Chapter 1: Bansia Tree

June 11th: Present Day

The fateful day came and I am here again.

Underneath the soft shadow of a large bansai tree named Kuro is a small rock totem. There are three elliptical rocks placed on top of each other. These rocks are polished to the point that when you touch them you can feel the soft dusts on the surface.

A small porcelain bowl with sand on it was placed in front of the rock totem. There are already four joss sticks placed vertically on the bowl indicating that someone has already visited this place before me.

There is also a hair ornament placed on the rock totem itself. The hair ornament consisted of a single crimson colored bead at the middle with two strings connected at the crimson bead.

I've seen this hair ornament before.

In fact it was actually me who suggested her to buy this hair ornament…

How nostalgic…I remember the time when we furiously fought at each other just for a single hair ornament. It wasn't even an expensive hair ornament at all.

She just thought that this hair ornament was just too casual or too simple for the person that she's about to give.

All she wanted was a special looking hair ornament that goes together with a black colored hair.

Haaa~ in the end she finally gave in and bought the hair ornament. She was really pleased when the receiver accepted her gift. She was soo happy that she almost killed me just by hugging.

—Not that I'm complaining.

"Hey, when will you come back?"

A short gush of wind came to my vicinity, rustling the leaves of the bansai tree in front of me. The yellow leaves fell into the ground as the rustling continues.

"I've been patiently waiting you know? Patiently waiting—to the point that I cannot stand it any longer…"

How funny…I wonder if she can even hear me from here…How stupid I am…

Those who are resting can't hear my words.

"Hmm? Who are you?"

I turn around to check who it was. I was not expecting another shipgirl visiting this place.

"You are?" I asked.

Unfortunately, I do not know the shipgirl's name.

Hey, you've got a visitor. Do you know her perhaps?

The shipgirl in front of me then bowed her head and introduced her name with a soft gentle tone.

"Michishio, I am the third ship of the Asashio class destroyers. Nice to meet you...you are?"

I lowered my head and introduced my name.

"Shizatsu Suketomo, first son of Shizatsu Yamamoto of the Shizatsu-clan." I said with a soft tone.

"Shizatsu-clan? Hmm haven't heard of it. Anyways why are you standing in front of the rock totem?"

"Well isn't it obvious? I am here to pray for the person that died in the war." I answered.

The small destroyer furrowed her eyebrows as she heard my answer.

"Sarcastic are we? So what's your relationship with the first shipgirl hmm?" She asked.

First shipgirl? What are you talking about? She, as far as I know is the 27th shipgirl to be summoned by Admiral Goto who is the commanding officer of the IJN's Combined Fleet Branch.

It's a special branch where shipgirls, a manifestation of the former IJN warships that were sunk in the previous war, are gathered.

They are responsible for protecting my homeland, Japan, from the Abyssals; creatures from the deep sea that suddenly attacked humanity back on December 23, 2049.

It's been a year since then and a lot of progress has been made when the shipgirls were utilized to break free from the abyssal blockade.

It's been a year since I've met the woman I loved. A year after her painful passing.

Without hesitation I answered, "Her lover. Back when she was still alive."

The small shipgirl looked dumbfounded. Of course she should be.

Shipgirls and you humans are not supposed to mingle with each other.

Those were the words she said to me back then. It was a stone carved rule for them so to say.

But that didn't stop me from loving her.

"Y-You lying bastard, a shipgirl cannot get a lover! It's against the rules!"

Well there is nothing I can do about that…what happened on that day happened.

"It up to you whether you accept it or not. Yamashiro and I really did—"

"Yamashiro…?"

What….you forgot the name of the shipgirl that this rock totem is dedicated to? Talk about being ignorant.

"Yamashiro! The second ship of the Fusou-class dreadnaughts….the only dreadnaught that was sunk on the Second Battle of Vladivostok." I said as softly as I could.

But the small shipgirl was still confused. Wait is she a newly summoned shipgirl and does not know anything about the events that happened prior to the abyssal blockade's destruction.

"What are you talking about?" The small destroyer says with utter contempt, "Yamashiro-san is on Yokosuka right now. The flagship of the third fleet that is responsible for patrolling the yellow sea!"

…what?

"T-that can't be….I-I was told that she sank in bat—"

"Enough already….I'm here to pray to the first shipgirl that sank in battle not to interact with a poor, senile, lying man…" The small shipgirl says shoving me to the side.

Despite her small size she was able to move my sturdy body.

The small shipgirl kneeled in front of the rock totem and placed three joss sticks at the porcelain bowl. She then proceeds to lit up the three joss sticks and clapped her hands once.

She fell silent, closing her eyes and muttering a prayer under her breath.

