This other Amagi wasn't much to look at – although perhaps she was being a little biased. Clad in a green kimono and with long brown hair, the carrier version also wore a hair ornament; above her left ear, in more or less the same place as herself, was a red hibiscus. Her demeanor was, at least to the battlecruiser, incredibly timid.
But that was overcome by some serious fan-girling. "It's such an honor to meet you!" she exclaimed, taking Akagi by the hands. "I've heard so much about Carrier Division One. You're a legend!"
She blushed with the flattery. "No, no, don't say that. We're just doing our jobs." The awkwardness flowing from her sister was nearly palpable, but Akagi elected not to address it.
The other Amagi, however, forced her hand. "Ah, who is this, though? You look so alike… sisters? I don't remember you having a sister. Did I miss something?"
"Oh. Ah, well?" Akagi looked over as her sister crossed her arms. She winced with nervousness.
"I am the battlecruiser Amagi," she stated plainly. "The first Amagi."
Carrier Amagi, a hand over her mouth, approached with some emotion close to reverence. "Oh my, but… I thought… no, never mind. It's not important. It's an honor to meet you as well." She also took her hand, but only one, and found it colder than Akagi's. "I'll, I'll, ah..." She was clearly trying to think of something fancy to say, but the imposing presence before her killed any chance of that.
Akagi stepped in to save her from herself. "You still need to have your fitout assembled, right?" she asked, indicating the olive duffel bag near the new girl's feet. "Kaga is waiting for me, anyway. I'll stop by your room and let you know when the Admiral wants to see you."
"A-all right! Thank you, Miss Akagi!" She nodded to both of them and grabbed her luggage – the weight of which caused her to toddle away in a lopsided fashion, squeaking with surprise as she repeatedly caught herself.
"She seems nice," Akagi remarked with a smile. Her comment was met with stony silence. "Amagi – hrm. I need to call you something else now, I guess." Her eyes searched for an appropriate nickname. "Sister. Yes. Is something bothering you?"
Amagi started off for the bathhouse. "It's my name."
Relative to all the other possibilities, this one was almost a relief. "It still is your name. You and her are totally different."
And what did that mean? Amagi squinted into the distance. "Hmm. In more ways than one."
"I'm listening. If you want to talk, I mean."
Did she? Would it even matter? Had it been anyone else, Amagi would have blown them off without a word. She found herself unable to do it to her sister. If anyone deserved to know, it was Akagi. So Amagi relented. "I watched the whole thing."
A little part of Akagi knew what she meant already, but… "What thing?" she asked, running her hand over her hair to keep the wind from throwing it into her face.
"The war."
"Right." She looked over to see Amagi downtrodden, or at least very close to it. "You're not like the rest of us, are you? You sound... different."
"No, I'm not." What else could she say? Things were beginning to get uncomfortable for her; visibly so, in fact, as Akagi noticed and took her by the hand as they walked. "What?"
"You saw me sink?" Despite her question, there was a little smile on her face.
Amagi couldn't match it. She couldn't even maintain eye contact. "Yes. I saw everyone sink. Even the little one before the war."
"Oh, Miyuki." Akagi hugged herself with her free arm. "We all bounced around out there for a little while, didn't we? Just waiting."
Amagi's mind was wandering now. Her heart spoke in its stead. "Tosa chose to die. I didn't."
There was such venom in her words, despite its subtlety, that Akagi snapped her eyes over. "Tosa? I barely even remember her. She was just a… just a presence. A fog around her hull. Like-"
"Like me?" Amagi concluded for her, eyes like diamond. "The planet killed me. It took me from you. I can't kill the planet, so I settled on killing the Abyssal fleet. Call it misplaced vengeance, I guess." Silence. On her sister's face was deep concern. "What?"
"Ah, you know, it's not healthy to be bitter." Relief tinged her words – of all the possibilities, this was probably the easiest to handle. "Maybe you should speak with the base psychologist? Couldn't hurt." The battlecruiser was suddenly tight-lipped. "No, no, no, that's the exact opposite of what you should do. Stop."
