...I freak out.


Whoa, whoa, I know, I know, first things, first, introduction. My name is... well, not really important, and I'm trying to keep in undisclosed for private reasons. Who am I? I am just your average university student, a freshman, if you might say. I just entered college, taking a degree in Human Psychology, cause I'm an introvert, and I hate maths, and stuff, and currently studying at my second semester there. Yeah, that means I've just recently hit nineteen years old. I'm a Chinese kid who just happens to live down south, near the equator, so, ironically, I can't speak Mandarin, nor Cantonese. I'm about... five foot six, yeah, tanned, nearly jaundiced... uh-huh, I'm that short for a freshman, I get that a lot.

Well, enough of that. I gotta tell you this story of mine. As I've said before, we're currently at our second semester at our majors, so all of the studies have gone from hard to downright impossible for some of us to do. So I've been taking my leaves pretty early for the past couple of weeks. Good thing tomorrow's the weekend, though, a month's end, at that. I can at least take a break from all of my projects, and earn some of my paycheck from my part-time job as a pub's weekly musician.

What? I'm nineteen, I'm legal enough to enter a bar, let alone work.

But that's not the case, damn it, I need to stop getting sidetracked. So, have I mentioned to your guys that I like, really like, Japanese Animations? As in, Anime? I'm like... in love with them, near to the point of obsession, an otaku, one might say, or a weeaboo, another might call out, and I've recently picked up a trend among otaku sources worldwide. It's a free-to-play web-browser game about ships. World War Two ships, that have been transformed and moe-fied to look like anime characters.

That game is called 'Kantai Collection', or 'Fleet Girls Collection', I think, abbreviated simply as KanColle / KanKore.

This thing... how should I explain it, it's like Touhou Project, you know, Touhou, the Danmaku/Bullet-hell style game developed by ZUN? Yeah it's like that, but minus the Raiden-like gameplay, the fantasy setting, and add in some ships and a more modern timeline to it. Basically, an all-girls type of game. But KanColle is a strategy, turn-based game, with some micro-managing here and there, just like that game that has dawned its popularity for too long, Clash of Clans, but more awesome. Much more awesome.

I never liked that Mobile piece of crap anyway.

Now, the main objective of the game is build ships (or girls) to destroy the enemies, called the 'Abyssal Fleet', like, simple as that. Now, at first I was like all 'ayy lmao wtf is this shit', then, for reasons unknown, even for me, I got interested to it. So, after being an internet lurker by browsing Danbooru non-stop for six-to-eight hours straight, don't worry, non-H materials, I decided to try the game out. Looked at the wiki to take a peek at the simple tutorial, downloaded the proxy, participated in the lottery and won, and I became a full-pledged quote-unqoute 'Admiral'.

Fortunately for me, because of the perks of being an otaku (weeaboo), I know a lil' bit of Japanese. Learned a bit of the Kanji, Katakana/Hiragana online, while some of the speech and pronunciation directly through ear. My mom's an employee at Kawasaki Heavy Industries, so she also taught me some bits and pieces regarding the Japanese literature that she'd also learned when she worked there (Japanese bosses and such, you know) when I was still sitting in elementary. Surprisingly, I still remember all of the things she told me back then, up 'till this day. Mind you, I was not an otaku (weeaboo) back then.

Back to KanColle, I quickly became an addict, and I've been a daily player ever since. Got myself a pretty good fleet, with RNG-sama shining its grace upon my luck, by getting Kaga on my first carrier construction, Soryuu on my second, and Ise on my first battleship construction, I continued to play the game with no signs of getting bored, and the cycle continues to this very day. Now recently, I've been wanting to get the German ships, namely the Z1, Z3, Bismarck? You know them, and I've been grinding my fleet non-stop to get the needed resources to craft these girls.

