews magic into the environment. One of the ideas is to run the generators all night and until the ceremony and it will feed electricity into the spell which will then..."
Understanding bloomed on their faces, "Become magic, filling up the area." A thoughtful look on their faces, they nodded, "Yes, we can see how that would work. But will it not run out of fuel at some point?"
Only shaking his head, Harry pointed at the barrels nearby, "Those are for them and they can just be pumped. There should be enough for all night, but even if they run out, it is not a big issue as long as the generators work for as long as possible."
Giving each other looks, the Twins smiled before bowing to him, "Then allow for us to do so, Harry-Chan." Seeing him open his mouth, they shook their heads, "No, thus far we have done little in regards to our friends and to help free them. Let us do this much for them at least."
With a sigh, Harry shook his head before pulling the two into a hug which they returned, "Fine." After nearly a minute, he pulled back and chewed his lip, "Ume-Chan? Sakura-Chan? Both of you trust me, do you not?"
Confused at where this was coming from, Sakura answered for the both of them, "Of course we do, Harry-Chan. We trust you completely."
There was a far off look on Harry's face as he sighed and nodded, "I know, but tomorrow... you're going to have to trust me."
Still confused, the two simply nodded.
Walking along, Akimi frowned a bit as she glanced around before tilting her head, "Hmm..."
That made Harry look over his shoulder at her and tilt her head, "Is something wrong, Akimi-Sensei?"
In reply, she chuckled a bit and wagged a finger, "Akimi-San, Harry-San. I am not one of your teachers yet after all." Akimi then frowned and gave another look around the ruins, "But... to answer your question, there is something feeling... off about this place." At his look, the Battleship shook her head, "Nothing truly bad, but it feels like it should be worse than it is."
Grimacing, Harry only gave shake of the head, "There... is very good reason for that actually. And it ties back quite a bit in regards to what happened when we found it."
Somewhat disturbed, Kokoro shuffled a bit closer to her older sister with Megumi putting an arm around her shoulder. The younger Nekomata then swallowed, "Why do I feel like I won't like what I hear?"
Not saying anything, the thirteen year old glanced first at Hana and then at Yamato. The older Battleship had her lips pressed thinly, but nodded just the same, "Hana-Chan can hear about this, Harry. After all, she knows a bit about... what happened, during the war."
Only nodding, Harry gave a sigh, "As I mentioned before, this place was built to build ships for both the non-magical navy and the small magical one. Near the end of the war, in the non-magical world, they shifted away production for Battleships and Heavy Cruisers towards either lighter warships, or Carriers. Part of it was that the facility here was to build heavier combatants for the war, especially due to the secrecy that surrounded it thanks to magic." Waiting for a moment for that to sink in, he continued, "But the issue was that even with the help of magic, there were issues with both manpower to build the ships and supplies themselves. The second was easy enough to solve as with alchemy, creating iron, or rather transmuting low grade ore into much higher grades or even pure iron, was not impossible. However, the first..."
Already knowing where this was going, the only Natural Born Yamato gave a nod even as she felt a bit sick, "Slave labour."
Slowly, Harry gave a nod, "Hai, though they took it to another level entirely using POWs from the war, especially non-magical ones." Glancing at Akimi, he took a deep breath, "There are certain dark potions that can do things like strip free will from someone. Reducing them to nothing more than robots made of flesh and bone rather than metal. In such a state, they continue to work, no matter that. They do not tire because they cannot feel such, they can break bones and the like and continue while ignoring such. And they have no complaints as to their treatment, you can stack them in small rooms for 'Rest periods' and they will not do anything. The perfect automatons... and even death does not necessarily free them as you can make them into inferi or something like the Voodo zombie and continue to work them as animated corpses. Both were used, though only the first was really done here."
Just staring at him, Akimi could feel only feel sick at what she was hearing as it was a perversion of magic. Yes, there was reports of such... but they were all 'Cleaned' of the more disturbing aspects and mostly shied away from. The sound of someone being sick made her turn to find Kokoro had rushed to a nearby bush and was puking and she was not the only one as Hana was right beside her. When she turned to Yamato, the larger Battleship shook her head, "We were disturbed by this, to say the least..." Turning to where Shinano was gently rubbing both Kokoro's back and Hana's, she sighed, "No matter how much we may have hated the Americans at the time, almost all of us and our crews feel such an... abomination... goes far beyond the pale and we can only hope that those responsible are currently in Jigoku."
Very slowly, Akimi nodded with a small voice, "Hai, I share that agreement."
Inside of her bridge, she could feel her grandfather shaking his head in pure dismay.
