Azusa

Azusa

By the time any trace of Yosho, who had left in pursuit of Ryoko, was gone, the Imperial Family connected to a conference call through the network of Royal Trees. The topic was the report submitted by Tatsua, the commander at the time of the attack.

“What a disgrace! The main forces may have been absent, but allowing a single pirate vessel into the home world, even damaging Tenju! Yosho- dono let her escape, and now both are missing. This is unprecedented in the entire history of Jurai. How will you take responsibility?!” Shuzan spat, his words fast and furious. He had conveniently arrived two hours after Ryoko left Jurai. He actually seemed to be smiling. Shuzan was unable to accept the facts put forward in Tatsua’s report. To accept them would mean Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki were not mere pirates. What he needed to do was to transform this meeting into a forum for pinning liability on House Masaki for this deplorable affair.

“They were no mere pirates,” said Tatsua, infuriated by Shuzan’s outburst. “That wasn’t a case of illegal modifications on refurbished military vessels. And they knew what they were doing, coming after the Royal Trees. They were clearly backed by a large organization, be it the pirates’ guild or another nation!”

“Hmph! I’m saying there are problems in the data in this report. It was Ayeka-dono’s ship going out of control that allowed entry into Tenju to begin with!”

“It’s indisputable that they had the power to make a raid on the home world!”

“The existence of such power is unthinkable! Who could develop such a thing? The most likely is the Galaxy Academy… But they would never attack Jurai. If they could, those philosophers would’ve smugly published it already!”

While Tatsua and Shuzan’s exchange of opinions (which is to say, quarrel) continued, Emperor Azusa and Utsutsumi, the head of House Kamiki, silently observed the state of things. Utsutsumi, with his instincts as a self-made soldier, knew that this report was correct. He wanted to stop Shuzan’s absurd accusations, but his particular feelings towards Azusa and Funaho stayed his hand. This is a job for the Emperor of Jurai. If he cannot even get this under control, it’s better for Jurai if he’d just hand the title over to someone else.

Sensing Utsutsumi’s feelings, Azusa interrupted Shuzan and Tatsua. “Enough!”

“But!” Shuzan objected.

“That ship—Ryo-Ohki—is no ordinary ship.” He told them how he once fought Ryo-Ohki, back in the day. Even so, Shuzan and his henchmen continued to dispute Ryoko’s powers.

It was Misaki who eventually lost her patience. This man is a blockhead for not knowing the true powers of a First Generation Tree. She started to yell, “You are…”

Seto’s carefully controlled voice broke in and quelled Misaki’s rant. “How unfortunate. If only Shuzan-dono had been on Jurai at the time, he wouldn’t have allowed this mere pirate to create such havoc. Isn’t that right? He said his comm was jammed. Even though he was closer than Yosho-dono. It’s too bad!” Each word dripped with sarcasm. She would generally never neglect Utsutsumi, but she was also fed up with this.

Shuzan realized that the tide was about to turn against him and hastily winked at one of his henchmen, who equally hastily changed the subject, “We can argue about responsibility at the inquiry. For now, correctly assessing the situation should come first…”

In exchange for disregarding the suspicion that he purposefully delayed his arrival on Jurai, they dismissed House Masaki’s responsibility for the failures in defense. After the transmission was over, Shuzan vented his anger on his own bridge, but once “demon princess” Seto stated her case, pursuing it further would only backfire. He had no choice but to give up.

The final decision left Jurai’s current defenses to Shuzan, and the others continued their voyages. This was so that other countries would not be alerted to the attack because of their rushing home. They also had the opportunity to gather information abroad. This event was reported internationally as a training exercise for defense of the home world. The damage was too great for anyone to believe it was just a training exercise, but at word that Seto had been the sponsor, everyone understood.

The official meeting now over, on board the Jurai Emperor’s ship were Azusa, Funaho, Misaki, and through the First Generation Tree special channel, a visual of Seto. With these four, the true Jurai Supreme Council could begin.

