Project 9C: Let's Board an Utsuro-bune

Ta-daaa!

They found a girl who looked like nothin' they'd ever seen clutchin' a mysterious box close ta her chest!

？！

The whole reason I'm here is 'cause I wanted ta paint this Utsuro-bune boat thing.

And I need a model if I'm gonna paint its passenger properly, don't I?

Mmm, it really is an intriguing mystery!

I mean, a ship made from glass and iron in the Edo period? And one shaped just like a stereotypical UFO?

Maybe it was a space alien...or a time traveler!

I also really want to know more about this box she was holding. Was it a terminal of some kind? Or maybe...

Couldn't it have also been a Christmas present?

Mmm, I don't know about that. The story says she never let go of the box, or even let anyone else touch it.

Nobody could understand her, so they figured she musta been some kinda princess from some foreign land and decided ta let sleepin' dogs lie, so ta speak.

In the end, they just sent the girl back out ta sea.

That's terrible! That poor girl!

No, wait. It's still possible she may have just been a Santa who got the wrong address.

She never let go of her box, so she must have been guarding it with her life.

I'm just going to choose to believe that she eventually found the right house to deliver it to. Way to go, Santa!

？！

Ehehe.

Anyway, getting back on track: How'd the test run go?

Oh, right. Opeeen sesame!

Helldyste! It's us! We were in the box!

I like small spaces. They're soothing.

That's why I like this boat a bunch, too!

It didn't rock much at all, and it was plenty fast enough. I think it would make a great sled!

I guess this means the designs I based on the book and the Utsuro-bune engine I came up with to fit it work well together.

How I got them to work so well together is a trade secret, though.

But basically, all I did was copy what the Utsuro-bune was said to look like...

...and retrofitted it with something that would get it moving no matter what.

I didn't mean for the prototype I just threw together for testing purposes...

...to get us talking about what the original must have been like.

Just like the mysterious ship remains a mystery, secret mechanisms should remain secret, too.

Unless those secrets are revealed as the result of a proper scientific investigation, of course.

Well, I don't much care how it works, long as it looks like the original.

All right, model, why don'tcha start by puttin' one foot up on the ship?

And can ya give me a look that says you're just settin' foot in a foreign land? Surprised, scared, anxious...that sorta thing.

Huh? You mean, you really do want me to model for you?

...Reindeeer!

Thanks! Don't worry, this won't take long! I'm a mighty fast painter!

Th-this is so embarrassing... But, if it'll help you, Reindeer, then...okay!

Oh? Now that ya mention it, they do got a nice sorta...roundness to 'em I ain't seen anywhere else...

It'd be a different paintin' than I originally envisioned, but that ain't to say it'd be a bad one...

Okay, I'm sold!

Paint me so I look real cool, please!

Am I a movie star now?

Phew.

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At any rate, it looks like the Utsuro-bune is working fine.

Now we just have to gather our forces and get ready for the final battle!