The lone wizard of the group waited until all of them had calmed themselves, "Well... as you can guess, that left something of an... imprint, here."
Scoffing, Karen growled a bit, "No shit." At the raised eyebrows, she winced, "Sorry, you don't deserve that, it's just..."
Rather then be angry, Harry just nodded, "I can understand, so don't worry about it. Perfectly understandable to be honest to be angry at this." Scratching his head, he glanced around, "Anyways... when we found this place again, there was a number of Yuurei around, both of the POWs as well as those who staffed this place. It goes without saying that neither group liked the other being here, or being here themselves in the case of the POWs."
Eyebrows furrowing, Izumi glanced at him, "But there's none here now? How?"
Glancing at the ships that they were approaching, he sighed a bit, "Well... we created purification Ofuda and placed them at places around the caldera before activating them-"
Shinano pointed at Harry with a small smile and a nod, "Harry-Chan placed ones in the depths of the ships using diving equipment. All of them."
Her eyebrow raising, Akimi gave Harry an intrigued glance, "You placed them deep within the ships and activated them properly?" At his nod, she smiled, "I would give you a very good grade on such a thing and it tells me quite a bit about the level of Onmyoudo that you are at."
Lightly blushing at the praise, Harry chuckled as he scratched at his cheeks, "Um, thank you." Clearing his throat and ignoring the amused glances, he gave a small shrug, "Right, so we placed them around the caldera and activated them, which eroded the bindings for the Yuurei until last summer they finally broke and all of them moved on." He then looked around, "They've been working for the past nearly two years, so..."
Considering that, the Kitsune Battleship nodded, "So they have continued to purify this place of the shadow lain over it. Makes quite a bit of sense, I suppose." She scratched her chin and hummed, "And I take it that part of the reason is so that we can summon the ships that were sunk here?"
Just turning to her, Harry gave a short nod, "That's right. And we're going to meet their partially manifested spirits."
That got him looks of surprise from those who did not know before they turned to look at the ships before them. For her part, Hana had recovered from her previous bout of sickness and swished some water around in her mouth before spitting it out, part of her imagining that those in charge of this place being in the way of her spit. Turning to the ships, she frowned in thought, "Um, Onee-Sama? Two of those look like Yamatos, but... smaller?"
Giving her a nod, Yamato chuckled, "Yes, those would be the B-65 Class of Cruiser. And they do resemble our hull while being smaller as they were built with only twelve inch guns..." A frown crossed her face briefly, "Though I do wonder if we shall see the fourteen inch gunned ones as they were a bit larger..." Considering that, the Battleship shook her head, "But yes, they do resemble us nonetheless and I suppose are... sort of cousins to us."
Hands behind her head, Hana grinned, "Okay, that is pretty cool."
With a chuckle, Harry shook his head before gesturing at the Carrier, "The Carrier is the Denryuu and is a G.15 class, based on Taihou-Oba." He hummed a bit, "There is also an Akashi class there that you can barely see named Mihara. There's also the I-353, a Tanker Submarine in the Caldera along with a Food Ship of the Irako class named the Kasumi."
A little surprised, Mami stared at him before becoming thoughtful, "Huh, so that gives you... what? Five ships to be summoned tomorrow?"
Much to her confusion though, the wizard shook his head, "At the least to be honest. We're hoping for more to come through when we do so." With a shrug, Harry smiled as they walked right next to the flooded drydocks where the ships were now laying. The sight of which the newly awoken Natural Borns found disturbing for some reason. But then, Harry's smile became a grin as he waved in the direction of the ships and called out, "HEY EVERYONE!"
The eyes of the Natural Born all widened as sparkles formed on the ships followed by transparent forms of the shipgirls. One of them, with pink hair in a page boy style and a uniform like those of the Yamato Sisters, but black with red highlights grinned back and waved, "AH! HARRY-CHAN! YOU CAME!"
Grinning, Harry gave a shrug up to her, "Of course I did, Miitake-Chan. After all, I did promise to do so, didn't I?"
Rapidly nodding, Miitake bounced a bit on her hull, "You did and you always keep your promises." Then, she grinned and gestured for him to come to her, "Now come here right now because I must cuddle you!"
Her sister, whose hair reached down to her back, just facepalmed to the amusement of those looking on, "Could you please calm down, Miitake-Chan? For me?" But she was just ignored as Miitake went on about how much she could not wait to be summoned to cuddle Harry, who snickered a bit, 'Why do I even ask...?'
Taking some pity on her, Harry smiled over at her, "It's okay, Ishikari-Chan. You know how she gets."
With a sigh, Ishikari pulled her hands away from her face and gave him a smile, "I suppose that is true..."
