CHAPTER 1: HOMECOMING

Day Before Arrival, Late Morning

Cutting through the water at a leisurely 12 knots, heavy cruiser Suzuya heaved a sigh. It had always been a long shot, but it had been her ambition to become the first kanmusu to be given high command.

For most shipgirls, becoming secretary ship of a major fleet base was as close as it got. But they didn't really do anything. Sure it was more prestigious than becoming a division or even squadron flagship, but it was more like being a class representative from school than an actual leader. Not that Suzuya would know anything about class representatives or schools-she'd never experienced growing up or any of its rites of passage, after all. She'd just appeared out of thin air one day, fully formed.

"So close. So damn close." She sighed again. Her new assignment was in view-Kushimoto Frontier Base.

"Aye. We're almost there." It was her escort of the day, the destroyer Hibiki. Who was actually escorting whom was a bit arguable-Suzuya had picked her up from the shipgirl recovery station at Lake Biwa on her way from Kure. The small girl was not yet at a hundred percent capacity.

"Hm? Oh, right. Yep, we're 4 nautical miles and closing. Start winding down your boilers." Unlike other forms of marine propulsion, such as diesels or gas turbines, steam-driven ships couldn't just start and stop in a snap. Power had to be slowly ramped up and down as needed. Anything else would manifest as muscle cramps and nausea to a shipgirl.

"Ah. You weren't talking about the base, were you?"

Suzuya turned her head. "Oh? That's perceptive of you, Hibiki-san. And direct. But you're right, I'm juuust slightly let down at losing to Akatsuki-chan."

Hibiki carefully examined her face. There was no venom there-just a smile that radiated genuine warmth with a tinge of mournfulness. "Sorry. This was sudden for me as well. I've been thinking about it during our whole trip-no-ever since they told me last week."

"It's fiiine. I still have some of my high from beating Nagato and Ooyodo. That makes up for being demoted at the last minute." She paused to think for a moment. "I guess it's not really a demotion if it happened before I officially got the promotion in the first place."

"What did Akatsuki-chan even do in America?"

"Classified." Suzuya turned back towards their destination. "But I've been briefed, and she definitely deserves this."

Kushimoto Frontier Base was so brand-new it wasn't even technically finished yet. At the southern tip of Wakayama prefecture, southeast of the Kii Channel, it was supposed to guard the eastern approach into the Inland Sea and Osaka Bay. Two smaller, existing bases had already been doing that, and Kushimoto was supposed to combine them for maximum efficiency. But Kushimoto had to be pressed into service much earlier than expected, as the JMSDF and US Navy 7th fleet scrambled to react to chaotic events. It was just normal way things happened ever since the Abyssal War started.

"Hibiki-chan!" Inazuma leapt onto her sister as she ascended the boat ramp. Suzuya was behind her with a grin on her face.

"Oof-Why this excited? You visited me just last month."

"This bigger than a visit, Hibiki-chan! We're actually assigned together, nanodesu!"

"Ikazuchi-chan, why are you just fidgeting back there? You weren't this nervous last month. Are we walking back all the progress we made?" Hibiki stretched out her arm, inviting her other sister to hug the opposite side of where the first one was still holding on to her.

"Don't be mean, Hibiki-chan." Inazuma continued to clutch tightly, burying her face into her shoulder.

"Sorry, nee-san." Ikazuchi tentatively stepped towards her. "It's just..."

"Ah. No, it should be me who should apologize. You must be anxious about meeting Akatsuki-chan for the first time."

"Well, well." Light cruiser Yuubari approached Suzuya with arms crossed and a wry smile. "Welcome to your new home, Vice Commander."

"Sup', Ops."

After a short pause, they threw their heads back in laughter.

"I don't get it. What's so funny?" It was auxiliary repair ship Akitsushima, standing behind Yuubari with her hands on her hips.

"Just an inside joke. Last time we met in person was a month ago," said Suzuya. "It was a conference in Kure regarding this very base. But Yuubari was Vice Commander and Agano was the Operations Officer."

