Paradise War Volume 2

Paradise War is a canon spinoff in the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki universe from creator Masaki Kajishima. Paradise War consists of three novels, the last published May 30, 2014. It takes place between the events of Tenchi Muyo! GXP and the events of War on Geminar.

Synopsis

(This is based off a reading of a rough machine translation and sections may be incorrect)

Episode 4: Battle with the Daily Lives of Paradise

"As far as I can tell, you are not suited for these battles. You have talent, but can you attack your friends?" This is the question for Shou from Miron. The is also the concern of Minamida. Shou also wonders how effectively he can fight them and understands their concerns but again confirms that he's joining the war.

Minamida then has the cabbits train Shou. Weirded out that they can speak, M-cabbit momentarily transforms into Miki (which weirds him out more, actually). But they succeed in teaching him the basics and, over the week, he improves some. In simulations, he's not great, and is hit often, but doesn't take much damage, and while he rarely hits anything, the damage he does is significant. Shou has an innate "compatibility ability" in which he can sense what an opponent will do. Also, D notes, the battle data somehow shows his "Janken ability is abnormally strong."

The night before the battle, a nervous Shou is fishing for shellfish on the beach and passes out from light hypothermia. The ocean is warm, but when his tee-shirt gets wet he can get cold. Miron finds him and takes care of him, he wakes up thankful but flustered when he realizes she's wearing her lab coat and nothing underneath. She says she got wet dragging hm in. They eat, she gives him a foot massage, and she tells him being nervous is normal. She mentions that she worked as a military doctor at a field hospital and saw nervous soldiers all the time. He falls asleep looking at the stars and Miron mutters about how jealous she is that he has a chance to go to space.

The cabbit girls act as support in the battle, monitoring his video and giving him advice through headsets. When the battle starts, Shou is almost immediately ambushed by Apuesta and her capturing device. Using the Guardian's automatic systems, Shou is able to evade her. Palty next zooms in to attack with her broadsword. Shou has to go on the defensive but drops her by using his ultimate weapon, a sonic weapon that recreates the sound of nails on a blackboard. Dird comes next with her gauntlets and anklets and drives Shou to the Jungle below. At first, Dird is able to avoid Shou's sonic attack simply by turning off her outside sensors and relying only on visual input but, as she continues to pound him, he is able to grab her momentarily and send the sonic attack by using a vibration method. Dird runs away. Alea immediately starts sniping with her team but Shou had anticipated it and had modified his shield accordingly. Her first shot hit but the guardian's automatic avoidance system dodged all the rest. The combined forces attack him as one, momentarily turning off outside sensors to avoid Shou's one attack. M advises calm, and Shou waits and is able to sense a moment when everyone has turned their sensors on, momentarily downing everyone at once. Minamida signals the end of the battle. Shou's attack was unable to deal a finishing blow, but he has survived and preserved the stalemate.

The next day is peaceful. Miron is exhausted from worry and from reporting to her group. Everyone teases Shou about being forced to carry her on his back all day and show him no hostility for his actions. The girls tease Shou into the night. They, especially Miron, fluster him so much he has to run into the ocean to cool off. The girls tell Miron about sex education in space, it is often practical training. Boys and girls can practice with bioroids and even gain licensing in sex.

As they have a couple days off, they decide to visit the lake at the very top of the island's mountain. They get permission from M to use the Guardians to travel there and borrow a portable camping unit they can use to carry Miron in and camp in over night. They kind of gloss over the fact that Shou could use this unit to camp in instead of his tent.

Episode 5: The Girls in Paradise

Morning, but still dark, Shou enjoys using his guardian for the first time in a recreational way, flying around and seeing everything from high. Until it suddenly stops, no one had told him his Guardian had an altitude limit and he would have to leave it on the side of the mountain and hike the rest of the way up.

The summit has a beautiful lake, the air is clear and they can see all over the island. They spend the next three days and two nights doing camping activities like hunting, fishing, and gathering herbs and berries. They have fun, tease each other and Miron, of course, gets naked a couple times.

Early on, Miron insists they hunt a deer so they can have venison burgers with the bread they brought along. As part of the prep, she insists they cover themselves in mud to disguise their scent. But when she splats Palty in the face with mud, she responds by throwing Miron head first into the marsh before almost instantly capturing Shou and the girls to also throw them on their backs in the mud.

Palty reverts to her normal self and escapes back to the lake with Shou. Desperate to wash the mud off, Palty jumps straight into the freezing water and pulls Shou in too. Palty starts taking her clothes off, stunning Shou. He finally notices that she's wearing her swimsuit. They get out, noticing how cold they both are, they realize they have to take a warm shower in the cabin. She goes in first but grabs him by the arm and reveals she has debilitating claustrophobia. The shower is too small and scares her but she's better if someone is with her. They end up being embarrassed as they shower together in their swim clothes.

At night, Palty explains that her claustrophobia and her earlier exaggerated defensive reaction were due to past trauma she doesn't fully understand. She is very frightened that she could easily kill someone like Shou because of her high level of body enhancement and begs him for forgiveness. Shou thanks her for her thoughts.

