The clapping ceased as the crowd of people realized that they may have overdone it with their surprise attack on the now very confused and scared admiral.
"Panda? What'sh a panda?" a petite brown-haired girl in a long sleeved white marine-outfit asked.
"I think it's one of those special kinds of monkeys I've read about in a book before! I may be wrong though, hmm…" yet another small girl with gray hair tried to answer, but failed with her knowledge.
"…Is Shiranui the only one wondering about this pink suitcase? I mean, considering the color of my hair, I'm not really one to speak, but still. Even for me, this is a little too much. Does this man have no shame?" A pink-haired girl of middle-height was staring deeply at the precious belonging of the admiral, criticizing his taste while doing so.
Among the mass of people, finally someone took the initiative to walk up to the young admiral and help him get back on his feet. Regaining his senses, Andreas looked up to receive a warm-hearted greeting by a man he is only too familiar with. "It's been a while, Andi. How have you been all these years?" It was Ju, a dear friend of his. They have known each other since high school. As fate parted their ways, it was ultimately fate that brought them back together. As much as Andreas wanted to chat about the old times and so on, he was not quite yet able to. He has still not fully recovered from the shock he received and was still demanding some sort of explanation he would probably never get. Now at least being able to observe the people standing in front of him, he notices another face he recognized and still not believes to see even though he knew that he would.
"Andreus, der Barbar! How are you?" A relatively small, young man, when compared to Andreas at least who had a gigantic height in direct comparison, took a step towards the admiral, greeting him with a mighty handshake. "Daniel, so you really ARE here, huh…" Although upon his arrival to the naval base he had never believed to reunite with two of his best friends in such circumstances, he was still pleased to see them both being well. After closer inspection though, Andreas realized that yet another old comrade of his who should be here is not present. Where is 'he'?
"So, I guess I can start my little 'speech' now, yeah? Ahem." Daniel clears his throat and readies himself to speak. "Welcome aboard the naval base of Zweikrallendorf! Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Daniel, and I work as the overseer and caretaker of these ships. It was also their idea to have this surprise party for you, our new commanding admiral. We all look forward to working together with you, may it be in good or in hard times. If you have any questions, feel free to ask any of us. We will be more than glad to help out in your first days of service. Thank you!" As Daniel finished, the crowed began their ovation once more until their hands were sore red.
"You should introduce yourself real quick, too. " Ju whispers to the admiral. "Oh, yeah. Of course." He raises his voice: "Ahem. My name is Andreas and from now on I will be the commanding admiral of this facility for the next few years. I, too, look forward to working with you all. Also, thank you for… ehm… the surprise. It was indeed surprising, I can tell you that, haha. Yeah…" As he finished his introduction, the girls put up their smiles, being super-relieved that their new admiral liked their little surprise. With no longer need for further formalities, the girls rushed straight at the admiral, overpowering him with their strength. "Hey, hey. You look pretty young and you are already an admiral? That's, like, totally awesoooooome!" yelled one of the young ship girls. "We made a cake for you! Please have some!" begged yet another girl. Seeing the situation as it is, the admiral is already quite popular among the children even though not a full five minutes have passed.
After the commotion has settled down itself, all went to the neighboring room at the other side of the wall where tables and chairs were neatly put inside of the festively decorated room. All sat down and had some cake. Really delicious cake. A cake so delicious a certain somebody would die for if he would have been present, but he was not. Sucks to be him. Andreas sat next to Ju and they had the little conversation Andreas was hoping to have.
"So, you decided to join this naval base after graduating?" Andreas asked.
"Yo. I planned it quite a while ago actually. After all, working with the ship girls is something every engineer could only dream of. The high advanced technology they possess is beyond human imagination. I would lie if I said I wouldn't be proud working here. Maintaining their health is a privilege, you can learn more than you could ever do anywhere else."
"Yeah, these girls… sure are amazing. I, myself, wasn't too sure about whether I wanted this job or not. Maybe a casual base with casual fleet ships would have been easier to handle, but… well, you said it yourself. It's a privilege being able to work with them." Yes, the so-called ship girls are the sprouts of modern human engineering and technology. They are but… Oh Never mind. Everyone reading this should know what they are. There is no point on dragging this any further. Anyway…
As Andreas took more and more bites out of the chocolate sprinkled cake, he just came to realize how actually damn good it tasted. "Oh boy. This cake is really good! It's been a while since I ate one so rich in flavor."
"Props to Daniel and the little destroyers. They put an all-nighter in order to prepare for the party. You should thank them later."
"I will. Speaking of him, what does he exactly do?"
"As you should know by now, these ship girls are almost identical in behavior as normal human beings. That being said, it's only natural for them to have a person that takes care of them, especially the younger ones. Daniel fulfills that role. He makes sure that everyone is doing fine even when they are not in battle. Together with 'him', they also organized the ship-girl's daily routines, so everyone has a job to do while they're inside the base."
"I see. The importance of his job is not one to neglect. By the looks of it, the girls have been raised well." Andreas nods as wisely as a wise old man would do, but stops after he had come to realize something he almost forgot. "You mentioned 'him'… where is he actually?"
"I was just wondering about that too. I'm pretty sure we told him that we would hold this party-" Ju was cut off mid-sentence as the door was banged open and a loud voice filled the room.
"ANDIIII!" a young man screamed. After he realized that all the attention was directed at him, he actually got embarrassed for barging in like that. Looks of confusion drilled into his soul and he knew that he had to say something as quickly as possible in order to resolve the situation he was in.
After clearing his throat, he took a short breather and out of his mouth calm and collected words were spoken: "…Andreas, my dear comrade. Long time no-" He was not able to finish his sentence as the pink-haired girl lost her patience and sent him flying with a Sweet Chin Music. Abruptly the young man bumps into the cracking wall with his head, performing a back salto only to hit his head again and went face-down to the ground which slowly but surely was soaked in a good amount of blood.
"O-Onee-sama!" stuttered Daniel as he walks over to the beaten man lying on the ground, accompanied by the little brown-haired girl: "Hakashe! Don't die, okay?" "Don't worry, Yukikaze. He is not someone who would die that easily… probably." replied Daniel as he looked into the seemingly lifeless eyes of the man. Still sitting on the other side of the room was Andreas who frankly spoken could not quite believe what he just witnessed. His body started shivering as he tried to get a word down his lips, but he failed. "You okay?" asked Ju who was a little bit worried and tried to get to him. Although he was still in shock, Andreas finally, after gulping 3000 times, was able to get his mouth moving: "T-That was… THE BEST SWEET CHIN MUSIC I HAVE EVER SEEN!"