"I've said all I want to say." By now they were right on top of the bathhouse anyway, so Amagi used that as an excuse to shirk the topic. "Isn't this it?"
"Well, yes, but..." Akagi peered at her. "Fine. I'm not done with you."
After moving beyond a small lobby, they entered a room full of hot tubs sunken into the teak floor. Kaga had one all to herself in the far left corner. Hatsuyuki occupied one in the opposite corner. Another girl was in a tub near the middle – Amagi didn't recognize this one. She had shoulder-length reddish-brown hair that curled up at the ends.
"Ooi? What happened to you?" Akagi asked as they walked past.
"Nothing. Just trying to stop my shoulders from..." Ooi noticed Amagi and blinked. "...hurting. Hey, the new girl. Come to lop off my head?" She cackled at her own joke; no one else did. "Aw, I'm just kidding. I wish I had rumors that cool swirling around me."
"They're not rumors." Amagi ignored her confused grunt and moved on, coming to a stop when Akagi did the same. Unlike her sister, she didn't regard Kaga with a smile. Or with any emotion, really. "I apologize for yesterday."
Kaga gently dismissed it with a wave. "We all fell for it. I'm more angry at myself than anyone else."
"So stern." Akagi sat on the floor and grinned at her. "Feeling better?"
"I wasn't that damaged in the first place," she said, her brow furrowed. Her eyes went to Amagi, looming over them both in silence as she stared off. "Curious."
"Huh?" Akagi glanced between them a few times. "What's curious?" It became quickly apparent that neither of them were going to talk. "Goodness, must you both be so stoic?" she grumbled. "One is bad enough." Her partner's sideways look drew a giggle. "Don't you glare at me. Go ahead, sister. I'm sure you don't want to listen to two old flat-tops babbling."
Amagi cocked a brow at her, but shrugged and took the chance to leave. Ooi, laid back and lounging, watched the battlecruiser depart. "Geez, another Kaga? Don't we have enough frigid chicks around here?" she quipped.
While Akagi giggled again, Kaga simply crossed her arms and sighed. "I don't think any of this is very funny. Neither would you, if you'd been out there with us."
"Sheesh, you're snappier than usual."
"Kaga… has a point." Akagi poked at her legs and frowned. "The way Amagi takes out her frustrations is a little worrying."
Ooi tilted her head. "Who cares? As long as she aims at the Abyssals, more power to her."
While Amagi wanted to return to her room and wait out the rest of the day before sleeping, the Admiral had other ideas. As she walked toward headquarters, she caught a glimpse of that other her speaking with Houshou and frowned. "My name," she muttered. It continued to bother her even after reaching the office.
But the blonde wasn't there. There was only Nagato, who shut the door after Amagi entered. "She'll be a few minutes," the battleship advised. "Akashi found out what you're putting in her display cases. The Admiral isn't pleased."
Amagi was entirely unmoved. "I am in trouble?"
"Is she mad at you? Yes. Are you in trouble? I don't know." Nagato arranged a few of the documents on her desk to fill time. "Didn't she order you to stop collecting trophies?"
"I believe she suggested I stop."
This earned her a stern gaze from Nagato. "I'm fairly sure it was an order, so stop it. Akashi has been through enough." They regarded each other silently until Amagi's stare made her too uncomfortable. "Ahem… but besides that, good work. You've certainly proven capable."
Her mind was elsewhere, specifically on the carrier that had stolen – that bore her name. "I wasn't aware there were two of me," she said, still staring at Nagato despite the battleship's refusal to make eye contact.
"Huh?" It only became clear to her after some thought. "Oh, you mean the carrier Amagi? I don't see how you two could be any more different."
The Admiral strode through the door just then, massaging one of her temples. "It only took me ten minutes to get her to stop crying. I'm kinda surprised." She glared at Amagi after sitting down. "Maybe you didn't hear me the first time? Stop headhunting, damn it. I'm not gonna clean up after you again." If she was looking for contrition, Amagi's expression held none. "Am I clear?"
