After five minutes, the admiral recovered from the pain, and as she did, the girls of the Hammerhead fleet finished their preparations. Fubuki and Murasame, as well as Kiso donned their uniforms that looked like high school girls' sailor uniform, Ise was clad on her usual Kimono, meanwhile Haguro tidied up her complexion, brushed her hair and tidied her purple uniform, finally dried herself and put on her elbow gloves.
The fleet walked slowly behind their commander, some their metallic heels clinked loudly on the wooden floor of the hallway as they trudged to the second fleet's room.
Speaking of which, the admiral herself were pressing a bag of ice to her forehead. After the incident with Haguro, Houshou rushed out of the dormitory room and quickly retrieved a package of ice from god-knows-where and took care of the admiral wholeheartedly.
"Mom sure is amazing!" Fubuki remarked jokingly, but seeing Houshou's motherly figure, the others can't take that as a joke and agreed with Fubuki in with amazement. Even the admiral who was down on one of the bunk bed agreed with the fleet members with an added remark saying "you would be a great wife one day" which results in Houshou being flustered and the other ships squinting their eyes in clear jealousy.
The admiral walked in front of the fleet with Ooyodo on her right and Houshou on her left as they arrived at the front of the second fleet's dormitory room. Learning her past mistake, the admiral gingerly knocked on the door, silently hoping that the second fleet is already up and ready to go so she there won't be any complications.
But as she did,
"SCREW OFF! DON'T COME BACK HERE, OLD HAG!" A blasting voice came from inside the room. Hearing the roar, the admiral got her breath stuck on her throat for a while, and soon after, she sighed. It seemed like there will still be complications.
"…I guess the Bramble's children had too much time on their hands…" the admiral muttered. She turned her head from side to side as if looking for something, and it looked like she found what she's looking for. "Ashigara, come over here."
"Hyi!?"
The shriek did not come from anyone in the first fleet's group, but it belongs to the mature-looking woman standing in the corner of the hallway, just several meters ahead from the second fleet's dorm room. After hearing the call from her commander, the woman that looked like she was in the middle of her 20s approached the Admiral gingerly. "Hahaa, the admiral is sharp as always", She remarked
"N-nee-sama, what happened?" asked Haguro. Both Haguro and Ashigara wore the same outfit, indicating that they are both belonging to the same ship class.
"I was playing around with the Bramble fleet, but somehow Maya got angry and started calling me names", said Ashigara with a pout on her face. "You too should say something to her, miss Admiral!"
"Oh you bet I will." The admiral turned her face back to the second fleet's room and rolled her sleeves up, revealing her pale white forearm, before muttering in a silent rage, "Nobody calls me an old hag."
As she said that, the 8 shipgirls around the Admiral widened their eyes and held their breaths. The admiral knocked the door once again, only to be replied with another shout.
"GO BACK TO YOUR OWN ROOM!"
But the admiral didn't concur. She kept knocking the door again and again until the girl inside grew tired of shouting and decided to deliver her words to the one who kept knocking directly to her face.
"I TOLD YOU TO FU—kh?!"
"Hm."
The shipgirl who popped out of the room with fury in her face had a short hair and antennae-like hair decoration as well as a small green beret. Her sufficiently abundant chest was covered by light green sailor uniform-like short dress that exposed her slim enticing abdomen. Her face that was flushed red with anger turned to red of embarrassment and a mix of fear, her face was almost as if saying "I've made a huge mistake".
"Maya." The admiral said that right in front of Maya with her arms folded and voice cold as ice.
"…P-Present." Just like Haguro several minutes ago, Maya was shocked as her face paled. Her high-pitched tone dropped and she replied in a slight stutter.
"Remind me of what you said when I first knocked on your door." The admiral continued, looking down at Maya who was about 10 centimeters shorter than her.
"W…what is it indeed." Maya somehow decided to play dumb and turned away while smiling wryly.
"Ooyodo."
"Y-yes, she called you…an old hag."
"I see." The admiral smiled so radiantly that if people do not know of the context, they will see an angel smiling down upon the Heavy Cruiser girl.
But for Maya, it was like she was looked down upon by someone trigger-happy with a scythe. Maya closed her eyes, bracing herself as she thought the admiral would hit her.
"…eh?"
But the Admiral slowly moved her arms and gently enveloped both sides of Maya's cheeks with her palm. She exerted enough force to lift Maya's face to look at her in the eyes without being too rough, and as she finished, the admiral called out to the shipgirl with gentle voice, unlike the voice she used literally 5 seconds ago.
"Maya…" the admiral said softly with a tender voice,
Before her hands grabbed Maya by the cheek and pulled them apart "Which mouth was it that called me a hag, huh? I'm. Still. 25. Years. Old."
"Ueeeee I'm sowwy!"