While hiking with Shou, Dird tells him about her difficult and unpleasant previous life, never even previously living on a planet with enough atmosphere to have actual weather. Her group had to run constantly from authorities and had to keep away from Tarant Shank, if possible. They stole to live. She was also present when the Shank pirates tried to disrupt Seina's wedding on the moon and they were forced to aid Tarant in gaining access to the moon base. She asks if he hates her for the things her group had to do as pirates. Shou admits that he doesn't understand what goes on in space but thinks its not a problem if she doesn't do anything she has to be guilty for from now on.

Dird also reveals that the girls have figured out that Minamida is Seina. They don't hold anything against him and she knows it has something to do with "probability bias"- though she doesn't understand what the term means.

When it's time to leave, the girls reluctantly decide it's best for Shou to hike down to his guardian himself as training. It's a difficult hike down but the girls all welcome him warmly at his camp when he gets back, showing their worry for him. Palty realizes that her time with Shou is healing the pain from her trauma.

***

Over the next month's fights, Shou continues to lead everyone into stalemates and Minamida decides it can't continue, as they need to declare a winner or the pirates will have to replace the girls with other fighters. So he bans the use of the sonic attack, but in return, he will give Shou any single other advantage of his choice, as long as it is not unreasonable.

For the next month, however, battles are halted as students prepare for final exams, giving him time to decide. Shou and the girls decide to take turns hosting study sessions at each girl's house. The campsite wouldn't work.

At Dird's house, he meets the elder Dird relative that had been protecting her during her childhood.

On the way to Alea's house, he and Minamida meet her older sister, Lorretta, and her baby daughter, Melissa. Loretta explains that Alea was forced to be the representative because Melissa's father ran off, leaving them with a very large debt. Minamida lets out a spit take when she tells him the father was Alan and was curious if he knew him (he pretends that he doesn't). She also describes how much Alea initially disliked Dird, who kept beating her in early battles. But she eventually softened to her friendly demeanor in the face of her hard life, especially after Shou came and helped unite them all in friendship.

Before going to Apuesta's supply-laden house, Shou talks with Tomi, who tells her how Palty is supporting the day-care/orphanage that had been previously supported by the Daluma Guild where she had largely lived as a child.

Tomi also tells him about Palty's connection to Jurai, or rather a faction in Jurai that had been exiled by the rest of the empire and returned to piracy, and how her mother had been a troublesome and demanding woman who was trying to use her.

At Apuesta's house, Miron was hiding in the bushes outside to spy on them, Mike and Ichiro also made a surprise appearance and Mike showed himself very effective at tutoring. However, Mike's real intention was to sneak out some adult videos in Apuesta's supplies. Miron hears Mike and Ichiro talking about it and throws a palm frond at Mike from her hiding spot. He stumbles and knocks over a storage container and is caught.

Before arriving at Palty's house, Shou meets Palty's mother. She nonchalantly simply orders him to let Palty beat him in the battles. Palty bursts in and yells at her mother to stop interfering. Ignoring her mother's further orders to stop, Palty takes Shou to her own separate home (they live close by, but not together). She tries to apologize but he stops her and says that he understands. She realizes that he knows something about her situation and is being considerate. She is thankful and gives him a hint, telling him that even if he can't use the sonic weapon, he already has a special skill that will allow him to battle.

Minamida surprises them by popping up at school (subbing for a sick Tomi) and suggests they come to his house to study, it seems M has a teaching certificate and wants to put it to practice. Minamida also proves to be a good tutor because he's good at understanding other's problems.

This entire time it also seems that Miron has been very lonely. eating alone and acting over-affectionate with Shou during breakfast. On the last day, after Apuesta came to help her manage Tomi's store, she walked home with Shou and admitted that she knew she was not a good teacher because, as a genius, she had no way to understand student's problems. Shou basically says "big deal, you're a beautiful genius, isn't that good enough?"

Everyone passed the exams except for Dird, who failed everything. Alea, who had the best scores of the four, chastised her harshly but everyone could tell she was trying to help.

Walking home and thinking about summer vacation, Shou starts thinking about his friends at home and how his wealthy childhood friend and crush, Himeko, would take him along on her summer vacations. Just as he's wondering where she will go this year he notices a boat is coming into the harbor and notices who is disembarking from it....

Episode 6: Visitors To Paradise

(The machine translation for this chapter was harder to understand, and may have more mistakes)

While sitting in her cruiser home, Miron is surprised by a visitor. It's like looking into a mirror.

***

Shou's closest friends from home, Himeko, Takeshi, Sugaru, and Masaru, come off the boat. They are stunned at the amount Shou has changed. They walk to the beach and assume Miron's cruiser house is Shou's home. He clearly tells them that he lives in the tent but Sugaru and Masaru ignore him and climb up the ladder, even as he yells to them it's dangerous. Two flashbangs are heard along with two screams of pain. Takeshi tries to come to their aid but Miron throws them at him and they all tumble into the sand. Miron points a gun at them and Himeko. When she sees Shou, she pulls the gun up but is about to attack Himeko when she is insulted by her. Minamida rushes in to separate them.