"Yikes."

"How is she, by the way?"

"I'd thought you'd know better than we would," said Yuubari. "She's in Kure's brig, isn't she?"

"Yokosuka, actually. I'm guessing that means you haven't visited her?"

"Ugh, I would, even after what happened, but I've been too busy setting things up here."

"I'm sure she'll be out soon. Incredible stupidity and questionable taste in men aren't court-martial offenses."

"If only." Yuubari rolled her eyes.

"Wouldn't that mean you'd both be in jail as well?" Akitsushima crossed her arms.

Their subordinate was going too far, but the two cruisers, light and heavy, had already accepted their lots in life.

"Of course." It was Suzuya who made the reply. "But after all that happened, I could have used a long vacation."

"You don't have anything to worry about, Ikazuchi-chan. By all accounts, Akatsuki-chan is a much warmer person than I am, and you like me, don't you?"

The three sisters had left the quay and were walking arm-in-arm to the barracks. Hibiki's personal effects were already there waiting for her, having been shipped directly from storage at her last active posting. She hadn't taken them with during her latest spell at Lake Biwa.

"She knows that, nanodesu. Don't push her or you'll make it worse."

Ikazuchi, walking in the middle, pulled both sisters closer to her. "You don't need to protect me, Inazuma-chan," she said in a cheery voice. "Nee-san is right, I'm probably overthinking this."

"She was very close to the previous Ikazuchi, I'm sure she's been looking forward to finally meeting you."

Ikazuchi bowed her head and stared at her shoes. "That's what's making me so nervous."

"Hibiki-chan... Always so tactless!"

Ikazuchi chuckled, straightening back up while pulling Inazuma and Hibiki even closer. "That just reminded me of the first time I met you, nee-san. It's what I needed, thanks!"

"Geez, what got her panties in a twist?" Suzuya shook her head. Unlike Hibiki, she'd brought luggage. A lot of luggage. She pulled a stack of it behind her in a cart as she walked alongside Yuubari. But rather than unpacking it in her quarters first, she dragged them with her to the administration building as she got caught up to speed.

"Oh don't mind her, miss auxiliary repair ship is just annoyed at being reassigned so suddenly. She'd prefer to be tending to her cute lil' seaplanes."

"I feel her. Kitakami was supposed to have the job."

"Yup, but remember the reason we have to open this place up ahead of schedule in the first place-disciplinary problems! Kitakami is riiight out."

"Yeeesh."

Kushimoto was supposed to replace two bases-Tanabe, which hosted an escort squadron, and Wakayama, which had a minesweeping unit. Agano was the secretary ship of the Tanabe escorts, while Yuubari was the shipgirl secretary and operations officer of the Wakayama minesweepers. In a curious coincidence, Agano's boyfriend was the commander of Wakayama, while Yuubari's husband (provisional) was the supply officer of Tanabe. Because of this, they often visited each other's bases while never having much reason to talk with each other.

"Were you serious about being up to visit Agano?"

"Of course I am, this wasn't her fault."

During one surprise visit to Tanabe, she'd bumped into Agano. In her marital (provisional) bed.

"She's kinda like... A grown-up Ushio-chan. Very exploitable."

"Pfft." Suzuya stopped in her tracks, almost tripping over when the momentum of her luggage cart pushed it into her ankles.

When Yuubari had stormed out of her husband's quarters, she was stone-faced. It was Agano chasing after her that was bawling her eyes out. A big part of that was probably because Yuubari screamed about her lack of decency. She must have misinterpreted it to be about abstract personal morals, rather than what was actually meant-that Agano was running in the hallway without clothes on.

"I was the idiot. The signs had been there for months and I chose to ignore them." Yuubari sighed. "I guess if it was just Agano-san, I would be pretty mad with her."

