Chapter 4 - Clean


Yayoi had long ago stopped trying to understand all the eccentricities of her sisters. They were, like all other Shipgirls, just a part of their personalities. Even if they made no sense to her at times, she could still simply accept them for what they were.

Except for one.

Her fingers were lightly drumming against her arm as she waited outside the docks. To anyone else, it would have looked perfectly normal, but to those who knew the stoic-faced girl on more than a passing level it was clear that Yayoi was far beyond the point of irritation.

Two hours. She'd been waiting for two hours. The little accident in the training grounds had left Uzuki with some minor damage thanks to a shell going off in the chamber. Estimated repair time had been twenty to thirty minutes. Yet here she was, silently staring at the door as very angry thoughts passed behind her icy visage.

Of her sisters, Uzuki always managed to vex her the most. The two of them were like polar opposites. Uzuki's energetic, outgoing, childish, and incredibly excitable personality countered her subdued, distant, mature, and level-headed attitude almost like it was tailor made to do so. That was fine. She was used to it and had accepted it simply as part of who Uzuki was. This however, was getting to be too much.

Uzuki and her baths. Uzuki in the docks. She always seemed to take forever, staying in the water far longer than was necessary. Had it been any other base, Yayoi was certain the admiral would have slapped her with some disciplinary action for wasting valuable repair time that other damaged ships might need, but they were very far from the front here, with a handful of light skirmishes being their only claim to fame.

For the life of her, she just couldn't wrap her head around it. For the constantly moving Uzuki to sit in one place for so long seemed ludicrous. That she spent so long ensuring that every inch of her skin was cleaned thoroughly and to an almost obsessive degree just didn't make sense. She might have been a tad on the vain side, but she wasn't a primadonna and had no problem with getting dirty from what Yayoi had seen. It didn't even match up with her silly rabbit-like persona.

From behind the door, she heard footsteps, and knew that the wait was finally over. She started to move into a more neutral posture before changing her mind and holding position. Let Uzuki see how annoyed she was. Maybe then she'd at least start to take this a bit more seriously.

As the door slid open, a wave of steam struck her face, momentarily obscuring her vision. She faced the heated moisture without flinching, waiting for it to clear and reveal the one she was after.

Uzuki was there, strolling through the open doorway as casual as could be, dressed in a towel and stretching her arms over her head with a contented grin on her face. She wasn't even bothering to look where she was going and would have walked right on by had Yayoi not stopped her by saying "that's a dangerous pose you're taking. You should be more conscious of your audience."

The redhead just about jumped out of her skin with a startled yelp, stumbling as her feet threatened to spill out from underneath her before she saw who it was.

"Ah! Yayoi! What are you doing here?" She asked, clenching her towel with one hand while using the other to mat down her hair.

Her sister fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Waiting for you." She replied dryly. "You've been in there for ages."

At least she had the presence of mind to look sheepish at the accusation, giving a nervous laugh as she looked back over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess I really lost track of time, didn't I -pyon?" She said. "Hope you weren't out here too long. Won't happen again, I promise!"

"…Or you'll hand over your dessert for the next week?" Yayoi questioned, causing her mouth to drop open in surprise.

"How did you know I was gonna say that!?"

"Because it's what you said the last time." She stated. "And the time before that. And the time before that. I could keep going, but…"

"Ehehehe…"

"Uzuki…" She sighed, closing her eyes.

"You mean U-Chan~"

"Uzuki." She repeated. "This has to stop. You can't keep doing this."

"I wasn't in there that long!" The redhead replied, trying to look indignant but failing due to having to fight to keep her one article of makeshift clothing in place.

"You were in there for two hours."

"So!?" She demanded. "The carriers get to spend WAY longer than that in the docks, right?"

"That's because they're carriers." Yayoi said evenly. "They need to spend that long in there. You don't."

"It's no big deal though…"

"And what if we had ships in need of repair?" She pressed, stepping closer for emphasis. "Ships who would be forced to wait while you were dawdling in there."

"I… wasn't dawdling…" Uzuki replied, though by the way her eyes went to the floor it was clear she knew she was in a losing position.