Now you know why I always bring my laptop to my classes. Eheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh

Crap, that was creepy. But that's the truth though, I occasionally stole glances to my KanColle tab to check if any of my built ships result in a German one, sadly, RNG-sama hasn't been smiling on me, I keep getting Myoukou-Classes for some reason (using the 250/30/200/30 recipe), and it's been somewhat frustrating me to no end. Just today, before I went home, I created another one with that recipe, and just hoped for the best. Got some weird build time, but I ran out of flamethrowers anyway, so I yeah, I just left it at that.

So, got back to my apartment, my parents were generous enough to let me live alone on a flat near the campus grounds. It's a modest property with just adequate furnishings meant for a college student. My room's over there, Kitchen to the right, bathroom to the left, laundries can be left on a daily-bag. A small TV on the living room along with a small couch, so-so. My room comes with a desk and the flat comes in with a monthly-paid wi-fi connection, which I always pay it myself using my weekly wages.

Just a normal room, really. Although, it's kinda too big just for one guy like me.

When I got back, I dumped my bag on the couch and connected my laptop to my room's charging port. I forgot to charge it up yesterday, and it's draining the battery pretty damn quickly, even with the power-saving mode on. I opened the KanColle to see that the ship has about five-to-ten minutes left on the clock, so I left the laptop open to do my other things, like you know, turn on the TV, check out my Steam for any gaming news and declining those DotA2 and other MOBA invites, put my dirty clothes into the laundry bag, reply to unanswered LINE messages, and so on.

Huh, Grand Theft Auto V got delayed on the PC again. Why am I not surprised...?

Well, that's until the phone rang.

Of course, like any normal human being would do, I answered the phone, and you know what,

My mom called.

Well, it's not like I don't want to be called by my mom, I mean, I miss her and my dad so much, but they never really visited me, so... but, it's surprising, really to have her calling at this time of the month, it's only the beginning of March, and she'd called me just a few days ago. And instead of talking of the usual 'how are you doing stuff', she decided to go deeper and press into my personal life as a University Student. I'll just give you a short summary regarding my talk with my mom.

"Hello," I answered the call with a dull tone, as always.

"My baby! It's been a while!" Was the enthusiastic voice that came from the other line.

I stared at the phone blankly for a couple of seconds before placing the contraption to my ear again. "Mom, it's been four days since you last called."

"I know, I know, we just... really miss you that's all!"

A light smile crept to my lips as she spoke that. "Yeah, miss ya to. What's up? It's not like you to call me so suddenly."

"Oh, we were just wondering how are you doing in there," She replied with a much more calmer tone.

That made me blink, but I let out a wary sigh. "I'm fine, Mom, you just asked that a few days ago, remember?"

"No," Her suddenly serious voice caused me to blink yet again, this time in surprise. "It's been a full semester, dear. We're wondering about your life so far over there."

"...As in?" I queried in a low, careful speech tone, also feeling my right eyebrow arching up.

"Your life, dummy!" My mom yelled back in her usual bubbly voice again, I sighed. "I mean, how's your life treating you? How's your friends? Are they supportive? How about a girlfriend?"

"Mom, mom!" I shouted to the phone, pausing her frantic requests. "Breathe," I told her whilst my free left hand pinched my nose. "Life's been... okay, I guess. Not bad, not awesome, eh, so-so. Got more free time this time, but the projects, especially regarding biology and science as well as nervous systems are getting pretty intense. So, this semester has its own plus and minus, I guess," I twirled my index finger on the telephone line out of boredom before continuing. "And guess what, mom?" I asked her, slowly feeling a grin forming on my face.

"What?" She asked back.

"I got a raise on my paycheck while working at the pub!" I announced proudly, I mean, who wouldn't be proud? I'm now an independent, hard-working citizen!

Silence followed for a few seconds.

My eyebrows rose. "Mom? Ya there?"

I could hear soft breathing coming from her end. "...Girlfriend?"

I facepalmed and produced a muffled groan. "No, not yet," I answered in an unamused tone. "Really, mom?! I got enough money to finally make a living, and this is what you're curious about?!"

"Deary, you're already nineteen! You're an official citizen now, and you've been the one who always rant about not getting girlfriends since you're... what, fifteen?" She argued back.