Tanabe's supply officer was pretty much sleeping with every woman that looked of age in the little base, as well as some that did not. The JMSDF and USN 7th Fleet tolerated a lot of shipgirl-related... antics... (for lack of a better term)-even ones that were PR disasters. But this clearly crossed the line. He was quietly booted from service. If it had ended at this point, that would have been one thing...

Yuubari's commander in Wakayama got the curious idea that the "wrong" "done to him" would be righted if he slept with Yuubari. He was never forceful, per se, but he'd propositioned her several times a day over the course of a week. Yuubari wasn't in the right head space to handle the pressure, so she checked out-literally. Going over her CO's head, she requested and received leave through Kure Naval District's personnel office. Her CO descended to an even worse mental state. To him, he'd just been spurned twice in the span of a week.

"I'm lucky I was busy watching anime on Akashi's couch the day it all went down."

A routine grain convoy was on its way to unload at the port of Kobe. Tanabe's escort force met them 100 nautical miles out in the Pacific, to beef up their protection for the approach (often the most dangerous part of a journey). Meanwhile, Wakayama's minesweeper force was to make extra sure that their path was clear. They'd done this a thousand times before.

But they'd never done this while the two bases weren't communicating with each other-Wakayama out of anger, Tanabe out of shame. They'd certainly never done it while one base was plagued by incredibly low morale (the human command staff of Tanabe were to be shuffled off to run lighthouses in Hokkaido). And most crucially, they'd never done it while the other base's commander was going bug nuts and making increasingly questionable decisions.

It could have been worse. Only two grain ships were sunk, and they were close enough to the coast that their crews were easy to rescue. Several destroyer girls were also injured, but not critically. Most importantly, the ones hurt were Japanese and American shipgirls based in Tanabe, rather than any of the visiting Australians that came with the convoy-that meant the incident could be contained, and didn't necessarily have to be international.

"A tiny part of me thinks that if I'd been there, I could have prevented him from screwing up the mine-clearing."

"Um, more likely you'd be in jail with Agano and all the other staffers."

"That's why i said a tiny part."

Day Before Arrival, Noon

"Lunchtime!" Inazuma shouldered through the doorway into her shared room with an armful of combat rations. "Sorry about this... There aren't any cooks assigned here yet. Because of what happened, all human staff have to be vetted all over again."

"Thank you, it's fine." Hibiki ate with gusto. The short trip to Kushimoto from Lake Biwa via Osaka was the first time she had performed any extended physical activity since she began her latest recovery period. Unused to exertion, her boilers seem to have sucked her fuel tanks dry at twice the normal rate. "It's a shame we don't have Kinesaki here, or even better, Irako."

The IJN only had 8 food supply shipgirls in all. They were concentrated in the major fleet bases-the dozens of minor outposts dotting the coastlines of Japan had to make do with JMSDF cooks and stewards.

"The galley is already set up, nanodesu. But the only ones who know how to cook are Yuubari-san and Akitsushima-san. They're so busy during the day that they only do dinner."

"There aren't any human staff at Lake Biwa either, so I had to cook all my meals there. I can make breakfast and lunch for the three of us starting tomorrow."

"Ooh, can I watch, nee-san? I want to learn so that you could rely on me too!"

"Same, nanodesu!"

Khorosho. Hibiki noted Ikazuchi's enthusiasm. This was the most comfortable she'd been around her since she was summoned. Or re-summoned-this was a philosophical question many shipgirls pondered about themselves and their duplicate sisters.

In any case, it had been difficult for them to bond since they'd never been assigned together in the three years since the second Ikazuchi appeared. Fortunately, she'd been in good hands with Inazuma the entire time. That kind of luck was exceedingly rare-kanmusu were sent where they were needed, without regard to family ties. Many ended up thousands of nautical miles from their nearest sisters. But now three of them were together, and soon, all four of the Akatsuki sisters would be assigned to the same base.

"By the way," said Hibiki as she finished her meal. "Who else is here other than you two, Yuubari-san, and Akitsushima-san?"