Sugaru and Masaru, although supposed friends of Shou's, have always abused their parent's superior status over Shou's father at the town company, making sure he knows his "place," and are stunned by him backing up Miron and reminding them that he told them it was dangerous.

Minamida demands they all leave immediately but, surprisingly, it is Miron that says she will take responsibility for them, since a couple days couldn't hurt (the implication being that there's still enough time before the next battle).

From there on, nothing goes well for the pampered Himeko. She learns there's no resort or restaurant. She is aghast at the outhouse on the edge of the cliff (Dird also suggests the forest or ocean). Along with the girls, Mike and Ichiro come to meet Shou's friends. Mike and Ichiro seem especially enamored by the pretty girl "from the mainland." When Himeko starts getting upset about sleeping in a tent without a bed, Mike starts making a simple mattress from straw.

The cheerful Dird doesn't improve things by saying sleeping in a tent is "fun" or suggesting a camp meal. The others head off further annoyance by suggesting fresh sashimi. She is maybe a bit surprised, but apparently impressed, when Dird grabs Shou and they go down to the bay to catch the fish for lunch.

Miron goes back into her cabin to meet her exact double, still sitting in her cabin, a CIA operative that seems to have snuck on the island with the boat. They know each other, and while Miron doesn't seem happy to see her, she is part of the group that sent Miron. She leaves to gather intel and disappears.

After lunch, Shou and Takeshi go to Tomi's store to get supplies for dinner and snacks for Himeko. Takeshi feels a bit guilty for making Shou carry so much, so he challenges Shou to Janken, loser has to carry the heaviest packages. Shou wins, of course, and Takeshi takes the heavier package, remarking that Shou's talent for Janken is unchanged. This triggers his memory of Palty's comment about his talent and Shou gets a sudden idea for what kind of rule he can ask for in the battles and enthusiastly thanks a perplexed Takeshi. Mike and Ichirou join them. Mike starts talking with Shou and Ichirou separates from the two in order to speak with Takeshi. Ichirou tells Takeshi that he is "the one they have been talking with." They exchange pens, apparently hidden information is inside.

Meanwhile, Sugaru and Masaru go off with Dird to gather fruit, seemingly up to no good and intent on being alone with the beautiful girl. As soon as she says "careful not to be separated," she disappears from sight and all they can hear is a frightful animal sound. They end up screaming and running wildly, eventually crossing paths with Shou and the gang, flying out the wood in front of them and over the cliff face on the other side of the path, straight into the bay's water. They come out of water drenched and cold and see Dird delivering fruit to Palty. They are so disturbed that when the fluffy white and cute cabbits come to visit, they yell at them to go away, saying they can't stand to see any animals. They don't even want to hear it when Shou tells them that there are no dangerous animals on the island. M shivers in apparent fear and Takeshi pets her for a bit. He then goes into the tent to give Himeko some of the juice he got. The two talk about how strange the island is, but "something really interesting must be hidden there" for these people to get in contact with them. If it saves Himeko's father's business, the trip will be worth it.

The next day, Shou borrows a boat and takes everyone to the beautiful hidden cove they visited earlier and have a pleasant day. He has a conversation with Himeko similar to one he had with Takeshi about how the way he acts on the island reminds her of when they were kids and they were all just simply friends without any concern of who each other's fathers were and what status they were. She asks if he's upset about her turning him down before he left, whether he would really want her to be poor. Shou, now with a better measure of her true character, finds he's not as bothered about her rejection of him anymore.

The next morning, before they head off for the boat, Sugaru and Masaru notice M digging at something in the sand. They shoo her away and dig up a tight container. They pry it open and find a bag they agree to split. M laughs to herself from a safe distance as they open some of Alea's hidden fermented snacks and watches as they pass out.

After Shou waves them goodbye, he tells Minamida about his request in exchange for giving up the sonic weapon. Minamida says he likes his idea but will have to check with others.

Minamida then asks Miron to come with him. He takes her to his underground base and she gasps as she sees that the imposter spy is tied up there. He wants to know how they should deal with her. She asks if they knew from the start what was going on and he admits the likelihood came to them quickly. The truth is that the spy was representing the secret group for which Miron has been a reluctant representative. Minamida held no hostility towards Shou's friends and felt bad that this group was extorting Himeko's family. He then shows her the information Ichirou passed to Takeshi on the pen, a collection of scandalous information about her own group. The information is a clear warning that they should not mess with the island if they don't want it public. Miron laughs happily, knowing that, if she stays with the people on the island, she can get out from under their control. Minamida leaves her to deal with the fake Miron.

Epilogue

After returning from some more snorkel fishing with Dird, Shou suddenly finds himself in extreme need of the toilet. He runs to the outhouse on the cliff and opens the door without knocking and discovers a strange girl already using it. They scream at each other in surprise.

-To be continued