"What? What is this?" I said, after reading the letter that said.
From today at 1900 hours, you Battleship Nagato will no longer serve as the flagship of the combined fleet. The new Battleship Yamato will replace you.
It is not that we are displeased with your service Nagato.
We are very honored to have had you as the flagship, and you are still very important to the combined fleet and The Japanese Empire.
I could not believe this. I was to stop being the flagship.
Who is this Yamato anyway? I have never heard of her before? I said to myself.
"Excuse me ma'am." Said a ensign and saluted.
"What is it, ensign?" I asked irritated and responded the salut.
"You are needed in the briefing room ma'am." the ensign responded.
"Very well. Thank you ensign." I said and started to move towards the briefing room.
The ensign saluted and left as well.
When I arrived at the briefing room the Admiral was the only one there.
"Oh Nagato. Good you arrived just in time." the Admiral said when he saw me.
"Arrived just in time for what ,Sir?" I asked after I had saluted.
"To greet the new flagship. She will arrive any time now." The Admiral responded.
"Can I ask something Sir?" I asked.
"Yes, what is it?" The Admiral replied.
"What have I done wrong to be replaced like this?" I said looking serious at him.
"Sigh You have done nothing wrong Nagato. The only reason why you are being replaced is that Yamato is brand new and has the latest technology. And the top bras wants her as the flagship.
Believe me, you have been a good flagship, but sadly this is how it is." the Admiral said.
Then we got word that Yamato had arrived and was on her way to the briefing room.
Well at least I knew that it was not my fault that I had been replaced. she may have the latest technology. But other than that, what does she have? Does she look good? Or is she trained well in tactics and strategy, I thought to myself.
But when Yamato entered, my jaw almost dropped. She looked so beautiful.
"Battleship Yamato reporting in as the new flagship of the combined fleet." She said and saluted us both.
Me and the Admiral replied the salute.
All of my anger of being replaced disappeared. I was so taken by Yamato's appearance.
She had long brown hair which went down to her knees even when she had it in a tail as she had. She also had matching brown eyes, that were a lot more gentler than mine.
I had not payed attention to what the Admiral saying until he said.
"Well Nagato can you show Yamato around the base."
"Yes Sir!" I replied with no hesitation which almost surprised the Admiral because of how angry I was before.
"Well then I will leave it to you. I must return to my office and do some paper work." The Admiral said and left us.
And we started our tour of the base.
After a while Yamato said.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?" I asked.
"For making you step down as flagship on so short notice." she replied.
I was still angry over it, but at the same time not . And it was not really her fault.
"Do not worry about it. Orders are orders. And besides, it is not like it's your fault." I said and looked at her. The smile on her face after I had said that rendered me almost speechless.
But I was still able to say. "Well here are your living quarters." when we arrived to the final stop of the tour.
"Thank you Nagato. I am looking forward to serve with you." she said as she entered her quarters.
"The same." I replied with a short salute and left for my quarters.
When I had arrived and had closed the door, I slammed my fist in the wall.
"Dammit! I can't fall in love with the new flagship like that. But I can not help it. She is absolutely beautiful. And she seems so kind. No these emotions are not for me to have. I am a weapon. I should not have feelings like these. But still I have them. Well, I will have to wait and see where it goes. I can not tell her this now, it is still far to early to judge if even these feelings will remain for long."
But I decided to not think about it any more and went to bed.
When I woke up and went in to my normal routine. I started to get ready only to remember that I did not need to get up this early any more seeing that I was not the flagship any more.
Dammit! I keep getting reminded of it, and I sat down on my bed again.
So much had happened yesterday. No longer being the flagship and.
And Yamato. How can I feel like this? I only known her for a few hours. Falling in love with her like this. But feelings like that can not surely last long, can it?
I finally decided to go up any way. To go and get some breakfast and to get my thoughts on something else.
But when I arrived. she sat there, eating breakfast all alone.
She must have already finished her morning duties.
"Good morning Nagato." She said when she noticed me and saluted.
"Good morning." I answered and returned the salute.
"You are up early." she said.
"Well old habits die hard I guess." I replied and went and got my food.
I sat down opposite to her at the table and started to eat.
Well I went here to try and stop thinking about her. But that out of the question now, I thought to myself.
"This base really seems calm." she said.
"Well just wait until the Destroyers wake up. Then it won't be so calm any more." I replied with a smile.
Smiling was something I usually did on the battlefield and not so much anywhere else.
"Haha! Is that so." she laughed.
We continued to talk for the rest of the breakfast. But when we were just about to finish we were interrupted
"Oh! So you are the new flagship." Said the ship girl that just appeared next to us
"Sendai, that is not the way to introduce yourself." I said irritated.
"Oh sorry! Light cruiser Sendai, first of the Sendai-class at your service." The girl answered but instead of a normal salute she bowed politely like a ninja.
Yamato replied and bowed as well.
"And I am Battleship Yamato. pleased to meet you, Sendai."
"By the way, why are you so early Sendai?" I asked. But she ignored me.
"The honor is mine. Actually I heard that the Admiral was looking for you Yamato." Sendai continued.