Now looking between them, Miitake huffed a bit and crossed her arms over her chest, "What is that supposed to mean!?"
Grumbles though escaped her as both her sister and Harry ignored her.
Elsewhere in the caldera, Miu smiled a bit as her and her aunts arrived at where the two Hitobashira had been leading her. Seeing the small monument, she gave a small nod, "So this is where...?"
Both spirits nodded at that, "Where we are buried? Hai, this is where our earthly remains are."
Sitting on the bench, Sakura patted the spot between her and Ume, "Come, sit with us for a time. We wish to get to know our neice a bit better..." A small giggle escaped from her as Miu sat down, "I will admit, neither of us expected for the Carrier Eisōhō would be our niece."
Lips twitching, Miu chuckled a bit as she sat down in the suggested spot, "Neither did anyone else. Otou-San as well as Kaa-San and Okaa-San were surprised by it. But they are also proud of that fact as well." Giving a small shrug, she smiled, "Though I am also proud to be such... though the name doesn't really fit me."
More than a little amused, Ume shook her head, "Being a Crane hanyou, no, I suppose being named 'Nesting Pheonix' does not fit. But then, that was the name that the Kamo Government chose." Almost as one, she rolled her eyes with her sister, "After all, they used your hull and named it such to proclaim that like the pheonix, a new Japan would arise from the ashes of the old one, free of foreign influence."
That brought a grimace to the Hanyou, "Hai, though considering things..." All three lapsed into silence before she gave a small huff and looked from one of her aunts to the other. Scratching her chin, she hummed a bit before she remembered something her father had told her. With a slight smirk, she looked towards their monument, "So, from what Otou-San told me, Harry-San created this place for you?"
On both spirits' faces was a light blush as they nodded, "Hai, Harry-Chan built this place specifically for us. To honour us for what happened."
Slowly nodding, Miu hummed, "I see, I see..." Looking at them, she grinned, "You both like him, don't you?"
At that, their blushes deepened and they shyly looked away, "Is it that obvious?"
Now highly amused at their reactions, Miu chuckled, "Well, only to those who are looking for such. And I have been alive for almost forty years plus however long I was a ship for." Waving a hand, she continued, "But it is obvious that the two of you care deeply for him."
With a soft sigh, Sakura looked at the blossoming trees on either side of her and her sister's grave, "Hai, we do." Holding out a hand, she watched one of the falling petals fall through it, though it slowed as it encountered the 'flesh' of her hand, "Harry-Chan is... special, to us."
On their niece's opposite side, Ume nodded, "Very special." Looking at her namesake tree, she smiled softly, "While we know that it was impossible, even if he was alive then, if we met Harry-Chan when we were alive? We... would not mind having become his wives at that time."
Eyebrow raised, the Carrier looked between them, "Doesn't it bother you that he has a number of girls after him?" The two Hitobashira shared a look and began to giggle to her confusion, "Um, was it something that I said?"
Shaking their heads, the twins shared a look before giggling. Then, Sakura spoke for them both, "No, it was not something that you said rather than the subject matter. Being as Ume-Chan and I were identical twin sisters, we were raised by Haha-ue and Chichi-ue with the expectation that we would be married off to the same man. Even when it turned out that we barely had any magic, the only difference was that we would likely both become concubines to the same man." At the look from Miu, they shrugged with Sakura shaking her head, "Our family was traditional, and it was not such an odd thing in those times."
Just grimacing, Miu glared at nothing in particular, "That does not make it right."
The twins smiled at that with Ume patting her niece's hand, "That makes us even more proud of our Otouto that you think in such a way." Seeing the blush, her smile widened a bit, "Still it would not, and does not, bother us too much. Besides... our Otouto and your parents are of a marraige with two wives, are they not?"
With a sigh, the shipgirl shook her head, "I think that is a bit different. I mean, while Okaa-San was an arranged marriage, she was not trained to be such. And Kaa-San, well, she married them out of love, not duty."
Simply giving a shrug, Ume shook her head, "And in Harry-Chan's case, we would consider such a thing as being the first; love." She turned her head in, unknown to Miu, Harry's direction, "We did not meet many boys our age while growing up before our deaths. In fact, I suspected that we were to be married off to an older man, if any. The few that we did meet... did not impress us."
It was then that Sakura took over, "Harry-Chan, meanwhile, blows them and any potential suitor out of the water. He is not just intelligent and... rather handsome." That last bit caused the blush on hers and Ume's faces to come back with a vengence as they remembered several things, "But there is more to it than that. He is a kind man and very loyal to those he cares for, which we are honoured to be counted as being among. But he is also brave, understanding, and above all, honourable in a way that those we knew could not match. You can tell that he would stand for what is right rather than what is easy. And that he would walk into Jigoku if it meant rescuing someone he cared for and bringing them back out. Truly, there are few that we believe could match him."
