SEPTEMBER 19, 8:28 a.m.
42 miles northeast of Tori-shima
Y-467 Harekaze, Kagerou-class destroyer, training
Conducting SAR for missing cruise ship "Regal Ocean"
The bridge could make out the jagged outline of Tori-shima's distant volcano from the distance, not minding the rough waves pounding the Harekaze's bow. The sturdy destroyer shrugged off the insult as it sailed close enough for local birds to fly overhead. Clear skies tempted the crew to veer from their routine patrol and enjoy a day under the sun.
But the stoicism among the crew made their course clear. Somewhere in the endless expanse of water, a thousand lives counted on the sparse patrols sent out by mainland Japan. Every square inch of water could hold the ship that kept these lives away from drowning and the sharks. On the Harekaze's bridge, the crew's reason for turning down the offer of rest and relaxation crackled over the radio. The transmission had repeated itself for the umpteenth time, but it never grew old. It reminded them of their would-be duty once they become saviors of the sea.
PRIORITY-ALPHA TRANSMISSION, BLUE MERMAIDS CENTRAL COMMAND "ATLANTIS." ON SEPTEMBER 18, 2248H, OTH RADAR AT IZU PENINSULA LOST CONTACT WITH THE CRUISE SHIP "REGAL OCEAN." VESSEL WAS EN ROUTE TO YOKOSUKA WITH 2,087 PASSENGERS AND CREW. ATTEMPTS TO REESTABLISH CONTACT IN THE FIRST SIX HOURS ENDED IN FAILURE. ALL BLUE MERMAIDS UNITS ARE NOW ON READINESS LEVEL TWO AND CONDUCTING SEARCHES WITHIN THE 400-NAUTICAL MILE OPERATIONS ZONE OF IZU ISLANDS. "ATLANTIS" ALSO REQUESTS COOPERATION OF STUDENT SHIPS WITHIN THE OPERATIONS ZONE TO ASSIST IN THE SEARCH.
Akeno's grip on her binoculars tightened, scanning the horizon with it. The wound she thought had long been closed, the tragedy that took her parents away, began opening once more. As much as she never wanted to recall that part of her childhood, the case of the missing cruise ship forced its hand. Now, leading a battle-hardened crew into turbulent waters, she must keep her cool and focus on her duties.
"Report," Akeno made a call from the bridge. "Any contacts yet?"
Three reports came in almost in a whim, one followed by the other like an orderly line to the school cafeteria at lunch time. At the end of the line, however, were false hopes.
"No contacts on radar, Captain," Megumi, the radar operator, reported.
"No unknown objects underwater, Captain," Kaede, the sonar operator, reported.
"All clear from the watch, Captain," Machiko, the fearless lookout, reported.
"Thank you, everyone," Akeno put her binoculars aside, no longer shaken for some reason. "Please continue to keep an eye out. Saving those people takes top priority right now."
"Aye-aye, Captain," the three crewmembers answered at once.
All alone in this patch of water, the Harekaze found itself as a picket ship—one of hundreds prowling the waters south of the mainland. Today's mission couldn't be any clearer: find the cruise ship Regal Ocean and relay it to Atlantis for a decisive response. The ship struggled to rescue more than 500 people from a ship that ran aground. What could they do with victims four times as many? No heroics this time, Deputy Captain Mashiro reminded Akeno hours prior. The Harekaze already had too much of its fair share of boldness.
"Just when we finally get to do some practical exercises, this happens," Mashiro sighed. "It's as if trouble just wouldn't leave us alone."
"I know we're not trained for this yet," Akeno replied. "But we have to do our part. Thinking about those poor folks aboard makes me…"
"We've been scouring this area for a while now," Mashiro said. "This was the Regal Ocean's last known location before it vanished. Could it possibly have…?"
"No! No! No!" Akeno shook her head in denial. "Don't say what I think you're going to say."
"But I'm just considering the worst-case—"
"Please don't. I'm sure they're still alive."
"How can you be sure? We've been looking at nothing but water for the past few hours."
Akeno doesn't. Not a soul in the Harekaze does. Her silence only proves her deputy's point.
"Please try to understand, Captain," Mashiro added later. "Sometimes, you have to swallow a bitter pill. We'll keep looking, but I wouldn't get my hopes up too soon."
