"I can't believe you choose to wear that." Enterprise said, obviously irritated judging from her puffing cheeks.
"Thank the gods I'm allowed to wear this." countered Zuikaku as she closed her dark double-breasted suit with six golden buttons aligned in two rows.. "Besides, where do you think I could get a good dress in twenty-four hours?"
"Rent exists, you know."
Zuikaku turned around and sighed. "To be honest I'm kind of amazed that you and your ships dragged a bunch of tailored dresses across the Pacific."
"Well, we're not just here as soldiers, you know? we're also partially expected to be diplomatic envoys."
Zuikaku looked closer at Enterprise, and for a moment she was stunned at how well she fitted into her dress. The light gray dress was remarkably conservative, barely showing any skin at all with its glittering full sleeves and a tall neck that almost reached the base of her lower jaw. The skirt was so long and flowing that it dragged beautifully across the floor, causing Zuikaku to almost instinctively look for a puddle of water on the road, where she would then put her coat over it so that Enterprise could walk across without dirtying her feet. However, as modest as the dress was, the way it fitted the contours of Enterprise's body nearly made Zuikaku point her AA guns in the general direction of the Vatican and demand the pope to saint whoever Enterprise's tailor was.
"Yeah, there's no way I could pull that off." whispered Zuikaku a little bit too loudly.
"Huh?"
"N-nothing!" Zuikaku averted her eyes as she turned around, trying to hide her face from Enterprise. "Anyway, I don't like dresses except for dress blues and the kind."
"Tch. And here I was hoping to see you in a low cut."
Zuikaku imagined herself in a low cut dress.
"Yeah, not happening." Zuikaku snickered as she pulled her ribbons off her hair.
"It's strange to see you without your twin tails."
"Well, couldn't wear my hat with it, could I?"
Zuikaku picked up her officer hat from the table and put it on her now straight and flowing hair. She then turned around, arms extended to the sides.
"How do I look?"
Enterprise looked silently for a moment, then she immediately averted her eyes.
"It...it's fine, I guess..."
Zuikaku really liked Enterprise's skin. It's so pale that it's almost impossible for her to hide a blush.
"Still would love it if you wore a dress, though..."
Seeing Enterprise's shyness, Zuikaku smiled before slowly walking towards her, her eyes never letting go of Enterprise's body.
"Now, now, we wouldn't want to blind everyone with our combined beauty, would we?"
Zuikaku put one hand on Enterprise's shoulder and one on her chin, forcing Enterprise to look her in the eyes.
"You're cute enough for both of us."
Without even giving Enterprise's heart the chance to start fluttering, Zuikaku pulled Enterprise into a small kiss. It was just a peck, but the effect was immediately obvious.
Enterprise looked down at Zuikaku's chest, not daring to look at her face.
"You ruined my lip gloss." said Enterprise, gently caressing her lips. "I...I need to fix it."
Zuikaku smiled and shrugged. "Sure. I can wait."
"E-excuse me."
Enterprise started to scramble towards the door. She's not quite running since she's wearing high heels, but it was faster than a walking pace nonetheless. Zuikaku kept her gaze locked on Enterprise's backside as she disappeared behind the door.
Satisfied, Zuikaku turned her attention to a full-body mirror leaning in one corner of the room and promptly noticed that she had caught a trace of Enterprise's lip gloss. Zuikaku gently licked her lips.
It had been quite a while since the last time Zuikaku wore the dress uniform of the JMSDF. Honestly, she wished that she had gotten the chances to wear it more often. She really liked the design. The black color mixed gloriously with the golden insignias, patches, and trimmings, giving an aura of gallantry befitting a member of a proud navy.
Zuikaku checked herself thoroughly. Her tie was exactly the same width as her lapels, there was no gap between her shirt's collar and the jacket's, and the shoulder pads were resting solely on the shoulders, not too long nor too short. The only flaw was that one of the badges on her left breast was slightly crooked, which Zuikaku immediately fixed.
In most navies deploying Kanmusu forces, a Kanmusu would be considered a single large vessel. That's why nearly all Kanmusu in the world were officially recognized as captains. It's mostly just formalities since for the most part Kanmusu was treated almost like an entirely different branch of the military, kind of like the American Marines, but the OF-5 pay grade was quite nice regardless.
Zuikaku quickly checked on her sleeves, making sure there were no loose threads coming out the four bars and sakura petals that made up her captain insignias. For a while, Zuikaku looked solemnly at the sakura petals on her sleeve, which symbolized the Japanese soldiers' willingness to die for their country like the fragile petals of the sakura trees. Some things never changed.