Giggles then escaped from her sister, who shook her head, "As to the others circling him... they are almost all Kami, are they not? And that says much about him as a prospective husband. Besides which..." More giggles escaped her, "It is not like Harry-Chan would be like Ienari Tokugawa with women, nor would he allow for such things as happened in the Ōoku to occur, nor would the others. Thus, it would not be... disagreeable, if it could have happened. And we would be glad to have had him as the Otou-San to any children we might have had."
A sigh escaped from her sister as she slowly shook her head, "But, it is not possible, much to our sadness." She then smiled a bit, "Yet, just the same, we are happy to be friends with him. That, more than anything, is enough for us."
Not saying anything, Miu simply hugged her aunts as they sadly smiled.
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The others having left, Harry was the only one besides the Twins on the island and the three were walking along as. Here and there, as they walked, the teen wizard would reach into his backpack and pull out boxes of items which he placed down. Looking around them, the teenage wizard smiled softly, "The atmosphere certainly does feel a lot lighter, Ume-Chan, Sakura-Chan. Not nearly as..."
As he motioned with one hand, the two spirits nodded in agreement, "Hai, it is much better now."
Ume then gave a look around herself, "Things are much, much more peaceful now that most of the darkness has lifted." Shaking her head, she gave a sigh, "There will always be a stain here, but... it is far less than it had been and will fade with time."
Hands in his pockets, Harry simply hummed. Glancing at first Ume, then Sakura, he scratched his head, "What do the two of you think about tomorrow? And what is going to happen?"
Much to his slight amusement, the Twins were perfectly mirrored as they cocked their heads to the side at the same time in the same movement. Sakura slowly nodded as she smiled, "We are actually happy to see it happen, Harry-Chan. None of the shipgirls here deserve to be imprisoned here as they are. And we know that they will be able to help defend Japan against her enemies and do so well." Lips twitching, she shook her head and turned her head, "Thus, we are happy to see it happen."
Eyebrow raised, Harry frowned at her, "And the fact that it would leave you alone here does not bother you?"
For several moments, neither twin spoke, but then Ume looked at him, "They are good friends, Harry-Chan. And you are wrong..." Reaching over, she took his hand in hers as on his other side, Sakura did the same, "We are only alone in the sense that we would spend time here. Is one alone when they live in a house and have friends visit? We do not think so. And you, and the shipgirls who come to visit, they mean that we are not alone."
Still frowning, the wizard gave a look to both of them that they could not decipher. Then his lips quirked into an odd sort of smile, "I see." Head tilted to the side, Harry chuckled some, "Well, there is one last thing that needs to be done before the summoning tomorrow..."
Confused, but also intrigued, the Twins blinked. A few minutes found them by two large generators. They were not the size of the ones that were used to show them Haruna's and Rose's wedding, but it was still a good size. Frowning, Ume turned to him, "Harry-Chan? Why is there a generator here?"
In reply, Harry pointed at the cords that snaked away from the generator and to an odd pole, "Well... it is to help. See that lightning rod?" Looking at it, the Twins nodded, "There's a spell on it that transforms lightning into magic. It is supposed to be used to boost wards, but without any attached wards, it simply spews magic into the environment. One of the ideas is to run the generators all night and until the ceremony and it will feed electricity into the spell which will then..."
Understanding bloomed on their faces, "Become magic, filling up the area." A thoughtful look on their faces, they nodded, "Yes, we can see how that would work. But will it not run out of fuel at some point?"
Only shaking his head, Harry pointed at the barrels nearby, "Those are for them and they can just be pumped. There should be enough for all night, but even if they run out, it is not a big issue as long as the generators work for as long as possible."
Giving each other looks, the Twins smiled before bowing to him, "Then allow for us to do so, Harry-Chan." Seeing him open his mouth, they shook their heads, "No, thus far we have done little in regards to our friends and to help free them. Let us do this much for them at least."
With a sigh, Harry shook his head before pulling the two into a hug which they returned, "Fine." After nearly a minute, he pulled back and chewed his lip, "Ume-Chan? Sakura-Chan? Both of you trust me, do you not?"
Confused at where this was coming from, Sakura answered for the both of them, "Of course we do, Harry-Chan. We trust you completely."
There was a far off look on Harry's face as he sighed and nodded, "I know, but tomorrow... you're going to have to trust me."
Still confused, the two simply nodded.