"Yeah, but that was when I WAS fifteen!" I whined, frustration rising to my head with each and every passing second. "I got myself an okay job, Jordan and Timothy has been really good to me too, and studies are being a pain on my rear, so girls are not my top priority for today! On a much more important note, yoohoo, underdeveloped midget of a guy here, I'm still standing at a hundred-sixty-five centimeters, does THAT not bother you at all, oh my dear mother?!"

After my sudden, uncalled outburst, my mom just giggled quietly. "My, my, dear, calm down!" She exclaimed in between suppressed laughs. "No matter how short you are, you're still my boy, so don't worry, alright? We'll still keep sending you milk!"

I slowed my breathing down and allowed myself a smile. "Yeah, thanks, mo-"

Something smells weird...

"Dear?" My mom questioned, noticing my sudden absence. "Everything alright there?"

I sniffed hard. "Talk to you later, mom... I think somethin's burning..." I put the phone down, but quickly picked it up again. "Love ya!"

After ending the call, my nose scanned for the source of the weird smell. It sure smelled... strange, like a fire's being set off, but I can't see no smoke or any suspicious light for the matter. Heck I can't anything out of the ordinary from my room. Each individual rooms in this apartment are equipped with a built-in smoke/fire detector, I didn't hear mine's going off, do take note that these alarms are quite loud, but I couldn't really hear my neighboring rooms' going off either.

I searched the bathroom, nothing. Kitchen, everything's fine. Living room, nuh-uh. Balcony, nope.

So what's-

My room.


...I freak out.

I can see them. I can see through the cracks of my slightly ajar door, beams of white light. LONG, BIG BEAMS OF WHITE LIGHT. THAT'S NOT THE KIND OF THING YOU WOULD EXPECT COMING OUT FROM INSIDE YOUR BEDROOM. Flailing my arms in panic and alarm, I pull my face closer to the door, and take in one deep breath. Something is definitely inside. I'm sure of it. My laptop's screen brightness is obviously not enough to produce that kind of lighting.

Wait, speaking of my laptop.

Oh crap.

I forgot about the Kantai Collection! Oh God, oh God. Wait, no, what am I thinking?! My room could be potentially be on fire right now, and I'm going full retard on some otaku (weeaboo) stuff?! Slapping my cheeks twice to scavenge the last bits of sanity left, I place my hands on the knob of the door, also feeling a bead of cold sweat crawling down my face. I gulp hard and hold my breath in as I drove my shoulder to slam my door open, revealing my bedroom's interior.

As soon as I regain my lost composure, I also notice the light to die down significantly. When my retinas finally adjust themselves back to the normal light balance, my eyes, they capture an image I thought I would never see in a lifetime. My mouth falls open, my eyes go twice as wide, and I gasp loud enough to make me sound like I'm having some kind of deadly asthma. My body roots itself to the ground, refusing my order to move, or react, whatsoever.

I see... I see a girl, no older than me, I'm guessing a second/third year high-school senior with that kinda face, and no taller than me, prolly' even shorter than me just by a few inches. She has this short, brown hair, with bangs over her forehead, covering what it seems to me like it's a headband of some sort with two, horn-like... something, peeking out from the sides of her headband, and with two, much longer hair strands that fall to the sides of her face. She wears an odd set of clothes, if I might say so myself. It's like a white and black, long-sleeved suit that goes down to her thighs, acting as some sort of riding shorts, but with the sides, especially on her chest's sides cut out. She also wears a short red skirt, so short that her black shorts are actually longer than the skirt itself, and also a pair of armored thigh-highs.