The distraught look on Akeno's face, however, wanted no bitter pill to swallow. She prefers sweet stuff like cakes, classmates, and eating cakes with classmates. In fact, in her heart, she prefers not taking part in an operation that might relive her trauma of years past. She can choose to do so, if not for the fact that such behavior doesn't fit the image of an aspiring Blue Mermaid. Akeno got back to her binoculars again without saying a word, but anyone paying attention a while ago knew that she took Mashiro's words to heart.
After an eternity of nothing, however, the Harekaze finally got its first clue. As it turned out, ears are just as useful in finding missing ships as eyes, as Tsugumi realized. "Captain, I'm picking up an unusual signal close to our location."
"Is it from the Regal Ocean?" Akeno asked.
"I…I'm not sure," Tsugumi, in charge of communications, replied. "It's not coming from Tori-shima. It also doesn't seem from any ship in the area. But it's close."
"Can you determine its exact location?"
"I'll try, Captain."
"Okay, I'm counting on you."
Answering an unknown caller? The ever-cautious Mashiro expressed her doubts. "Should we really be following that? We don't even know where it comes from."
"But it's the only clue we have," Akeno argued. "Anything's better than nothing."
~O~
The anonymous signal led the way, beaming into more open waters away from Tori-shima. The Harekaze held fast against the waves slamming its hull as it followed the path carved out by the signal. The destroyer's mission now relied on Tsugumi's ears, on the prowl for the slightest drop in the signal's tone. The Harekaze snapped left and right with every prompt Tsugumi made. From the air, the ship's wake painted an accurate picture of life with its twists and turns. Queasy as the ride felt for some, the beats of mystery sounded more prevalent.
Now, somewhere in a dense fog ahead, the Harekaze hopes to find the answer.
"Of course, a fog," Mashiro's sarcasm—a rarity—kicked in. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"We're about to enter a fog, everyone," Akeno said. "Ready the lights and foghorn. Rin-chan, maintain speed and bearing."
Like a spear denying its target of all hopes of protection, the Harekaze's bow pierced the fog. Soon, the whole ship dived straight into the abyss, sending out its beam of light and haunting call. With state-of-the-art navigation loaded onto an old destroyer, sea fog is generally nothing to fear.
Except that no fog on Earth possesses the uncanny ability to cloud the bridge inside. Akeno and the rest found themselves unable to see an inch in front of them. As the fog flooded the bridge, as if having a mind of its own, the panicked shrieks of the bridge's crew sent shudders to the rest of their classmates below deck.
"Ah, ah, I can't see!" cried Rin, the Harekaze's helmswoman.
"What's with this fog? It's blinding!" yelled Mashiro.
"Everyone, stay where you are!" Akeno rallied her crew. "You might bump into someone!"
"I hope not with a ship!" Rin cried.
"Tama, if you're still here, say something!" said the energetic torpedo officer Mei.
"Aye," the soft-spoken gunnery officer Tama responded.
"No good," said Mayumi, the Harekaze's eyes at starboard. "I can't even see my scope."
"Calm down, everyone!" Akeno called once more. "We'll be out of this fog soon."
"I wonder what's for dinner," Mei wondered, totally offhand.
"This fog's blinding us and all you can think about is food?" Mashiro retorted.
"Curry!" Tama cried softly but with excitement.
"This is no time to be thinking about curry!" Mashiro said. "And it's not even Friday!"
The award for "Best Comment Made During a Blinding Fog," however, goes to the dialogue between ship secretary Kouko and her boundless imagination. If anything, she also gets the award for Best Comment Made in every scenario the Haifuri writers come up with.
"Curses! The Harekaze has found our secret self-aware fog project!"
"We must never let them get away! Take away their eyes!"
"We did it! Now no one shall know of our plans to take over the world!"
"They and their children—and their children's children—shall be forever blind! Hahahaha!"
"Take this seriously!" Mashiro yelled.
Despite the frantic situation, the Harekaze maintained her course and broke out of the fog. The same open waters welcomed the ship after several nightmarish seconds. Mashiro let out a sigh of relief, thankful that the fog didn't claim her eyes. "Everyone still has their eyes?"
The collective ayes of the bridge answered in near unison, followed by differing murmurs.
Mashiro turned to the captain. "Looks like everyone's eyes are accounted for, Cap—"
But she cut her report short upon seeing a different person in place. Nobody recalls Akeno having black hair and wearing a blue-white sailor uniform. And the way she looked at Mashiro only made this close encounter awkward.
"Er…who are you?" Mashiro asked.
"Um…I'm Fubuki…"