“You dummy!” That was Seto, referring to her daughter’s careless actions in the council.

“I’m sorry, Mother. I’m sorry, Oneesama,” Misaki said in a pitiful voice, her head hung low. Laying it out to Shuzan meant he would not do anything to Misaki, out of fear towards Seto, but he would turn his resultant discontent towards Funaho. That was what she was mad about.

“It’s all right, Misaki-chan. It made me happy.”

“I’m sorry,” Azusa apologized, and Funaho smiled her understanding. With the Emperor of Jurai and the power of a First Generation ship, it would be easy to remove Shuzan. But the Emperor was not a dictator and existed to protect his family. And no matter how problematic he was, Shuzan was still family.

“Shuzan and my husband sure take peace for granted, not appreciating the Emperor with his First Generation Tree,” Seto sighed.

“Let us get to the point, Seto-dono.”

“All right.” Seto relayed her data to each monitor. “Tatsua-dono rightly had calm, objective judgment. My analysis of the situation reached the same conclusions.”

“So Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki had powers superior to even a First Generation ship… Seto-dono, do you think they’re related to Tsunami in some way?”

“Aw, that was supposed to be the highlight of my report!” Seto pouted as Azusa hit the nail on the head. Like mother, like daughter.

With a sigh, Azusa continued, “I was concerned by the fact that all the Third Generation ships on Jurai hesitated to attack, and the Fourth Generation ships that basically have no will were also slightly slower to react. When I battled Ryo-Ohki, I too felt a slight delay in reaction speed. I was injured at the time, and I had assumed it was due to the slower transmission, so I hadn’t included it in my report to Seto-dono. If even First Generation ships hesitate to attack, there’s nobody else but Tsunami… Well, I’m sure Seto-dono has more surprises up her sleeve. Otherwise she wouldn’t put in a call for a meeting of the Supreme Council.”

“Azusa-chan, you’re getting more boring,” grumbled Seto morosely. “Actually…I’ve been studying Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki ever since I received Azusa-dono’s report. Ryoko wasn’t as famous on Jurai, where we’re protected by our powerful ships powered by the Royal Trees, but she posed quite a threat in other star systems.”

“I’m not surprised, with that power.”

“And another thing. She specialized in robbing artifacts from ancient ruins and seizing information from ruins of pre-historical civilizations. There is little of that within Jurai territories, another reason why Ryoko wasn’t very well known. To get straight to the point, she wasn’t sent by some country or organization.”

“Then Kagato is also unaffiliated.”

“Are you saying an individual built that?”

“There’s more. The profile of Kagato only went back 5,000 years.

Nothing is known about him before he showed up on the most wanted list. But that was the biggest problem.”

“What had he done?”

“He annihilated an entire brigade of some idiots from a certain major country who were poaching on a planet designated as a special protection reserve. By himself.” Azusa was at a loss for words, as this was a fairly famous incident in inner circles. “The important thing is, there was someone else on that planet there for conservation research. Who do you think it was?” Seto asked happily.

“Mother.” Misaki immediately pointed to Seto. It was a joke, implying Seto could be involved in such an extreme incident.

“That person…” Seto, Funaho, and Azusa huddled to talk. Beside them was Misaki, crying with a lump on her head from Seto. “…was Hakubi

Washu.”

Funaho’s eyes were round in astonishment. “Washu?! You mean the founder of the Galaxy Academy? That… eccentric?”

“You mean back when it was Jurai’s Imperial Academy,” said Azusa. “Yes. And the assistant with Washu on the planet at the research institute was called Kagato.” Seto showed them a photograph of Washu and her assistant, except it was a woman.

Azusa rubbed his jaw and frowned. “That looks different from the one I met… But it must be one and the same person.”

“I’ve gathered evidence on who Kagato the assistant was. She was unaffiliated with any organization.”

