The admiral's office had been bustling with activity just the past hour as the return of the first fleet reported their claims and encounters in the waters of Surigao Strait; a supposedly special area that had been opened as of late as a challenge map for certain admirals to try a crack at.

Having sent the tired and proud fleet off to the docks, the young admiral, no older than 30, was inspecting the written reports he had been given. They had just cleared the event map today, and the fleets were now free to take it easy for the rest of the month.

The main problem they faced now, however...

"Another perfect sortie..."

The admiral in his chair cradled his chin as he read through the report regarding the main fleet's endevour. everyone had heard this would be a challenging map, but up until now, Kongou, the flagship of the main fleet could only comment that the map in itself was mediocre to say the least.

"Indeed~ the long hike to the end node was a tough one, so we spent a bit of fuel... plus the end node wasn't a pushover... but!"

Kongou, knitting her brows as she recalled the map in general, then leaned in on the admiral's desk.

"Are you sure this is that rumored event map? I'm not saying I doubt you or anything, Teitoku~... but the sorties to this area have all been..."

"I understand, Kongou." the admiral, putting down the report, knitted his brows too. "Even compared to the first event, this was much too easy..."

According to the reports, the first few nodes were the typical flagships and ogres, some even housing a Re-class battleship or two, but none of them were, as the fleet would put it, suffocatingly difficult.

there was one peculiar node the fleet went through once out of sheer luck that housed an enemy class they've yet to see before. Smaller than the regular Ha-class or I-class destroyers, they were capable of firing preemptive torpedo salvos.

The only notes they were given of this new enemy is that they were designed to emulate PT boats that fire torpedoes off shore, and were made as an exclusive enemy only to this map.

The boss node was a new princess fashioned off the fleet of Jesse Oldendorf that had crushed the previous Nishimura fleet in WW2. A commanding Princess, she was aptly named. Her node consisted of 2 waves; the first being 3 DD class abyssal ships which records could not be found in any of the admiral's fort library; the second wave was the real power house with another new 2 BB classes and one of the rumored Re-class BB accompanied by more of the new DD ships.

It took all his main fleets could throw to conquer that boss node, but looking back in the end, the whole sortie was not much to bat one's eye at when compared to previous event sorties.

The buckets he used and the bauxite Akagi ate were still nerve wrecking, but he would not go bankrupt yet. In fact, the amount of resources they used hardly leveled with the amount they would use on any previous event maps.

The event map they had already conquered was the only map available. Rather than the event being called the Battle of Leyte Gulf, as the admiral had anticipated with the opening of Surigao Strait's map, the event itself had not even been named.

Why?

As the admiral found himself bound by his train of thought, the fragrant smell of Royal Rosemary tea wafted to his nose. Kongou had brewed some as the admiral was idle, it seemed.

"Tea time is a very important past time~! Let's try to calm our nerves over a cup of tea."

Kongou poured the freshly brewed tea and placed the cup within reach of the admiral. After which, she sat on a chair beside the admiral's desk.

"Thank you." He said, shaking his head. Perhaps he was thinking too much. The map had been cleared and he earned his reward without much of a hick. 3 medals worth of work was done and over with and he even got a new special equipment for his best DD class Fleet girls.

If Shigeru, his former best DD was still in his fleet, he would have it hooked up to her without pause.

Shigeru... it had been a while since he had lost his prized DD to another event map back when he was younger; more brash.

his carelessness led to her sinking in the hands of the Event princess in exchange for the conquering of the event map. It wasn't long before the admiral began to regret his decision to let Shigeru -the DD that had stuck with him through thick and thin ever since he only had a small fort- sink.

[Admiral, you're here early. It's only 10 in the morning. I suppose it is your job, being the admiral after all.]

Her light-hearted smile as she welcomed him -albeit with a slight tone of cynicism- as he arrived at the base.

[Sir...]

How she dutifully worked as his secretary ship then. It was just as they described her; "A loyal hound".

And he betrayed that loyalty.

Even at her last moments, the admiral vivid remembers seeing her smile as she sunk and faded away into the dark depths, joining the lost ships once again.