"Yes."
Like Nagato, the Admiral eventually lost her staring contest with Amagi and looked away. "Good. I'm taking Kaga and Hatsu out of the line for now. You should do fine with one destroyer, but I want the group to have two carriers." Why she bothered waiting for a response was anyone's guess; Amagi barely seemed present, much less attentive. "Hey! Wake up!"
The clouds in Amagi's eyes vanished as she looked down. "I am awake. I'm also waiting on you to get to the point."
And so she did. "Yeah. We're short on teachers, so my new carriers are gonna have to settle for operational training. Nagato's fleet gets Houshou and Unryuu. Your fleet gets the other Amagi." Her blue eyes widened with surprised at the battlecruiser's sudden change in expression. "Huh? What?"
"My name," she whispered, before adding at normal volume, "What about Akagi?"
"She stays with you. Your fleet is my fastest combat-ready force; you're gonna see the front a lot. I'm not gonna trust the new girl by herself in that kind of situation. Not yet."
Amagi's face hardened, but she said nothing except, "When will we deploy again?"
The Admiral just shrugged. "Dunno. I'm having Goya do a scouting run at the moment."
"Goya?" Nagato chimed in. "Since when do we have a submarine?"
"She came outta construction just after Amagi number two. Which, I mean, that's nice and all, but damn. Where are my battleships?"
"Am I dismissed?" Amagi asked, her interest in the situation already gone.
She was waved toward the door. "Yeah, yeah. Go on. Just remember, you're on call. Make sure you're ready to suit up."
Once she was in the hallway, however, Amagi stopped walking and contemplated her new fleet mate. The thought caused her face to twist with disgust. "Why should I have to sail with her?" she asked a painting on the wall. "She stole my name."
Cloistered in her quarters, Amagi stood for hours in silent consultation with the heads of the four Abyssal girls arranged on her shelf. The sun had set an hour ago, but she felt no need to turn on the lights. Darkness enveloped her, a black blanket that helped her think.
No, not think. Her mind held no thoughts, just emptiness. An emptiness reflected in the foggy, lifeless orbs staring back. Gentle rapping from the door broke her concentration. "Yes?" she said over her shoulder.
"It's me." Akagi. "You're not asleep? Don't tell me the lights are broken."
Amagi sighed away her frustration at being disturbed and moved to greet her sister. "What is it?" she asked once the door was out of the way.
Confused, Akagi looked past her for a moment into the blackened room. "Have you—ah, forget it. Goya is back from her rounds." The battlecruiser regarded her with a blank stare. "Uh… we're going to deploy soon. I hope you caught a nap, at least."
"I'll be fine." Amagi stepped out into the hall and shut the door behind her. "What does she want us to do this time?"
Akagi fell in beside her as she started to walk. "Um, actually? I'm not sure. I guess we'll find out in a minute."
Ashigara and Akebono were already in the office by the time they got there. Atago, not Nagato, was manning the other desk. "Hello!" she chirped happily. "Well, look at you two, you're almost twins! How fun."
Carrier Amagi entered next, peeking through the door before moving in quietly. "Am I… early?"
"Blondie will be right back!" Atago assured her. "She's doing—I'm not sure what she's doing. Something important."
There wasn't much time to wonder what. "All right," the Admiral said as she entered. "Sorry for the lack of radio, this one's a bit of a secret. So keep your mouths shut." Her eyes darted between the two Amagi. One seemed nervous, the other vaguely annoyed. "Goya found a couple of enemy carriers not too far from our position. You're the fastest group of girls I have with capital ship firepower, so go kill them. Atago, give them the numbers."
"The enemy fleet appears to be constructed around two Wo-class," she advised with a smile. "I think the Admiral will call it a successful operation if they're sunk. The rest of the fleet seems to be anti-aircraft cruisers."
"Do we have enough air defense?" Ashigara asked worriedly.