“But… I’ve seen this face before, Mother…” Misaki stared at Kagato’s face, puzzled.

“Isn’t this the one?” Seto brought out another photograph, also taken with Washu.

“What’s this…?” Misaki looked at Seto quizzically.

“Washu’s expression…” Funaho murmured. Like she said, Washu’s expression was completely different. One was tense, and the other was peaceful and relaxed. “These two are different people?”

“Yes. The second picture is of Akara Naja, Washu’s friend. Kagato seems to be her clone.”

“What happened to the original?”

“About 5000 years ago, she died in a pirate attack during an archaeological excavation on uninhabited planet K1190… Well, technically missing, since her body was never found. Circumstantial evidence states she shouldn’t be alive. She was supposed to have been a philosopher rivaling Washu.”

“K1190? Isn’t that Mother’s…”

Seto nodded, “Yes… where my foster father rescued me when I was six years old.”

“You, Seto-dono?!”

“There were a number of treasure hunters besides Akara Naja’s excavation team. My foster father, Kamiki Ushio, annihilated the pirates and rescued the survivors. I was an orphan of those treasure hunters, though I had lost my memories through the shock of the attack.” Seto smiled sadly, then smoothly switched back to her usual smile. “Anyway, the problem is with Washu. She was left in front of an orphanage on Kanamitsu, a planet in Juraian territory, 20,000 years ago. The rest is a cliché. She was estimated to be around three when she was taken in, but she didn’t have any memories.

Nothing was ever found out about her past. She tried a lot of things in her Galaxy Academy days to make herself remember, but nothing worked. The only concern is this.” The screen showed the three red jewels.

Azusa, suspicious, wondered, “What’s this?”

“The only things she had with her. I can understand how nobody thought the possessions of a child were important. But it was a little careless.” Seto pressed some buttons and brought an image of Ryoko up on a screen. “When I examined the databanks of the Galaxy Police and the battle data on Jurai, I found that Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki’s energy source is located in her wrists and neck. Look.” The three locations were magnified.

“What’s this?!” Everyone but Seto opened their eyes wide. What was shown were the same red jewels as Washu had.

“I don’t know if they’re the exact ones that Washu had, but even if they were appropriated or replicated, it’s unmistakable they’re the same thing… It’s a shame it was 20,000 years ago. Might as well go ask Tsunami.”

“Her past holds the answer,” said Funaho.

“In the 15,000 years after, I haven’t been able to find anything that’s considered related, for now… But I’m amazed a single person has done so much. I’d say she’s the most powerful person I’ve ever seen or heard of. I sense consistency or a policy in her principles; at least, that’s my impression. There’s no sign that there’s been any outside influence on her ideology.”

The trouble was, Azusa thought, that Seto’s impression was most credible.

“In conclusion, this assistant is using something Washu-dono herself had developed for personal purposes. What we feared the most hasn’t become reality. Other countries haven’t placed as high an importance on it.”

“If they find out about what happened in Jurai, things will change.”

“The simulations show that Jurai is the most likely to capture Ryo- Ohki. Specifically, the Royal Trees. Other countries would have to pull off something on a large scale. And that increases the chances of leaking information… It makes sabotage too easy.”

“Mother… you look like you’re enjoying yourself.”

“I would think most countries would rather destroy them than give them up to someone else… In any case, we can’t do anything until we figure out where Ryoko and Kagato are.”

Azusa nodded, “So with Ryoko, we’re going to avoid the worst case scenario of upsetting the balance of military force. Now the question is how to obtain this technology before other countries… Please continue with the investigation, Seto-dono, Misaki.”

“This profile on Washu-dono was written up like a biography by a playful employee of mine. It’s quite an interesting read. Check it out.”

This was how the first Supreme Council on Ryoko ended. They were not able to find the whereabouts of Yosho or Ryoko. They sent a secret investigative team to Earth, but they could not outsmart a First Generation Tree’s cover-up and had to return without finding any clues.

