The stone delivery was finally over, and all important figures gathered in the palace to report our success to the king, as well as ‘gift’ the fruits of our labor. Neither side was concerned that the stone was already paid for from the treasury.

The exciting ceremony was approaching its end and the king called us to give his congratulations.

“As many times before, you, the mighty guardians of our kingdom have…” All four of us rolled up our eyes, and must’ve groaned a tad too loudly that the king has curtly ended his congratulations.

“… done a great service to our country. Thank you very much.” After the final official part of the ceremony, the unofficial part has begun.

My socialite sisters immediately dispersed, dragged into different chatterbox groups, but I prepared myself. I was not called into a single conversation, all thanks to my magic outfit that clearly showed that I am ridiculous enough not to approach.

For me the party was going well: no unnecessary chatting, and all snacks were available. That was until a daring mortal approached me…

“Miss Missouri, what a pleasure seeing you still at this gathering.” The king approached me and nonchalantly started eating snacks right beside me.

“Is there something you wanted, Mortal?”

“There is, actually. That count was quite the talkative type, but the most curious part was telling me about the stories you sisters told him. I am so curious to hear them from the source.” The king moved even closer to me.

“Fiiine… Just leave us out of the next speech, will ya?”

“You can be assured.” The king smiled, waiting for me to speak.

---

July 2, 2010. Honolulu, HI.

“Hey, Big Sis, how are you doing?”

“I’m fine, how are you?” (IA)

“Same here. So, ‘bout the thing I called for. Thanks for sending me the lemonade. Have you made it yourself?”

“Yes~! I thought that since I have nothing to do, I might as well become a better big sister to you all~.” (IA)

“Now that’s surprising. Does New Jersey know?”

“Of course~. I sent my handmades to everyone~.” (IA)

“Wow, that’s so cool!”

“Hi-hi-hi~, I’m glad I could be of use~.” (IA)

“Hey, hey, I have an idea. How about we make something for everybody? A scarf, or a jersey? Imagine it, we mail presents for Christmas, and everyone receives~…”

“Wo-wonderful… ‘How come I didn’t think of this…?’ (IA)

“Big Sis, I didn’t hear you, what have you said?”

“I-I said I am going to order some wool then~. I’ll call you some time later, Mo. Bye-bye~!” (IA)

---

“Quite a harmonious family you say you have…” (K)

“Whether to believe is all up to you, Maj.” I stuffed another éclair in my stomach, and gazed at the suffering socialite sisters of mine.

Iowa already had her tongue worn out by the meaningless talks, New Jersey was spread over a couch, and Wisky was starting to grumble away all people approaching her.

“I surely love the parties here…”

“I am so glad you do.” The king sarcastically smiled.

“Wanna me to wreck this place, ain’t ya? I’m always in for it~.”

“Forgive me saying anything…

Though I do wonder if the attitude of yours is somehow related to how gatherings fared in your world?” The king quickly changed the topic.

“Maybe…”

---

August 10, 2015. Honolulu, HI.

“I am soooo tired… Those noisy tourists that crawl everywhere…! Just let meee sleeeeep…!” (WI)

“Ha-ha, hang in there, Wisky. Hang in there…”

“Now that I think about it, it’s been ages since we were in media, but the tourists don’t even bother and just keep coming…” (NJ)

“Yeah, especially here…”

“Argh, enough bragging, Mo!” (NJ)

“From since telling the truth is bragging~?”

“Here she goes again…” (WI)

“What ‘again’ you’re talking about? It can’t be helped that I am more popular than New Jersey, especially with me being berthed in Hawaii~!”

“He-he-he, maybe because you are in warm and sunny Hawaii you are so popular~?” (NJ)

“Not my problem, Sunshine~.”

“Hack you, Mo.” (NJ)

“What’s up, Dragon? Feeling jellyfish~?”

“Enough, kids…! Better think about something else!” (IA)

“Agreed… I’d rather not have those crowds of tourists than have them…!” (WI)

“Well, they are the reason we are still afloat and were not scrapped.”

“Fair enough. Then what about them littering everywhere, shaking and touching every metal part available, and trying to get anywhere they can’t?” (IA)

“You mean the bath~?” (NJ)

“Don’t even start…!” (IA)

“I dunno ‘bout you lot, but they don’t bother me at all.”

“Wow, you surely have quite a steadfast attitude, Mo.” (WI)

“I… I too am fine with having tourists, and…!” (IA)

“Sure, whatever you say, Miss Main Tourist Attraction~.” (NJ)

“Iowa, you are so cool~!”

“Eh…?” (NJ)

“T-thank you…” (IA)

10 minutes later.

“Dragon.

Draaagon?

NEW JERSEY!”

“I hear you, I hear you… No need to shout…” (NJ)

“I’d be so glad if you kept this attitude of keeping that trap of yours shut when needed!”

“Our company thanks you for the feedback, we will do our best to improve our services.” (NJ)

“Jerk.”

“Fool.” (NJ)

“Cardinals will win tomorrow.”

“…” (NJ)

“Not betting?”

“I’m not exactly in the mood for bets, sorry. Well, you have my cheers. Good luck.” (NJ)

“Thanks, bye.”

---

“And soon we got so freaking tired of those goons, that we sincerely wished for this suffering to end…!”

“But the prayers fell on deaf ears, I guess?” (K)

“He-he, that’s when the fun part starts~.”

---

May 20, 202X.

It was the day when the entire country was shocked.

The four battleships that remained tied for the past 30 years have awoke.

Thick black smoke started coming out of their funnels, and the old rusted machinery of their engines came back to life.

Nobody could answer what was going on, as even engineers could not stop the engines waking up. Newspapers were outputting articles one after another, describing the US Gov suddenly reactivating the Iowa-class battleships, and the said Gov couldn’t come up with a better excuse while they were trying to figure out how the hell the battleships were being started up.

First the tourists were forbidden from the entry and the museum ships were closed. Next the police warded them off. And finally, the states’ National Guard had to take place on the ships, searching through for anyone trying to reactivate the ships.

But no search yielded results. And no effort to stop the engines flaring up has succeeded.

The officials had no better option than looking at the reports, and hoping that this is just a someone’s weird joke.

It all changed three days later…

---

A patrol ship’s search light scanned the port. It was a dark night, and with the battleships’ sudden activation it was absolutely required to keep watch of their surroundings, so nobody tries to board them or approach their berthing.

For the crew it was supposed to be another routine patrol, when suddenly the search light found something sailing through the fog.

“This is US Coast Guard, unknown ship, this is restricted area! Immediately name yourself!”

“Unknown ship, this is US Coast Guard, immediately name yourself!”

“NAME YOURSELF, OR WE’LL BLOW YOU TO PIECES!” The USCG captain shouted at the radio.

And finally, a lazy response came.

“Yeah, shoot whenever you’re ready, lass.” A woman responded.

The captain was about to order making a warning shot, when the unknown vessel’s silhouette became clearer. Upon seeing it, the captain dropped the microphone.

“B-b-b-b-b-BATTLESHIP?!”

“Lil’ boat, how ‘bout ya move out of my way? Ya know: lead me, follow me, or… GET OUT OF MY WAY!”

The runaway battleships sailed away from their ports for 6 hours, constantly monitored by the coast guard and the navy. But despite all efforts, at some point they simply vanished…