Having sipped his tea, Kongou was more than ready to refill his cup.

"Kongou, could you do me a favor?"

Kongou paused as she picked up the teapot, dangling the nose right over the teacup dangerously.

"Huh? What is it?"

"I'd like for you to get me reports and records regarding The battle of Surigao Strait and the Nishimura fleet."

As the admiral spoke, tea poured out of the tea pot Kongou had been holding at an angle and spilt out the cup. the hot liquid flowed out like a shining brown rapid river, but miraculously missed the documents on the table. the river continued and spilled over the table and onto the admiral's pants.

Needless to say, the admiral jumped out of his seat and wailed in pain. Kongou, in a panic, grabbed a napkin and began trying to wipe the admiral's pants, repeatedly apologizing the whole time.

"Hot! That's Hot! Quality tea pot that is for keeping the tea hot, but HOT!"

"Admiral~! I'm sorry! Please hold still, or I won't be able to wipe the stain!"

After the heat had dissipated from the tea stain on the admiral's pants, he calmed down and stood still. His leg still throbbing from the sheer heat of the tea.

In time, Kongou stopped wiping the admiral's pants and crossed her arms, looking as if falling deep in thought.

"Hmm. I think it might be faster if you took off your pants, Admiral."

"... Pardon...?"

His thoughts at a pause, the admiral stood frozen as Kongou rolled up her sleeves and tucked her fingers at his belt before pulling the belt out.

Let the stripping begin.

"Wait! Hold it, Kongou! I can take my pants off on my own!"

"But I'd be haunted by guilt if I didn't do at least this much! At the very least, let me change you or maybe even give you a bath to clean your lap! I'll even do medical aid for you if you got burns from the tea, Admiral~!"

"Your motives are a bit concerning my dear Kongou!"

They struggled for quite a while, soon falling over each other.

At this specific timing, as if fate were pulling a prank, Hiei came into the admiral office, accompanied by Haruna and the mission adviser Oyodo.

"Giving it all, Hiei is back and ready for the next sor-..."

"Haruna, right out the docks and rea-..."

"Admiral, good work as alwa-..."

As the three entered the room, vigor and spirit were instilled in their voices, the high feeling of conquering an event map still fresh in the air around them. Upon seeing the Admiral -his pants half open- with Kongou under him, they fell completely silent.

Haruna began to blush a deep red hue as she cupped her face with her hands. Oyodo coughed and excused herself calmly whilst Hiei, rolling up her sleeves as she stomped through the office towards the admiral, had a slightly irritated look.

"wh-wha-waht Are you doing to Elder Sister, you perverted Admiral?!" Flustered, Hiei grabbed the Admiral by his collar and shook him back and forth. Her blush very much visible to the admiral.

"W-Wait Hiei! There is a perfectly sound reason to this situation!"

"WAIT, Hiei! Stop shaking the Teitoku! He just stained his pants, so I was just cleaning it up for him!" Kongou shouted, hoping to defend the admiral, but it backfired and instead, Hiei's blush flushed even redder.

"What Were You Doing, ADMIRAL!?"

"I'm telling you to calm down, Hiei!"

Their voices roared out the room, and in just a short time, had attracted the attention of the rest of the fleet. Furthermore, thanks to Haruna mumbling to herself "The admiral and Sister Kongou were... and we just... but Haruna is fine; Haruna understands. Haruna is sorry for interrupting." and such, word of the admiral assaulting Kongou -which soon turned into anticipated rumor of the two's marriage being just around the corner- spread like wildfire.

Meanwhile, out in the Seas of Surigao Strait, the figure of a hooded female with a large tail stood out in the open. Her eyes were cast out to the south entrance of the strait, looking eager for the next fleet to arrive.

Up until now, she had been let down time and time again as each of the fleet that came by did not meet her expectations. And thanks to the request she had made of the princess, she had sat out every time the main fleet of a random admiral reached their node.

After being forced to wait for so long, the Re-class finally shrugged her shoulders as she muttered under her voice.

"I'm disapointed in you, Admiral."