It has been two days since Nagato's arrest. The echoes of that night were still loud and the cause of such state of affairs refused to leave her room. Sakawa could not help but feel sorry for her friend, but at the same time did not understand how could Nagato, who had always been so kind, do something like that. However, these thoughts had to wait.
"Light cruiser Sakawa, reporting!", she let out and saluted as she entered Vice Admiral's office.
"Huh? I don't recall requesting your presence, Sakawa…", Hara seemed surprised to say the least.
"B-but… Sakawa was told to report to admiral's office, pya.", the cruiser let out her quirky catchphrase, being caught off guard.
"That might be because I called you here, Sakawa-chan.", Akagi appeared from behind the corner, holding three cups of tea. "We need to talk.", her expression turned serious, yet stayed gentle.
"I assume, you need me to participate?", Hara asked, pointing his sight on the cups.
"But of course, admiral… You are, after all, the reason for this meeting.", she paused, putting the tea on the table. "At least partially…"
"No helping it, I guess. Is it about my smoking?", the Vice Admiral asked, standing up from his chair with a heavy sigh.
"It's no time to joke. Sakawa, please sit down.", the carrier patted the couch, next to her.
"Pya.", she uncertainly accepted the invitation.
"I called you to talk about Nagato…"
"I believe we solved that issue?", Hara sneered.
"Admiral, it's you who tried to solve it. I wasn't invited.", Akagi was visibly hurt by the events of two nights earlier.
"Oh, so that's what it's about…", Hara and his secretary ship were obviously going through a rough patch.
"May I finish my sentence, admiral?", the carrier sent a thundering stare towards her commander.
As Hara and his secretary exchanged pleasantries, Sakawa was sitting between them, feeling completely out of place and hoping that they will get back on track sooner than later. She always thought of these two as a perfect couple, partially because her lack of social experience, so seeing them in these passive-aggressive stances baffled her to no end.
"As I was saying, I called you in to talk about Nagato. As you are probably aware, she attacked another Shipgirl two nights before. Hara-san believes that it's because of too much work, so he suspended her from the duty for a week.", she paused to take a sip, sending yet another hostile look towards the admiral to stop him from interfering. "However, I have a reason to believe that her behaviour was not caused solely by being overworked. Please keep what I'm going to tell you to yourselves."
Uncertainly, Akagi started talking about her early days as a Shipgirl. It was the first time she honestly spoke about those days. It was not a secret that her adjustment period was extraordinarily long and hard, also for those around her. Taking short but regular breaks to either drink or gather thoughts, the carrier described how her nights were riddled with nightmares, soon leading to self-imposed insomnia, which in turn caused multiple problems. She had clearly been mentally unstable during that time, breaking down in tears at one moment, only to act like nothing happened just moments later. A striking opposite of the Akagi now holding the highest position available to Shipgirls.
She also explained how lack of rest disturbed her metabolism, leading to excessive eating and putting on unnecessary kilograms. A habit she still has not got rid of nearly a year later, although the hellish training routine allowed her to stay in shape. Things have got so bad, that Hara had to arrange for a military psychiatrist to help with what he believed to be an average case of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. However, even JMSDF's best doctor was unable to help.
Yet, throughout that time, three people arose above the circumstances and kept doing all that was in their might to bring Akagi into shape worthy of the legendary carrier. Vice Admiral Hara, Shouhou who was the fleet flagship at the time and Hiryuu. Out of these three, it was the latter whose presence turned out the most important. The constant closeness and understanding of a junior whom she believed to have failed, mitigated the effects of the disastrous Operation MI on Akagi's psyche. Hiryuu, however, did not stop at just being there as she kept introducing her senpai to charms and wonders of the modern world, as limited as they were at the base. All this allowed the current fleet flagship to slowly but surely find herself in this new world and rise above all and any adversities.
Throughout Akagi's story, Sakawa found it surprising how the carrier was referring to Shouhou with san, a manner of speech she only used when referring to a handful of Shipgirls that Sakawa could probably count on the fingers of one hand. With all her kindness, Akagi's self-esteem certainly reflected her status and capabilities - to some it served as motivation, others simply found it annoying.
"So, you believe that Nagato's situation is similar to yours?", Hara asked, taken aback after realizing how little he knows about the woman he has been spending nights with for the past few months.
"Yes, admiral. Similarly to mine, her… first death so to call it, was not only unexpected, but also traumatic…"
"I expected that much, that's why I assigned Kongou to her… We can see the results.", sceptical, the admiral once again interrupted Akagi.
"There is one more thing that we have in common, admiral.", she continued, too emotionally exhausted to point out that Hara interrupted her again. "We both failed to protect somebody we felt we had to shelter. In my case it was Hiryuu and Souryuu. In Nagato's case…"
"Sakawa!", Hara jumped out of his seat, pointing at and startling the light cruiser.
"Pya?!", she had immediately stood at attention, before realizing what was going on.
"You are a genius, Akagi!", he exclaimed, kissing her on the cheek. An act that made the carrier forgive admiral's lack of manners.
"It was actually Hiryuu's idea…", the flagship remembered to credit the right person.
"You mean… Sakawa can help Nagato?", the cruiser's eyes lit up like fireworks.
"Yes, Sakawa-chan. I'd like to ask you to take on Kongou's role as Nagato's caretaker, but also take it up a notch. Try to spend as much time with her and make sure feels your unconditional support. Whatever's ailing her, your job is to make her forget about it, until she can stand on her own two feet.", Akagi explained taking on a serious expression.
"Pya!", Sakawa sprung on her feet, standing at attention and saluting with uncommon energy, even for her standards.
"Well then, you are free to go. Carve the victory in the dawn of horizon, Sakawa!", with rascal's smile, Akagi mocked the traditional line used to signify the beginning of an operation.
Overjoyed with her new assigned Sakawa ran out of the office, completely forgetting the etiquette.
"Tell me… Do you still have those nightmares, Akagi?", Hara asked on his way to close the door left open by Sakawa.
"Not anymore, they've stopped around the time we liberated the Midway Atoll.", the carrier fell heavily on the couch.
"That's good to hear…", Hara's face turned bright again. "Also, thank you for being honest today… And taking initiative with Nagato's case. Go take some rest."
"I just need few minutes, Takuya.", she called him by his given name for the first time in two days, slowly floating away. "And… thank you for back then.", but that part was already impossible to hear.