"You do now, suckers!" They all turned to see Maya strut into the office, head cocked haughtily. She took a spot beside Akebono and folded her arms. Not a single one of the other girls gave her the reaction she was looking for – Ashigara, especially, just snarled at her. "Don't stare at me. Say something!"
"Your new outfit looks fucking ridiculous," the Admiral said with a snicker. "All right, get going. See you all in the morning. Oh, and Amagi – I mean the big Amagi – remember what I told you not to do."
"I know," she replied before turning to her fleet. "Come on, then."
They sailed east under a blanket of diamonds. Maya had the maps, and consequently was leading them along with the battlecruiser astern, followed by the rest of their merry band. Amagi the carrier was too nervous to talk. Ashigara and Akebono were uneasy for other reasons. "You sure are quiet," Maya noted. "All of you. Too damn quiet."
"Maybe you talk too much," Ashigara fired back, clearly annoyed at Maya's presence.
"At least I can get a date!"
"I-I'll kill you!" she screamed, sailing closer. Amagi, eyes narrowed, easily held them apart as they threw half-hearted punches that never got close to connecting. "What was Shirona thinking?! Why did she stick you with me?"
"Behave yourselves!" Akagi scolded from the rear. "You're setting a bad example for Akebono!"
"I'm already a bad example," the destroyer corrected her with a grin.
Their scuffle continued, however, until the battlecruiser snapped, "Shut up before I shut you up!"
Her warning echoed across the night, bringing silence in its wake. It hit Ashigara hardest – she knew what Amagi was capable of – but Maya lingered a moment before moving to the other side of the formation. Everyone gave Amagi space, but none of them gave more than Ashigara and Akebono. Akagi moved in after a bit. "Sister… are you all right?"
"My name," she mumbled to herself, rubbing her eyes with one hand. "I think I'm sleepy."
"E-excuse me?" the timid Amagi said. "Shouldn't we launch planes? Aren't we close?"
Akagi considered this briefly before agreeing with a nod. "Hrm. Just a few. I don't want my pilots to get lost." She slipped an arrow from her quiver and notched it. "Amagi – I mean, the new Amagi – you search east. I'll look west."
"Y-yes! Right away!" she confirmed, fumbling to get her wand and scroll free of their cases. Once the latter was unfurled, she swung it around, casting aircraft out like magic. "Fighters, away!"
"Hey, guys," Maya called. "I got radar returns… airborne!" Her secondary batteries trained up. "Damn!"
"Terrific..." Akagi breathed, notching and firing arrows as fast as she could. The nervous carrier off her port side had more trouble get planes up; her scroll tangled and twice, she nearly dropped her wand. "Amagi! I could use your help!"
She struggled to free her scroll. "Y-yes, I'm… hold on a moment!" And then, to compound her troubles, she almost fell over. "Eeeek!"
The display made her wince. "Oh boy. Sister! Ashigara! Maya! Go ahead, I'll send a squadron to cover you!"
"I'll stay here," Akebono added, brandishing her guns. "Just in case someone tries to squeeze these guys again."
The idea of leaving that other Amagi to help guard her sister was genuinely disgusting, but there was a war to fight. She relented and sailed forth. "Be careful."
In thirty seconds the fight was on top of them. The shadows of Abyssal ship girls drifted along off their bows, lit only by a withering hail of anti-aircraft fire directed toward Akagi's planes. Ashigara began to fire at them, while Maya focused on bringing down an increasing cloud of enemy planes. Amagi helped the former, her main guns turning night to day for an instant as they fired. Those enemy cruisers quickly took a back seat to the problems above – aircraft were everywhere. "Hey, uh, guys? We've got a problem!" Maya yelled. "Akagi? Yo?"
"I'm sending them up as fast as I can!" she shouted back. Amagi, meanwhile, had finally righted her equipment and was also launching – but bombers. "No, Amagi! We need fighters right now!"
"O-oh! I'm sorry!"
Dive bombers were already swarming – some of them dropped on Maya as she began to weave crazily. "Gaaaaah! Get away from me you little bastards!" Akagi's fighters swooped in to drive them off, but more appeared. "Oh, come on!"