It had been six years since Yosho went missing. Since there was no information on Ryoko popping up, the leading theory among the Imperial Family was that they had perished at each other’s hands. It was then that it happened.

“Again?” said Seto, who had come to visit the executive office at House Kamiki.

“Now don’t say that, he’s worried about Ayeka in his way.” Before Utsutsumi were holographs of several young men. Shuzan had recently started to bring in prospective marriage partners, after the Emperor of Jurai officially declared the engagement between Yosho and Ayeka be annulled. Ayeka rejected every one of them, but after a conference with the heads of Houses, they selected some candidates for matchmaking interviews, the first steps to an arranged marriage. And once it was arranged, it could not be refused.

Even after six years of her brother missing, Ayeka’s feelings had not changed from the moment she last saw him. Rather, because she could not see him, her ideals grew all the more lofty, an unstoppable force inside her. Perhaps it was true that this was not genuine love but feelings that she had built up for more than a decade and could not forget so easily.

The day before the marriage candidate selected for Ayeka by Houses Kamiki and Masaki was announced, Ayeka decided to leave Jurai and go on a journey to find Yosho. She was a woman of Jurai’s Masaki House, who thought nothing of abandoning her home.

The hull destroyed in the battle with Ryoko was repaired, and when she exited Jurai “for final adjustments,” she was going to switch the bio- signature emitted from the ship (with which her position would be ascertained) with a dummy ship onto which a cutting from Ryu-oh was placed, to trick the surveilling eyes back on Jurai. The key she fashioned from Ryu-oh’s amber in the shape of a headband fit nicely on her forehead. The perfect plan (in Ayeka’s thinking) to run away from Jurai was complete.

The problem was Yosho’s location. Ayeka knew he could not be found by searching blindly, and she herself would quickly be found by Jurai and sent back home. These things were better left to the experts. Luckily, the search for Yosho had continued. The information was controlled by the secret network of Royal Trees, and since Ayeka’s Ryu-oh was a Second Generation Tree, it could receive information without directly accessing Tenju and could therefore do so without being detected.

“It’s perfect! ♥” she beamed. The thought patterns of a girl in love were simplistic.

On the day of the plan’s execution, Ayeka secretly departed Jurai, left her Guardians, Azaka and Kamidake, in control, and entered the hibernation chamber. She had no idea it would last seven hundred years.

An amateur could never evade Jurai’s surveillance network. However, Ayeka also did not know that they were able to successfully give them the slip through the power of Sasami (and thus Tsunami), who had stowed away out of concern for her sister.

Meanwhile, on Jurai, things were naturally in an uproar. Not only

Ayeka but Sasami had gone missing without a note. A search team was formed immediately, but it was impossible to locate Ryu-oh, once under Tsunami’s protection. The situation on Jurai was grave in a different sense. There was no way the methods Ayeka used could have deceived Jurai’s security. All the organizations from ground control to the intelligence department underwent a thorough review, in case the stunt had been performed under someone’s guidance, but nobody suspicious could be found.

The one with the most mixed emotions was none other than Seto herself. “Why, why, whyyyy?? I’m so tired…” Her secret detection mechanism, touted as the most powerful on Jurai, had been bested. No mastermind, not even a spy, could be found. There was no way this could have been done without so much as a trace. Scrutiny of the Imperial Family was supposed to be extraordinary.

“Could it be…Tsunami?” There was no other answer. “Were you worried about Ayeka-chan?” Those simple words were the answer to everything. Seto felt intuitively that Ayeka and Sasami were safe. But ever since the first leader of Jurai met Tsunami, there had never been a case of Tsunami herself taking action.

“What’s about to happen?” Seto felt a great fluctuation of fate. “Uh- oh…I had forgotten about her.” Considering the coming kerfuffle, she felt a headache coming on. “Funaho-dono… I hope she doesn’t keep things bottled up.”