But the thing that concerns me the most is her gear. A metal-like belt with miniature sized AA-guns is seen secured and wrapped around her waist, and that belt connects to a bigger contraption behind her, that incomprehensible thing also connects to two different equipment on each side of her waist. On her right side, is an aircraft-carrier's 'island', or should I say it in a more proper way: Bridge, complete with one, visibly large boiler right behind the island. On her left side, is a long carrier runway, chibified so it could fit her size, but still long enough to even nearly rivaling her height. And to add an even deadlier vector, this girl carries a crossbow, a more modern-looking crossbow compared to those used in the medieval ages, though. Her crossbow looks like the ones that's used in Skyrim, but it has this elegant touch to it as well.

There is no question. I am facing the first, the last, and the only Taihou-class Armored Aircraft Carrier.

Taihou.

But not an ordinary Taihou. She is Taihou, from the game that I've been talking all this time.

She is the Taihou from the game Kantai Collection.

I can see her slowly opening her eyelids, revealing her light chocolate eyes to me, her irises refocused themselves to her surroundings before they focused themselves to me.

And in one swift motion, she opens her mouth to speak, "そう... 私が大鳳. 出迎え、ありがとうございます。 提督…貴方と機動部隊に勝利を," She says that in perfect Japanese language, in which I immediately try to interpret it using my own knowledge.

"Right... I am Taihou, I thank you for your reception. Admiral, I shall bring victory to you and your fleet," I repeat her words in English, slowly, carefully, breathlessly, with my eyes still staring intently to hers. "You are... you are Taihou... right?" I asked, of course, in English, since my Japanese is pretty rusty.

She blinks, her face's expressions changes from her calm facade to a confused one. "Er... hai," She answers me. "I am Taihou," She continues, also using English, although it sounds a bit weird, understandable, though, since it's not her first language after all. "Is there something wrong?" Her head tilts to her side.

Okay, okay, don't panic. Think. I know my brain is still working, I know that it's not overheating. What makes Taihou, TAIHOU, out of all girls to just pop out inside my damn room so suddenly? Oh right, the game. Check the game, I just want to make sure that RNG-sama doesn't have a play in this. I walk slowly to my laptop, with the armored carrier watching my every step with her curious and confused face. I move my mouse to hover over the completed ship, with both builder fairies saluting me. The screen blackens as the card reveals itself to be:

"艦隊のアイドル、那珂(なか)ちゃんだよー! よっろしくぅ!"

I don't even get them...

I vein pops on my forehead as I scream to the air: "God damn you, R-N-G! God damn you to hell!"

Oh well, all in the days work.

WHAT AM I SAYING, THIS IS NOT A THING FOR ME TO STAY CALM TO, I NEED-


Cut-off Prevention


I'm Going Mad

A Kantai Collection Work of Fiction


Author's Notes:

What am I doing with my life?

So this is like a work that's produced when I'm too bored and got nothing to do during an English exam course. It started during my English writing exams, when we had to write down about 700ish words, and I decided to make a one-shot instead, and THIS, this is what came of it. Of course, where are my manners, hello, fellow readers, I am just another random author republishing my story on this same genre, Kantai Collection, replacing my older story, AnoFune.

There is a reason why I haven't updated AnoFune or any story at all for the matter, exams are getting dangerously near, and my motivation to do anything is on an all-time low. I'm tired, really tired, and I can't seem to bring myself to write anything for the matter, so I apologize to you who have read AnoFune. On the contrary of the usual Admiral and Girls theme, I've been inspired by the 'Video Game characters showed up on my house' concept for a while now, and I'd decided to try it out on a few other essays.

Turns out, it looks pretty entertaining, so I tried to bring this concept to KanColle. And yes, I've finally decided to try the game, and those things really happened. Anyone knows the recipe for Z1/3? I got two Myoukous, two Haguros, two Nachis, and one Ashigara, with Ashigara being my first Heavy Cruiser with the 250/30/200/30 recipe. So if anyone has any tips to improve my chances of getting those German ships, I will gladly accept them.

I know, I know, Taihou is not supposed to appear during normal ship construction, and bla bla bla, I'm sorry. Oh, and I also apologize for any OOC, which you all should be expecting, in advance.

I suppose that's it. I hope you enjoyed this English-exam project of mine. Thanks for reading.

Traesto.