"Split up!" the battlecruiser ordered. "At least we'll dilute them!"
Ashigara shook her head furiously. "No way! We need our combined air defense!"
"And it'll be easier for us to cover you." Akagi looked over as the nervous carrier finally started to send out the right planes. "Calm down. There are two of them and two of us."
She nodded once, mostly focused on casting her air wing. "Y-y-yes ma'am..."
"Whatever we're gonna do, let's do it quick!" Akebono said, dropping her torpedoes. Some seconds later, there was a tremendous explosion and scream. "Think I got one..."
Once again, the battlecruiser took command. "Then we'll punch through together. Akebono, scout ahead."
"Yep!" She danced through the tracers and falling bombs, firing her cannons almost indiscriminately into the night. Each girl focused on evading attacks and feel silent.
Carrier Amagi, meanwhile, was having trouble directing her aircraft. There was too much going on at once for her to keep track, and unlike Akagi she lacked the training and focus to see her through. The bigger carrier concentrated completely on keeping air cover over the fleet. This left Amagi to cover her. For a while, she succeeded – until her fighters needed to return, and she lacked replacements to launch. "Problem! Big problem!"
"What's-" Akagi looked up and, via radio chatter with her pilots, noted a distinct lack of friendly planes. A faint whistling noise reached her ears. "Oh… oh no..."
The others looked back just in time to see a screaming Akagi bracketed by massive sprays of water, her shouts drowned out by the explosions that caused them. She skated toward the rest of the fleet with tears streaming from her eyes.
"Hey, little Amagi!" Maya yelled. "We need cover!"
"I'm-I'm trying!" she shouted back, struggling with her scroll. Fighters launched at a painfully slow pace; all the while, enemy bombers kept deploying their payloads from the darkness above, forcing the ship girls to dodge and weave. Another squadron fell upon Akagi, this time with more success – one of the bombs hit her flush. "Miss Akagi!"
Squealing in agony, Akagi sailed in seemingly random directions, smoke billowing from the machinery on her back. "Put out the fiiiiiiiiiiiiiire!" she screeched at her crew.
For her sister, the din and flickering of the fight dropped away around her. Akagi's pain took center stage, took the entire stage, took her very breath away. At first it didn't really register. Then the memory kicked in. The smoke and flames. A listing warship in the middle of the infinite ocean, caught in its death throes. Unlike the first time, though, Amagi was here, and she had just found an entirely new level of rage to fuel her fighting. "Stay with her. All of you. I'm going to stop the planes." Her voice was as calm as the sea beneath their feet.
A tone that left her allies nervous and confused. "Why? Where are you-" Ashigara went quiet as the battlecruiser sailed ahead. "Are you insane?!"
"It doesn't matter if I sink." Via radar, she tracked the retreat of the enemy bombers, which seemed to be heading east. "Stay with Akagi."
Maya tried to convince her otherwise. "You're the flagship! We can't just leave you!" Neither cruiser had a chance to physically stop her, however, as more bombers were coming in. "Damn it!"
"Good luck, scary!" Akebono yelled, moving back to the others.
It seemed suicidal to leave the steel umbrella of Maya's AA guns behind, but something weird happened the farther away she got from the rest of her fleet: the bombers stopped dropping on her. They would fly past, sure, but almost out of curiosity more than anything, darting away when Amagi's secondary guns fired upon them. She had quite literally left the battle behind, and it didn't follow. In the distance were two wispy blue lights. They registered in the night as very large radar returns. Apparently in response to her presence, they began to move around and fire at her, but the shots fell far short and long. In a minute more Amagi was looking at two Wo-class carriers – and they stared back. No one bothered to shoot at each other from this point-blank range. One carrier even felt safe enough to retrieve her planes. "You?" Amagi asked out of the blue, struck by some familiar feeling.
"Wo..." one of them said in return, brandishing her cane as if to attack, but doing nothing further. Even when the battlecruiser aimed at her, she refused to fire. "Wo."