"Oh he was? I better go and look for him then. See you two later then." Yamato said and left.
That was a bittersweet moment for me seeing that it was not me the Admiral was looking for. But to see Yamato happy like that as she went away, eased the pain a little bit.
"Seeing something you like, Nagato?" Sendai said and grinned at me.
"What do you mean?" I asked even if I had a suspicion on what she meant.
"I mean Yamato. I saw that you were smiling the entire time when you spoke to her." She answered still with a big grin.
"So what, am I not allowed to smile." I replied irritably. But still it felt like I was blushing.
"Of course you are allowed to. But is just that you don't do that very often. And when you do it is either on the battlefield or once something good have happened. So my guess it has something to do with Yamato arriving." she said.
Now I was really blushing. I did not know what to say. Because I could not say something that would say otherwise than that I had an interest in Yamato. Sendai had set her mind that it was so.
Her grin only grew bigger.
"So you do like her?" she said.
"So what?" I said, trying to straighten myself, but I could still feel that my face was still blazing red.
"There is nothing wrong with it. I think you two would look good together." she said and smiled at me.
"Hello!." Haruna said, and walked up next to us."Nagato, what is wrong your face? It is all red?"
This was annoying. Stupid Sendai, why did you have to say stuff like that.
"Nagato have fallen for the new flagship." Sendai said with her grin growing again.
"Oh, thats how it is. And Sendai is teasing you with it." Haruna says and pulls Sendai in the ear.
"Ao I'm sorry." Sendai says in pain.
I could finally calm down a bit. Haruna was more of the understanding type.
"Well, I need to go. I still have some work to do." I said.
"Well, see you later Nagato." Haruna said, and let go of Sendai's ear.
I could finally get some peace and quiet. Or so I thought. A ensign came running towards me.
When he arrived he said and saluted
"Ma'am, the Admiral wants to see you in his office."
"Thank you, ensign" I said.
"He said it was urgent." the ensign said and left.
And I started to go towards the Admiral's could it that needed me to go there so urgently?
When I arrived at the office. Yamato was there.
"Ah, there you are Nagato." The Admiral said after I had saluted.
"You wanted to see me Sir." I said.
"Yes I did. I have a mission for you and Yamato here." He said and gave me an envelope.
"There you have all information about it. And Yamato can fill you in on the way. Now be on your way. I wish good hunting." He continued and stood up and saluted us.
Both of us replied and saluted. "Yes Sir!"
We then left to get our gear.
"So whats the mission?" I asked on the way to the docks.
"We are to set up an ambush for a Abyssal fleet. " Yamato answered.
" Where is this fleet headings? " I continued.
"Towards Tokyo. " she said in a serious tone.
"Tokyo!" I said, a little surprised.
The Abyssal had never tried to attack the capital before.
"It's a small fleet and still a few days away from the capital. So you and I are to set up an ambush close to an abandoned outpost." Yamato explained.
"How far away is the enemy from the outpost? "I asked.
"About two days away. We should arrive sometime late in evening today." She said.
She is a bit different now? Maybe it is just because she is focused on the mission at hand, I thought to myself.
"I see." I said as we entered the armory.
When we got in . We hear a person say out loud.
"You call this proper maintenance!?"
We went to see what it was about.
It was a ship girl, arguing with an engineer.
She was dressed in a white and green sailor uniform, with a black cape over her right shoulder. She also had an eyepatch over the right eye.
She noticed us and turned around and saluted.
" Light cruiser Kiso reporting."
We both responded the salute. Then Yamato asked,
"What is the problem?"
"Oh sorry Ma'am. Nah this engineer have just not done the maintenance properly. " She said and nodded towards her gear.
"But it is nothing the new flagship need to worry about. You must be busy as it is" She continued.
"Are you sure Kiso?" Yamato asked.
"Yamato let her handle this we have sortie now." I said looking at her.
"Yes you are right. I will leave it to you Kiso." She said first looking at me then at Kiso.
"Understood Ma'am!." Kiso said and saluted.
We continued to the launch platforms.
When I went up on the platform, I said the thing I always said.
"Nagato launching!" And I launched forward In high speed at the same time as Yamato did. We entered the last part of the launch sequence. A large room with chains hanging down from gears in the ceiling towards the end of the room with signs next to them.
The sign in front of me change so it said my name Nagato. And the gears next to it started to move and the chains started to pull my outfit from under the water.
It surfaced right behind and connected to my hip. And so I was ready for battle.
I pulled up next to Yamato.
"So we are sailing without escorts. Is not that a little bit risky?" I said when we started to move.
"Yes it is I agree. But we can not have to many ship girls out at the moment. And the Admiralty wants to test my skills." she answered.
"But still, would it not been better if you had a destroyer or a cruiser as a escort?" I asked looking at her.
"Well that's true. But I wanted to have someone I felt I could trust." she answered and looked back at me with a smile.
I could feel myself blushing. She felt that she could trust me. And that was the reason why it was the two of us on this mission. It was not the best of reasons. But I could not argue. All I could feel right now was happiness.
"Thanks." I replied and smiled back at her.
We then continued silently to the outpost.