"H-hey answer my que—"

"Another word and I will personally end you right here…" She says with a violent tone.

I fell silent, not because I am following her words but because of fear. This shipgirl, despite its small size can kill me on the spot.

With no words to utter, I move a single step back and another and another and another….

~o~

April 19

When the announcement came that humanity was under attack by creatures from under the sea, my initial thoughts were fuck what the hell did I just watch?

And then the death tallies were broadcast on local news as well as the sunken ships that were sent to Okinawa Sea to defeat the black creatures dubbed as Abyssals by the news reporters.

A lot men and women died on that day. Half of the IJN's ships sank and only a handful of destroyers and LHA's returned home.

Let's not forget the sudden revolution that erupted on Tokyo after Okinawa fell to Abyssal Control.

The revolution died down when the current, Emperor Haruno succeeded to power and relinquished the revolution the day after it even started.

The Diet was abolished and was replaced by a totalitarian governance.

Basically, Japan has now turned into a nationalist monarchist nation.

Nothing really happened when Emperor Haruno came into power. Oh right, the Abyssal Blockade…in which all communication from the outside world is severed.

The internet became localized, radios became localized, satellites rendered useless and Netflex was turned into a static soup.

Our lives became…bland when our connection to the outside world was severed.

Lastly—

"Mother! We ran out of rice again!" My little sister yelled from the kitchen.

"Then we'll eat the fishes without rice!" Mother yelled back from the living room.

I was standing on the backyard at that time. Watching the fish nets that my father placed on his makeshift pond that is connected to the beach on our backyard.

The gate was open, awaiting my interactions with the controls to close the gate.

As soon as I concluded that the amount of fishes in the pond is just about right, I pressed the red button on the controls closing the gate of the pond.

The fishes that were inside the pond tried swimming away, some managed to escape but there are others as well who were trapped inside.

With the fishes trapped inside the closed pond it is now time to push the water out of the pond so that father and I could harvest the fishes.

Using the green button on the controls the side panels of the pond were opened. There are thick nets placed on these panels to prevent the fishes from getting out. There are twelve panels all in all and are placed on the four corners of the pond.

Slowly water was pushed out using a machine located beside me. The machine is very old and is made of recycled parts. This is father's first invention, a very crudely made machine to be honest. The welding pattern looks bad and the bolts used were not matching with the holes that were supposedly drilled for them resulting in a scenario where on a single metal plate there are six holes but out of the six holes two were only utilized.

Well I don't blame him. After all he built this machine without using a carpenter's tape.

As the sound of the machine entering deceleration I lowered my head towards the pond and observed the fishes that were flopping on the wet sand.

"A good haul" I said with satisfaction.

I then cranked the lever in my left and watched another net emerged from the wet sand. Slowly the sand was squeezed at the thin gaps of the net like a cheese slicer while at the same time rounding up the fishes at the middle.

"Alright that's enough for today."

I turned my head to my right and saw my 67 year old father smiling at me.

"Father, Why are you here?" I asked with a worried look because he is supposed to be resting right now.

"Well I kinda forgot that I have a pond at the backyard and that it needs a person to man it. When I arrive here you were already taking my place. That won't do, after all this is my pond." Father let's out a scuff as he walked towards the terminal and pats my back. "I know you are transferred to Amami Airfield tomorrow and wanted to spend your time here. But you mustn't forget that you still have other duties back at Yokosuka Airbase."

I let out a sigh as I placed my hand on his shoulder while using my left hand to press the stop button to stop the machine from proceeding further.

"You just want me to talk to mother don't you? Is that why you are here to take over?" I said with a joking manner.

"Hey now, I raised you to become a pilot not a fisherman. And yes I am here to take over your work because I want you to fix your mother's foul mood."

"It was not my fault that I was transferred to an island somewhere at the south of Japan." I said to dismiss the subject.

"It is still your fault that you didn't ask why you were transferred there in the first place. Suketomo, you can't just follow orders and not question them." He said to me while pushing me to the side so that he could man the controls.

I scratched the back of my head as I turn around and said "Fine, I'll go talk to her." Heading towards the living room.

I could only hear my father utter "Hmm!" and heard the machine sprung to life once more.

And with that I headed to the living room and saw Saya watching the television.

She jabs a thumb at the kitchen prompting me to go there. I walked behind her and ruined her hair, she hissed angrily as I hurried towards the kitchen.

At the entrance I watched mother prepare lunch as always. The rice cooker was off, well that's because we do the have rice today. Instead we had pork stew minus the pork and soy sauce in a bowl.

"Mother I a—"

"Go to the living room and prepare the plates. We'll talk once I am done here." She said.