There was one other person who most decidedly did not have peace of mind: Ayeka and Sasami’s grandfather, Utsutsumi. With his two most beloved granddaughters gone, he was in a panic. And it mattered that the whole thing was Azusa’s son, Yosho’s fault.

“That was when everything went wrong.” Simple but fearless, and highly trusted by others, Utsutsumi had a thing against Funaho (more accurately, Azusa). “This wouldn’t have been a problem if she had been Second Empress,” he muttered. He knew that it was selfish. But after Ayeka was born, and seeing his granddaughter so happily engaged to Yosho, his ill feelings had gradually faded away. Then Sasami was born. If this contentment had continued, Utsutsumi would have had nothing left to be desired.

Even he knew he was being stupid. What might have been the smallest thing, seen from someone else’s perspective, had ruined everything for him and even affected the future of an entire country.

“This isn’t good!” He sighed deeply and left the executive office to head to the meeting.

As everyone present in the meeting expected, there was great upset about Ayeka and Sasami’s disappearance. And it was a matter of course that all topics of discussion turned into criticism of Funaho. There was no help from Azusa, who had to remain neutral as Emperor. Funaho endured taking heavier criticism from Shuzan than ever before.

Then Shuzan made the crucial assertion: “The same as the First Prince… He had a First Generation ship, and yet he let that pirate escape. Now he’s missing. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Funaho could put up with criticism of herself, but when it came to her son, she could not keep quiet. She walked over to Shuzan and dumped a cup of sake over him. This was a challenge to a duel. Until now, he could not bring himself to challenge a woman, much less someone from another world who had not received much combat training, as a victory would only reflect poorly on him. Being offered one on a silver platter was a different story.

Shuzan was ecstatic.

“Are you sure? You can put up a proxy.” He left her an escape route, since he knew she could do no such thing.

“And this is no verbal quarrel,” Funaho said. Shuzan shivered with indignation at this additional provocation.

Misaki watched this confrontation apprehensively and noticed her mother Seto had a big twitching smile on her face. “You plotted this, Mother.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Ho ho ho.”

Right as this touchy situation peaked, in came Utsutsumi, entering late, right in front of Funaho and Shuzan. He glared at the two of them and sighed. “We’re all idiots. Me and Shuzan-dono. Funaho-dono was caught up in this mess for ridiculous reasons; she can’t do this sober.” He ordered the attendants to bring several large casks. It was his treasured stash of the finest sake. “Let us not stand on ceremony.”

This was turning into a bar fight. Juraians used to be pirates, so this was nothing out of the ordinary, and the customs remained to this day. If something could not be decided by a discussion, things came to a head by force. Reason was cast aside to let them vent with everything they had.

Funaho was given a large club to face Shuzan with, and she abruptly upended a large bottle. Seeing this, Shuzan grinned. “Are you preparing an excuse for when you lose?”

“Come on, you mother#!*@er!” She might have been drunk already. Azusa and Misaki averted their eyes at Funaho’s uncharacteristic behavior. They knew her predispositions.

Infuriated, Shuzan charged. But in the blink of an eye he was walloped, dunked into a casket, and knocked unconscious. It was not that Shuzan was weak. Funaho was extraordinarily powerful. Watching this, Seto screeched with joy.

“Well, this is a surprise. Did she take lessons from Misaki? But this isn’t enough to best me,” Utsutsumi downed a small cask to liven things up and charged at Funaho. But just like Shuzan, Utsutsumi was easily subdued and tossed down in front of Misaki, who was dutifully sitting politely. “Wh- what?!”

“Father, you had the wrong idea. I didn’t teach her. She spars with me,” Misaki chuckled.

“What?!”

“With a staff, she’s more powerful than Misaki-chan,” Seto said nonchalantly. It meant Funaho was more powerful than Utsutsumi.

