The admiral is working is working overtime today and couldn't login, so the entire fleet had the whole day off. I sit alone at the sandy beach outside the harbour, watching the sun slowly setting into the ocean and listening to the waves lapping up the shore.

Time has passed so quickly. In the blink of an eye, I've already been here for more than a month. Over this time, I noticed two peculiar quirks about the admiral. First, he is highly disciplined. He would log in every day at the same time like clockwork to continuously refresh all four expedition fleets. This way, the port is never short of resources. The other shipgirls and I had abundant ammunition to feast on, and had enough to fuel to drink to the point of intoxication should we so choose. Big sister Alaska once told me that that the admiral stopped all constructions after getting me, and chose to expend more resources on the six members of the DREAM TEAM.

Second, I can feel that the admiral truly cherishes all of his shipgirls, and this isn't limited to the DREAM TEAM. During sorties, if any of us were to get heavily damaged, we would always be ordered back to the port. [1] When sending out other fleets for expeditions, the admiral would always rotate the members of the expedition fleets in order to give them some well-deserved rest.

As for our DREAM TEAM… How should I put it? I honestly have no idea how they could maintain such great team spirit and camaraderie at all times. We would carry out at least 50 sorties a day, but each time one member successfully sank an opponent, the other members would exchange high fives or hugs with her (I obviously didn't join in with their shenanigans. The others soon realised that I didn't enjoy such touchy-feely interactions, and were happy to use verbal encouragement as a replacement). In addition, since I was the last to join the team, the other five would always try to let me get the MVP in order to allow me to catch up in levels.

Putting all these aside, however, I still felt a little unsure of myself because I am undoubtedly the weakest battleship (some say the strongest monitor) in terms of raw battle ability. If the admiral were to construct a stronger fleet in the future, would he simply discard all of us?

"Airi, why are you sitting here all alone? Are you feeling alright?" Lexington's melodic voice rang out from behind me. Big sister Lexi sat down beside me, watching the sunset while stretching her arms out in front of her.

"Nothing, just have some stuff on my mind."

"Penny for your thoughts? A problem shared is a problem halved," big sister Lexi beamed.

"Lexi, what do you think about the admiral?"

"Ah… well… this is…" Lexi onee-chan was clearly flustered by my question, as evidenced by her reddening cheeks. "Why are you asking a question like that out of the blue?"

"I have only been here for around a month, but even I can see that everyone in the DREAM TEAM aside from me seems to be interested in the admiral. No offence, but in all honesty, I really don't understand your feelings sometimes."

Lexi-nee stayed silent for a moment, before leaning back to lie down on the sand with both hands nestled behind her head, her lush knee-length blond hair fanned out underneath her. This movement caused the front of her thin white three-button blouse to ride up. Since Lexi-nee's large chest meant that she was forced to leave the two lower buttons unbuttoned, the entire lower half of her blouse ended up separating to the sides, inadvertently exposing the entirety of her smooth, toned belly.

Lexi's abdominal muscles may not be as robust as big sister Alaska's, but they were still visible, and I could see the well-defined line that ran vertically from below her sternum, between the muscles of her abdomen and further down through her belly button before disappearing beneath her skirt, which hung below her v-shaped pelvic bones. Though Lexi-nee's figure was slim and slender at first glance, it was very clear that she had put in a lot of effort to train her body. I wonder… was she doing all this for the Admiral?

"I guess it could be because the Admiral appreciates our individual personalities. He isn't too concerned about our battle capabilities or statistics, and instead values each of us for our individual identities," Lexi-nee finally replied, still lying down on the sand with her eyes fixated on the first few stars that had come out of hiding in the rapidly darkening sky.

"Objectively speaking though, Lexi-nee, don't you have one of the highest stats for a CV? You're referred to as 'Lady' or 'Wife' because there isn't an admiral out there that doesn't want you in their fleet!"

Lexi-nee sighed.

"That's not the same. Most admirals see me as "CV Lexington", and not the actual "Lexington" underneath. When the day eventually comes where they manage to construct a stronger CV than me, will they still want me in their fleet?"

"If that's the case, Lexi-nee, how do you know the Admiral isn't that sort person?" I asked curiously.

"That's because… the Admiral respected my decision not to undergo surgery."

"What surgery?"

"My CV class can be modified to further increase my stats. I have a phobia against surgery, however, so even though my level is sufficiently high, I still don't want to be modified. The Admiral respected my decision and didn't force me to undergo modification. He simply told me to train harder to make up for it, and promised never to dismantle me because of my refusal to be modified. I was very touched by his words."

"What about the Nevada sisters? Are they afraid of surgery too?" [2]

"Hehe, that's incorrect. It's simply because the Admiral is completely inept with campaign mechanics, so he doesn't have the ores to –kai them… www" Lexi-nee chuckled. "And if you're curious about their feelings, then you should probably go ask them yourself!"

"Heh. Well then, what do all of you plan to do? I heard that we'll be having marriage functionality soon. Surely you can't all be planning to marry?" [3]

"That will depend on the Admiral's decision! Besides, marriage doesn't really matter. We are all members of the Admiral's DREAM TEAM, and that's enough for me. But let me warn you, the five of us won't simply roll over! If you intend to compete with us, then give it your best shot!"

Lexi-nee giggled after saying that last line. I laughed too. Lexi-nee was a good listener, and the two of us carried on our conversation for some time afterwards, before Nevada called us back to the port for dinner.

Seeing my five sisters sitting around the dinner table laughing and chatting made me feel a warmth in my heart. Maybe the Admiral is indeed a good person. Maybe the fleet that I lead isn't just the Admiral's DREAM TEAM, but also the DREAM TEAM that I myself have always wanted to be a part of?


[1]: The affection system was not in place at the time the story was written.

[2]: Andrea-Doria could not be kai'd at that time.

[3]: Wedding rings were not part of the game at that time.