The admiral quickly released Maya's cheeks and put her hand on her hip with a look of disappointment. She had noticed how people around her mistook her for being older than she is due to her rather mature behavior and her towering height for a girl, and she didn't really pay it any mind personally because she took as a blessing to be called mature, but to be called a hag in her prime age is simply not okay.
"Now explain what was going on." The Admiral commanded. "I heard you had a fight with Ashigara?"
"Yes…" Maya pouted. "I mean I was sleeping and she kept poking my ear with a quill, of course I'll be mad!"
What are you, twelve? The Admiral thought silently as she peered over to Ashigara who stood by her side, looking like she refused to believe what Maya just spoke about.
"…and Ashigara, what do you have to say?"
"I would just like to inform you that it is completely not true." With the same manner, Ashigara replied stiffly, and,
Yeap, it is true, thought the rest of the crew in the hallway.
The admiral sighed, looking like she was plenty disappointed, but the admiral felt that their reunion should not be ruined by mere child's play, therefore she decided to shrug it off.
"Ashigara, return to your dorm room, I'll talk to you later. I'm going to go check up on this fleet and proceed to yours soon." The admiral ruffled Ashigara's hair before gently pushing her away. Ashigara timidly held her head after the admiral's rough affection and puffed her cheeks. She ended up reluctantly nodding and walked off. Meanwhile, looking at Ashigara lazily walking away from her, Maya stuck out her tongue.
"Ow!" In response to her behavior, Maya received a light chop on her head.
"So? Are you going to let me in?"
"F-fine…!" almost as if she's puffing in what seemed to be fake anger, Maya attempted to show that she was reluctant in letting the admiral in.
Maybe because it was slightly later than when the Admiral visited the Hammerhead fleet, the members of the Bramble fleet was more-or-less ready. Three of the shipgirls inside were idling around waiting for the admiral to come and see them. Two of them was sitting down on their bunk beds chatting with each other, while the remaining two who aren't ready quite yet were seemingly still perfecting their already-perfect looks. Their flagship Yamashiro who she saw earlier in her office was also present, sitting in a seiza calmly as if waiting for orders. Barely anybody notices it, but she very subtly smiled as the Admiral walked in and showed her face.
"Ah, Miss Admiral," the girl with a blazing pink hair tied to a cute ponytail greeted the admiral as she swung her legs on the upper part of the bunk bed. She wore a lime-green, slightly baggy hoodie on top of her nearly-hidden Japanese school swimsuit and sailor uniform and it almost looked like she wasn't wearing anything underneath that hoodie.
"Welcome back Admiral!" after the submarine girl, another girl clad in frilly orange dress appeared from behind one of the wardrobes, excitedly greeting the admiral. Seeing how her signature buns were tidily put up and her usual radiant excitement fills the room, the admiral's lips naturally curled up.
"Oh, Iroha and Naka, good afternoon." The admiral greeted back the light cruiser casually, while responding to the submarine shipgirl without calling her name as it was intended. Her name was supposed to be pronounced as Imuya by some, but the admiral preferred the name Iroha (From Ichi (1), Roku (6), and Hachi (8) of her ship number). The submarine girl herself didn't seem to mind as she jumped down the bunk bed, her bright hair swaying like rose petals blown by the wind. "I see that everyone's almost ready."
"Indeed, we are ready," said the destroyer Isokaze who were just done combing her long, black hair. Her complexion and her cool stoic tone would usually lead to people thinking that she acts more like a knight, but for the Admiral, she looked like a proper Yamato Nadeshiko.
"Well, nice to see you girls again," the admiral said, "how are you doing, Hamakaze?"
"Umm! Mmm!" As the admiral asked the bob-cut silver-haired destroyer, she only managed to reply with a mumble as she was holding onto her bright yellow scarf on her mouth meanwhile buttoning up her white sailor uniform matching that of Isokaze's. As if wanting to greet the admiral back and tell her that she's doing well, she jumped lightly in place; her ash-blue pleated skirt fluttered and showed her bountiful stocking-covered thighs.
"You can continue dressing up, Hamakaze, don't mind me." The admiral tipped her hat slightly with the intention to greet Hamakaze back. "I believe Yamashiro have told you, but we'll meet up in the dining hall soon to discuss the agenda for the warmup training. I think if you girls are ready you can go with us; I have the first fleet ready behind me."
"Naka-chan agrees~!" exclaimed the light cruiser with enthusiasm, somehow addressing herself in third person.
"I-I guess that'll be a good idea." Maya responded in her pseudo-tsundere-like tone again before turning her face away with an adorable pout.
"Haa…I just hope I don't have to face Fusou-nee-sama…" meanwhile their flagship still smiled despite sounding like she was complaining about her commander's decision and stood up from the tatami mats elegantly.