“What? Arg…!” Utsutsumi picked himself back up and rushed at Funaho, who was cackling with flushed cheeks. Nobody could stop her now, and that was the way this was supposed to be. Azusa decided to sit back and watch over his wife, his face twitching.

Funaho started to slow down, having drunk too much. “Uh-oh,” said Azusa.

Misaki said to Utsutsumi, “Father, you should wind down…”

Utsutsumi thought he now had the upper hand and raised his club towards Funaho, but he was blown away again. Shuzan, now awake, followed into the fray, uttering a strange squeal.

“Mother…”

“It’s fine. It’s a casual affair anyway,” answered Seto, leaving Shuzan and his followers, sealing the transport pod to the great hall. “This is a good lesson for the others to learn.”

“Mother…you scare me.” Misaki shuddered at Seto’s tittering. From the sealed hall, an angry roar, sounds of destruction, and general pandemonium could be heard.

“It’s started. Come on, hurry!!” Seto spread out the volumes of sake and food she brought from the hall and camped on the nearby deck with the best view of the hall. She started the Great Pandemonium Spectacle party, hosted by her, and began pulling in the passing ladies-in-waiting and security guards.

When Funaho got drunk, she showed strength not even Azusa and Misaki together could handle. The recoil from her days of suppression was frightful.

Members of the Jurai Imperial Family could receive backup from royal ships during combat. And Funaho could forcibly extract backup not only from her own ship but Misaki’s. Not even Misaki herself could receive backup from Funaho’s ship. Once she was drunk and reason flew out the window, the ships’ powers streamed into her automatically. She was basically a berserker. Even with an anti-energy force field, nothing could block two Second Generation ships. An hour later, the matter came to a close with the complete destruction of the great hall.

“It’s still too dangerous to approach…” Seto’s party continued for several more hours until the alcohol was out of Funaho’s system.

In the hospital room, Seto sat beside the mummified Utsutsumi, who had bandages around his entire body. “Have you learned your lesson now?”

“Hmph. I see you made sure to escape by yourself.”

“You reap what you sow. Why don’t you just admit already that you have a problem?”

“What do you mean?”

“You probably consider yourself a disgrace.”

“Yes… Yes, I do!” Utsutsumi closed his eyes and declared. “But I asked Misaki that day if she wanted to be the First Empress. She smiled happily and said ‘yes.’ I wanted to do things the way she wanted! And now look, Misaki is all doting on Funaho-dono. ‘Oh, I’m going to be Second Empress after Oneesama.’” He clenched his fist, his mouth turned down at the corners. Misaki made this same gesture often.

“Well. I knew you were an idiot but not this much. Right, Misaki, Funaho-dono? Don’t you agree?” Seto called towards the door, and there stood Misaki and Funaho with bouquets of flowers.

“Gack!!” Seto stopped Utsutsumi from hiding under the blanket. “Seto, I can’t believe you!!” he shouted pathetically, turning bright red.

“Dear.”

“Shut up! Shut up!”

“Father…I’m sorry. Thank you.” Misaki hugged him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize, I…” Funaho cast her eyes downwards apologetically.

“I have nothing to say, I lost the duel. Don’t mind me.” Having only himself to blame for his humiliation, he no longer had the willpower to remain defiant. And now with a beautiful woman making such a face at him… He had long felt a strong inferiority complex toward Funaho. All his anger transferred to Azusa, that idiot, as this was how he could deceive himself. “Besides, nobody will defy you again. Including me. Ha ha ha!!”

“I’m glad you were able to sweep this under the rug,” whispered Seto in his ear so nobody else heard. Utsutsumi could only laugh.

On Jurai, where pirate traditions remained strong, those who excelled in one thing were respected. That duel enabled Funaho to be accepted as a member of the Imperial Family. And that in turn cemented Azusa’s status as Emperor of Jurai. Thanks to Seto, everything worked out.

Needless to say, nobody offered Funaho alcohol ever again.