The carrier that had recovered her planes sent them out again. Amagi silently ordered her little guns to take them down. Only now did the two Wo-class become hostile, unleashing a metallic shriek as they started shooting. Their air advantage was almost non-existent with Amagi being so close – in fact, she could engage one carrier with her main guns while her secondaries hit the other. One sixteen-inch salvo blew the nightmarish hat right off the Wo-class it struck, leaving her to flail and dash about as if her hair were on fire… because it quite literally was. The other Wo-class, pelted by small high explosive shells, directed her planes to attack. Amagi snatched her over by the cane and held her like a human shield, forcing her planes to veer off. "I don't like you!" she yelled. "You're too much… I hate you!" Her fist slammed into the Abyssal's back over and over. A sharp crack rang out from some bone she hit, but Amagi kept going.
Planes flying around her dropped into the sea as their controlling carriers died. Their passing went by unnoticed, even though she held one dead Wo-class in her grip and the other had exploded fairly close by. Her fist continued to drive into the lifeless body despite her crew telling her the target was no longer a threat. "I hate you!" she shrieked again.
And this was how her fleet found her, venting rage that should have been long gone by the time they arrived.
How the Admiral was still awake at this hour was a minor miracle, but she wouldn't go to sleep before her fleet returned. She never did. "Why do you look so grim over there?" she asked Atago, who was clearly listening to a radio conversation.
"Oh, um, Ashigara says there might be a problem with Amagi. The big one. With the guns."
This was unexpected. She titled her head a bit. "Eh?"
Atago shrugged at her. "I'm not sure, she's being kind of vague. Oh, Akagi seems to have been damaged by a bomb, but she's still floating."
"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit." Unnerved, she stood up and walked around in aimless circles. "Was anyone else damaged?"
"Hold on." Atago's blue eyes rolled about slowly during her silent chat. "Oh dear. It seems everyone is a little scuffed up except Amagi, ma'am. The big one, I mean."
She stopped walking and stared at Atago. "Wait. If she didn't get hurt, then what's the problem?"
"Dunno. They're coming in now, maybe we should go look?"
"Yeah. Yeah, we should." The Admiral waved for her to follow and strode out of the office. Moments later, they were on the catwalk overlooking the concrete landing inside the dock building. Not long after, the huge door rumbled open to let the ship girls in. Akebono and Ashigara were first with Maya right behind, all of whom sported at least a little visible damage. Akagi was next, her movements gingerly and slow. Her sister helped her along with one hand. Carrier Amagi brought up the rear from a fair distance, and for some reason she was crying. "Hey!" the Admiral yelled. "What happened?"
"We won!" Maya flashed a thumbs up, but her act didn't hold for long. "Uh..." She sneaked a look over at Akagi and her sister. "You might wanna talk to-"
"She almost got Akagi killed," Amagi snapped, causing her namesake to jump with fright.
"Buuuuut she did well once Amagi, er, the first one, drew away all the enemy aircraft," Ashigara interjected. "Ma'am, uh-"
"Atago, make sure these girls get fixed up," the Admiral ordered. She snapped up a gloved hand in the battlecruiser's direction. "Except you. I wanna talk to you."
Amagi followed along, but stopped when she reached the Admiral and watched everyone leave. Unlike them, there wasn't a scratch on her, not a thread of clothing displaced. She was as pristine now as she'd been when the fleet left. "Yes?" she asked curtly.
The sight was incredibly confusing. "No damage at all? How?" A ghostly wisp of smoke drifted away from Amagi's face. "Maybe I spoke too soon. You take a hit in the optics?"
"I wasn't hit at all. The carriers didn't even shoot at me."
Yet there was a distinct, if very faint, trail of something wafting from her eyes. Or eye – the Admiral couldn't tell. Amagi's words brought back a memory of her previous assignment, which yielded to a curiosity, then to a terrifying question that made her ditch her original topic. "Forget it. Follow me back to the office. I need to make a phone call."
