Naka was outside on a podium, and so most likely singing something about construction fairies or instant repair buckets... Inside the Admiral's office on the radio played an old navy march that none of the girls knew, except for maybe one, who happened to be the Admiral's secretary, and so was quietly singing it as well.
"まがねのその艦日の本に... 仇なす國を攻めよかし" then, sang Hōshō, before something else made the Admiral perk up from his map of Borneo and the sea and islands immediately around it.
"If one day while I'm at sea
My time should come and I should die
How much would the Admiral miss me?
For how long would he cry?"
The Admiral looked at her for a second or twenty, elbow leaning on the table and hand on his cheek.
So Hōshō's expression softened even more as she waited for an answer.
He stood up, walked over to her, and removed the glove from her right hand before pulling both together and holding them between his own.
"Admiral?" Hōshō looked up at him. Soon she was in his arms, his chin lingering just above her shoulder. "Admiral..."
"As much and for as long as the man who, if he lost himself in a great sea and was blanketed by the night sky, would send her his last words and his final heartbeat."
"..."
"And if he could only take one memory with him, wherever he went, whether he needed it or not, he would, because he wanted to, take the memory of her."
"You mean me..."
"Mm-hmm. A phoenix flying."
Naka stared at the ceiling that night with an indifferent expression.