Zuikaku took two steps back, taking a general look at herself. One benefit of being somewhat detached from the regular navy, or a 'maritime self-defence force' as the politicians liked to call it, was the slightly freer uniform regulations, as evident by the fact that Zuikaku had opted for a pair of pants instead of a skirt and a hat that didn't make her look like she came from the nineteenth century.
Zuikaku was about to get out of the room when the door opened and the head engineer Fukuda and the repair ship Akashi came barging in.
"Ah, good. you're not wearing a silly dress." said Fukuda, her eyes gleaming under her glasses.
"Can I help you?" asked Zuikaku politely.
"You are going to a party far inland, correct? Far enough from the base that you wouldn't be able to summon your rigging remotely?" asked Akashi.
"Well, yes."
"That's why you're the perfect subject to test our newly developed PDW!" shouted Fukuda, obviously excited.
"PDW?"
"Personal Defense Weapon." answered Akashi, taking out a wooden box out of somewhere. "Here, put it on."
Akashi opened the box. Inside was what looked like a leather wristband with some mechanical bits attached to it. Zuikaku took one step forward and took it, before putting the strap on her left wrist.
"Flick your hand." ordered Akashi.
Zuikaku did so, and the mechanical bits on her wrist suddenly expanded. Two metal bars immediately jutted to either side of her wrist, with what looked like a single metal wire connecting their ends. Another metal bar extended between the two prior bars, it was ridged, with an obvious slot to slide in an arrow-shaped object. What was obviously a trigger mechanism jumped straight onto Zuikaku's palm, ready for her to pull.
"Wrist mounted crossbow!" said Fukuda proudly. Akashi was silent, but Zuikaku could see the pride in her eyes.
"Why would I need this?" Zuikaku gave her honest question.
"Well, the Abyssal are getting more and more human-like, at least in forms, as time goes on, right?" said Fukuda.
Indeed, the first time Zuikaku faced a Wo-class carrier came as a surprise for her.
"So some of the higher ups has been worrying about the possibility of Abyssal infiltration units. Hence the program to develop a personalized, concealed weapon for our Kanmusu."
Zuikaku looked at her wrist. It was definitely a marvel of engineering, but it looked suspiciously simple as well.
"I'm going to a high-class party. Why now?" Zuikaku asked again.
"It's supposed to be a weapon that you could carry at all times. So if you could forget that it existed at all and had fun in the party, then we could declare the project a success." said Akashi. "All the other field tests were already done. It's fully functional. we just need this one more test before we can start mass production."
"Is it safe? Plenty of high profile people will be in the party."
"Absolutely. The draw weight and length are too low to kill anyone directly. It's solely designed for carrier use." said Fukuda. "Akashi, if you..."
"Of course."
Akashi took out some kind of small ammo belt filled with crossbow bolts and gave it to Zuikaku.
"Nakajima A4N, Type 95 carrier fighters." said Fukuda.
Zuikaku tied the ammo belt around her forearm with the points of the bolts facing her elbow, before covering it with her sleeve. She then folded the crossbow back to its original form, and it suddenly became completely invisible under her suit.
"Only biplanes, huh?"
"The best we can do for now, regretfully." said Fukuda with a hint of anger in her voice. "But it should give you the time you need to get back to base and get your proper rigging in the case of sudden unexpected attack inland."
"That is only if you accept this test, of course." added Akashi.
Zuikaku felt the crossbow's weight on her wrist, and honestly, she really liked the feeling of security she got from it. Zuikaku had enough of being executed with her hangars empty.
"Sure. I'll do it." said Zuikaku.
"Yes!" Fukuda threw her arms above her head in triumph. "Can I expect your report to be ready tomorrow?"
"Ugh. Fine."
"Alright, then..."
A knock came from the door, heralding Enterprise's approach.
"Crane, I'm ready to...oh." Enterprise's words stopped when she realized that Zuikaku wasn't alone.
"Uhh...we should go." said Akashi as she pulled Fukuda to the door.
"You two have fun!" said Fukuda as she walked, or more precisely dragged, past Enterprise.
When the two carriers were finally alone in the room again, Enterprise walked towards Zuikaku.
"What was that?" Enterprise asked worriedly.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." said Zuikaku, caressing Enterprise's cheek with her right hand as she was yet to completely trust the device attached to her left.
"Really?" said Enterprise, suspicious.
"Really." Zuikaku smiled. "Everything is going to be fine."
Indeed, everything was going to be fine. Enterprise looked so beautiful, and Zuikaku would have an entire night to spend with her.
Absolutely nothing could go wrong tonight.