"Am I going to have to lecture you about this?" Yayoi questioned, causing her to grimace. "Or even go to the admiral?"

"Eh!? Don't do that!" She pleaded quickly. "It's not a big deal, honest! And I've already promised the admiral that I'd only do it when the docks weren't being used by others."

Yayoi's eyebrow twitched.

"So he already knows?"

Her energetic sister paused, realizing she'd slipped up. "He… said it was okay as a special case -pyon… just as long as I didn't go around spreading the word or hogging dock time when other people needed it…"

Yayoi closed her eyes, counting to ten and logging in the back of her mind that she'd need to speak to the admiral about adhering to the proper rules of the base before returning her gaze to her squirming subject.

"And why is it that he's granting you special treatment for this?" She questioned, taking another step forward. "Would you like to tell me what's really going on?"

Uzuki's eyes glanced furtively to the side, furthering her suspicion. The trapped destroyer's lips pulled into a thin line as she shuffled uncomfortably on the spot.

"I'm waiting for an answer."

"It's because…" She started, chewing nervously on her bottom lip. "It's… er… the only time I get to unwind."

Yayoi's interrogation suddenly ground to a halt as the unexpected response threw her off balance.

"…Unwind?" She asked.

"Yeah. It's not easy being hyper all the time, you know?" Uzuki explained. "When I'm in the bath or the docks… it's a lot easier for me to relax for a while. It's… soothing. Or something like that. If I don't, then I just start to feel stressed and run down, and I don't want to end up having that rub off on anyone else. I'm sorry if I got on your nerves…"

It was a surprisingly reasonable answer. Knowing her sister, Yayoi had expected something silly and airheaded, not the genuine admission of what she'd gotten. If anything, Uzuki was looking a bit vulnerable right now, as though she were discussing some kind of secret she couldn't normally share.

"I… see…" Was all she could say.

A lull fell over the conversation as she chewed over the information. It was obvious now that this was more important than just negligent disregard for wasting time. Nodding silently to herself, she looked up and met her sister's gaze once more.

"Well… in that case… I suppose it isn't too much of a problem." She said.

"Really?" Uzuki asked, eyes widening.

"Yes, just please try to be reasonable about it. You know, like when someone is waiting for you to get out so that we can finish the paperwork we were assigned this morning."

And just like that, she was caught out again, freezing in place before letting out a nervous trill and rubbing the back of her head.

"Oh… yeah… I kind of forgot about that part -pyon." She said. "Sorry…"

Yayoi let her stew for a few moments before relenting, offering up her equivalent of a smile.

"Like I said, it's all right. Just meet me back at the dorms as soon as you get dressed. I don't want to hear any excuses, all right?"

"Yes ma'am!" Uzuki replied, giving a salute with a happy grin. "U-Chan will be there right away!"

This time she let herself roll her eyes as she turned towards the exit with a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"See you then."


Uzuki was silent for a while after her sister left, feeling her heart-rate calm down slowly. When it finally settled to a more reasonable level, she cast a glance back towards the docks.

It hurt. She watched them go, one by one, never coming back. It hurt, but she couldn't cry out. She had no voice. The only sound she could make was the mournful creaks of her metal hull in the cold and unforgiving water. The ocean had claimed them, and she was alone. The Mutsuki Class had been renamed, and the honor of being the new namesake of her division choked her like an anchor around the throat she didn't have.

Their blood clung to her, unseen. She could feel it. In every bolt, in every crossbar and weld, she could feel it. The weight of outliving the others. The weight of being alone.

She shivered, feeling the air start to chill her unprotected body. In a way, she was glad Yayoi had been so annoyed with her. The irritation had stopped her from noticing the fact that her skin was rubbed raw. Scoured. The same way it always was when she got out from the docks. No matter how long she spent in the water, she could never wipe away the past. Not with those memories lurking in the back of her mind.

The admiral knew of course and had been kind enough to let her have this time for herself. She was grateful. Even if she couldn't share the echoes of her past with her sisters yet, she was happy that they were here now.

Little by little, she worked up her composure once more and let her face meld into her usual bright smile.

Someday I'll tell you the real story, Yayoi. She thought to herself. So please, keep waiting for me until then.