"That's everyone." Inazuma heaved a long sigh. "Ikazuchi and I were the only ones from old Tanabe base that got to stay. Our squadronmates had to be sent to the docks in Kure. Wakaba hit a mine and Fumizuki was struck by friendly fire. The rest were hurt pretty badly too."

"From what I heard, Fumizuki will probably have to stay at Lake Biwa for a while after she's done with the docks." Ikazuchi grimaced.

Hibiki put her arm around Ikazuchi. "Look on the bright side-when she comes back, she'll be able to cook you an amazing meal."

When Yuubari and Suzuya finally arrived at the latter's new office, the heavy cruiser had wasted no time before dropping a bombshell.

"What? We're activating in a week? That's crazy!" Yuubari did not approve.

"There's no choice. Shima Frontier Base cant handle our area of responsibility in addition to theirs for longer than that without screwing up spectacularly worse than our predecessors did."

"Ugh! We raided Tanabe and Wakayama for equipment, so we almost have the docks and arsenal ready, but we don't have the manpower for them or any of the other operations. We can't have the manpower-the kanmusu barracks are only half-finished and the human ones are just plain uninhabitable!"

"That's fine, because they won't be able to assign humans here for a while anyway, and barely any kanmusu."

Yuubari dropped to her knees and flailed her arms exaggeratedly.

"I know, I know. Nobody's happy here. Command didn't decide these things just to piss you off."

The light cruiser rose back to her feet. "Ugh, sorry. Obviously they're gonna send more people before the week is up, right? Who are we getting?"

"Akatsuki-chan-excuse me-Commander Akatsuki will get here tomorrow with a couple of tag-alongs, but I don't know who. Kure is prepping a new destroyer division right now and they'll be sent over in a day or two with some support ships."

"Support ships?" Yuubari's head perked up.

"Oooh, you might like this. A couple of tugs, the minesweepers, Hayasui, and a certain seaplane tender with an obsession with tinkering much like a light cruiser I know."

"You can't be..."

"Yup."

"Norton Sound?!"

"The one and only."

Norton Sound was a Currituck-class seaplane tender, originally built to support PBY Catalina squadrons. She was kind of like a beefed-up Akitsushima. But that was only her first career. For 38 of the 41 years her real steel hull was in commission, she was a Missile Testing Ship. She was even the first ship to carry the Aegis combat system and VLS.

"Ohoho, I have so many projects I can assign to her at the arsenal..."

"Yuubari."

"Our R&D program going to rival Yokosuka's, no, China Lake's! No! Area 51's!"

"Yuubari!" Suzuya grabbed her shoulders and pushed down.

"Eh?"

"She'll be here as a seaplane tender."

"Nooo! What a waste!"

Day of Arrival, Very Early Morning

Dinner had been a bit plain-just curry rice and it wasn't even Friday. It was Yuubari's turn to cook, and she had run a little late-giving Suzuya a tour and transferring to her the (temporary) command of the base took most of the afternoon. Hibiki helped clean up in the galley afterwards and used that opportunity to prepare her ingredients for breakfast the next day.

"Today we start with something simple," said Hibiki in the morning. "You already know how to prepare miso soup, right?"

"Of course, nanodesu."

"Yup!"

"Then do that first before we move on to the tamagoyaki."

Hibiki took care of the rice while the other two made soup. Afterwards, their first tries making tamagoyaki were surprisingly neat-an enormous credit to the ability of their helmsmen and quartermaster fairies to follow navigational instructions.

"Khorosho, I'm sure you'll be ready to do sashimi in no time."

Ikazuchi giggled at that. "Ah, you're not going to make one for yourself, nee-san?"

Hibiki had put away the eggs and seasonings and dropped some kind of stuffed dough onto the skillet. "No, I usually have an Indian breakfast in the morning. I'm not sure if you'd like paratha, but you're welcome to try it."

"Ooh, Inazuma-chan told me about the time you and Akatsuki-onee-san were loaned to the Indian Navy."