Scratching the back of my head I headed to the living room and sighed. Saya took notice of this and said "Dismissed before you could even utter a single sentence?"

"Well you could say that. She's really pissed. Hey help me with the plates." I said back.

Saya just lowered her head and turns off the television. She then followed me into the kitchen where the utensil cabinet is located. I took the plates while she took the spoon and forks.

We then returned to the living room where the table is located. Firstly I placed the plates in close proximity of each other. That's one plate at the front, two plates on the right side and a single plate at the left side.

Saya then placed the chopsticks on a wooden chopstick rest in front of each plate. She then placed the spoon and fork on each plate.

Mother then arrived shortly after and on her hands is large bowl of meatless soup and a dish that I do not know about.

"Call your father, Saya." She says before returning to the kitchen.

"Alright…"

I took the rice cooker from the cabinet that it was resting on and placed it on the table. I then sat on left side of the table where a lone plate is placed. After that I then opened the rice cooker to check if there are any left over rice from yesterday's meal.

Luckily there's a bit left in here.

With a serving spoon I scooped some rice from the rice cooker; around four scoops; and placed it on the plate.

For some Japanese family, you usually have a bowl to place the rice on and another bowl for the meal but in our family we were raised eating on a flat plate and were taught to place our rice on the plate together with the meal.

Part of the reason is because my mother was not born in Japan. She was born on another island nation at South East Asia. Father found her one time when he was on a business trip.

He was rejected for a couple of times since the scars of the previous war were still fresh on my mother's mind back then. How my predecessors invaded their country and savaged the country for three years.

But father didn't give up. One reason being that mother was a yamato nadeshiko back then. And another is that mother was a yamato nadeshiko back then.

Hey, don't scrutinize me for repeating my works. I just copied what my father said back then when I asked him why he married mother.

With a slam mother arrived on the table with another bowl on her hand. This time it was miso soup.

"We'll wait for your sister and father." She announced.

She was refusing eye contact with me as she sat on the chair. She placed both of her hands on the table and raised one hand to place underneath her chin to stare at the entrance.

Mother didn't age much. That's because she is still fifty-two years old. She was married to a man that was fifty years old when she just entered her late thirties.

Talk about a scary and weird age gap. But if it wasn't for the two of them being in love, I wouldn't be even sitting in front of her right now. I still wonder what my mother found on father that made her consider marrying him.

Oh don't even say it's because of his dick.

"Mother I have a question." I say.

Mother turns her head towards me and nodded once. Gulping, I then uttered my question to her with her dagger like eyes.

"So what made you fell in love with father?" I asked with a flat tone.

"Well it's simple really" she says with a sigh, "That's because he's got a massive dick." She answered with a serious look on her face.

Oh you've got to be kidding me.

I let out a sigh realizing that something simple made my mother consider marrying a drunkard who's living near the beach and was unemployed when I was born.

Good thing my mother didn't lose hope….I guess.

"Unemployed, outcast by his family, a former soldier in the IJN, a former drug dealer, and a lot more…He was that kind of a man before you were born Suketomo. Now tell me, imagine the look on his face if he finds out that you died while fighting the abyssals?" She says while facing the opened door.

"Mother…I just—I was just—"

"I know what you're thinking. I just wanted to do my part in this country, I just wanted to serve my country, I just wanted to protect these people that I call Japanese, I just wanted to make my father proud." She then faced me with a look on her face that I haven't seen before. It was a mixture of both disappointment and sadness. "Now have you ever wondered what I would look like if I lose my one and only son?"

I fell silent as I took the unknown food in front of me. Using the serving spoon I scooped a good amount of the food and placed it on top of my rice.

"No, I couldn't imagine it. Though I can see how my father would look if I were to die. He is a softhearted man after all. But, mother on the other hand, I couldn't imagine it….After all, you are a strong willed woman." I said.

Mother had an unusual mannerism. I took notice of this when I was still a high school student. She tilts her head to the right slightly with a corresponding smile on her face. This mannerism usually means that she is satisfied with something or just plain ol' happy.

"Well-well, looks like mother is pleased."

Father's voice then came to my ears. I turned my head to the window at the back and saw Saya and Father's head peaking in.

"Also, I did those things so that we can eat Kathrin." Father says with an annoyed tone.

"I'd rather not hear it from you, Yamamoto. Now come inside, you too Saya, don't keep the blessings waiting for you." Mother says as she starts praying.

I wonder if my answer convinced properly. She was dismissive with the subject….bahala na is what my mother would say….

A NEW STORY UNFOLDS AND THIS TIME IT'S ABOUT THE SHIPGIRL THAT WAS FORGOTTEN BY EVERYONE!

Stay tuned for the Second Chapter: Amami Touchdown!