"Actually, only she was. The whole time I was in the hospital in Kolkata, I was still on the Singaporean Navy list. She requested the transfer so she could stay with me instead of returning to Singapore, but it was a mistake to do that..."

Hibiki never had a chance to perform missions in Indian waters-she'd struck a mine while approaching the port of Kolkata with their convoy. After a month of docking and resting, Hibiki was sent to Vietnam by overland train. She wasn't yet seaworthy, but the Indians were desperate to make room in their shipgirl facilities. They determined that it was more efficient for her to finish convalescing at Naval Base Hai Phong (conveniently using up non-Indian resources).

If Akatsuki had just elected to return with the convoy they'd originally escorted, they would have probably reunited after Hibiki was discharged in Vietnam. Instead, shortly after she took her train trip, Akatsuki's path east was cut off by the Nicobar and Andaman Island Emergency. The Indians also needed every ship they could get-both girl and steel-in order to lift the blockade of Mumbai. Akatsuki was sent west.

"Ah! Spicy, nanodesu!"

"Yeah, Yuubari's curry lacked kick, so I added something to the leftovers."

"You put last night's curry in your pancake?!"

Day of Arrival, Early Morning

"Welcome to Kushimoto Frontier Base, shireikan!" Suzuya presented her sharpest salute.

"Suzuya-san!" Akatsuki returned the salute from the bottom of the boat ramp. "Thank you, but I'm not in command yet until I report in person at Kure. Or at least that's what they told me."

"Ooh, then I get to keep command for a little bit longer. And who are these cuties with you?"

The taller girl behind Akatsuki snorted, while the shorter one blushed. The tall one gave her own salute.

"Gearing-class destroyer, Higbee reporting!"

"Nice! I've never seen a Gearing in action, but I've worked with your Fletcher cousins." Suzuya saluted back.

The little one didn't introduce herself and instead hid behind Akatsuki.

"So cute!" Suzuya stepped down the boat ramp and stopped right in front of her, bending over to face her at her own eye level. "Hi there, I'm Suzuya. I hope I'm not scary. Do you speak Japanese?"

"It's okay, Suzuya's my new assistant, like Meredith was." Akatsuki paused. "Okay, not like Meredith. Suzuya's a lot nicer, totally a first class lady. Come and say hi to her!" She wrapped her arm around the little one's shoulder and pushed her towards the cruiser.

"First class lady?" The little girl stared at her shoes.

"For sure. Elegant as hell. Way more than my sister Kumano."

"I-I'm Auk-class minesweeper Ch-Chickadee."

"Chickadee! Omigod, that name is almost as cute as you are!" Suzuya couldn't help herself and lifted the minesweeper girl into her arms.

"Eep!" Chickadee held on tight, further overloading Suzuya's heart.

"Come on up, Akatsuki-san, your sisters are waiting up on the quay." Suzuya already had Chickadee sitting on her shoulders.

"Akatsuki-chan!" Inazuma leapt onto her sister as she ascended the boat ramp. Suzuya and Higbee behind her had grins on their faces.

"Yes, yes, I'm glad to be home too." Akatsuki wrapped her arms around her. "Hibiki-chan, Ikazuchi-chan, don't just fidget back there, make this a group hug like old times!"

The last three words 'like old times' sent a chill down Ikazuchi's spine. She had been inching forward, just behind Hibiki, but she became paralyzed by her sister's memory of someone that wasn't her.

After what seemed like an eternity, she was shaken from her trance by a hand reaching out to squeeze her shoulder.

"I'm sorry about that, Ikazuchi-chan, Your big sister's mouth is faster than her brain. Let's introduce ourselves properly this time. I'm Akatsuki, first ship of the third-generation of the special-type destroyers."

"I-I'm Ikazuchi, n-not Kaminari-WAAAAAAAAAH!"

Akatsuki, Hibiki, and Inazuma descended upon the fifth member of their family, wrapping her in their arms.