"Ughhhhh..."

Damon rubs his forehead with his palm, groaning himself awake. Slowly and painfully getting up, his chest and left arm both throbbing somewhat simultaneously, Damon sits up on the couch that he finds himself sleeping on in the living room, not far from where the girls were having their little beauty pageant with Haruna and Amagi. Not surprisingly, many scraps of cloth, random kimono pieces, and other miscellaneous articles of clothing litter the living room floor.

"Ah, Admiral, good morning."

Damon looks up, and across from the living room is the fairly large kitchen, in which Shigure is walking about, reaching into the refrigerator and pulling out a carton of half-dozen eggs.

"Did you sleep well?" Shigure asks with a shy smile, and Damon rubs the side of his head.

"This must be what it's like ta have a hangover, except instead 'a havin' a headache, my fuckin' whole body aches," Damon groans, reaching down and pulling on his tattered cap. Shigure giggles quietly.

"I'm - I'm very sorry for what Yuudachi started," she says gently. "Had I known that everyone would jump on top of you, I would have...erm, acted sooner..."

Damon gets up and heads to the kitchen himself as Shigure glances at the oven controls to figure them out, setting the carton of eggs on the counter.

"What 'bout everyone else?" Damon asks, checking his knife handle for the time, which reads 0645.

"Everyone stayed up quite late," Shigure says pleasantly. "We had lots of fun last night. The last few days were very tiring, so...we took this opportunity to do our best having fun." Shigure glances at Damon apprehensively. "I hope you didn't mind..."

"Mind? But why would I? So what if you're all having a bit of fun?" Damon shrugs, reaching over and turning on the oven for Shigure and grabbing a frying pan from the cupboard.

Shigure looks relieved at Damon's words, but she stands by Damon awkwardly as Damon cracks open a few eggs onto the frying pan after dabbing the pan with a bit of cooking oil.

"U-Um..." Shigure mumbles shyly, "Admiral...I-I can cook for you, so...so please relax..."

Damon stares at her.

"You sure?"

"Yes. I insist."

Damon shrugs.

"A'ight, go for it."

Damon retreats to the dining table and seats himself as Shigure cooks the two of them eggs. While she cooks, Damon checks his email for anything important and fiddles with his electronic knife handle.

"Here you go, Admiral," Shigure says kindly as she slides a plate of hash browns, eggs, and a strip of bacon in front of Damon. Surprised at the speed at which she cooks, Damon hastily puts away his knife handle to eat.

"Wait, where's yours?" Damon asks, noticing that Shigure has no breakfast plate of her own. Shigure smiles again shyly.

"I...I wanted to make your breakfast first, Admiral," she replies, returning to the kitchen.

"Huh? That's no good, you could've just made our breakfasts together."

"Well...I - I didn't want to keep you waiting, so..."

"It's not like I'll get angry for waiting an extra five minutes...but whatever. Thanks for cookin' for me."

Shigure closes her eyes and smiles before turning her attention back to the kitchen again.

"You're welcome, Admiral!"

Damon chooses not to eat until Shigure prepares her own food, and after a few minutes, she joins him at the small four-person table with her own plate of eggs, hash browns, and bacon.

"Eh? Was...was there something wrong with my cooking...?" Shigure asks with genuine concern. "If - if you don't like my cooking, Admiral, please, just let me know - "

"No, no no, nothin' like that," Damon quickly interrupts. "I just thought it'd be better if we ate together."

"Oh." Shigure's cheeks redden in embarrassment at her misinterpretation of the situation. "I-I'm sorry...for making you wait..."

Damon grins slightly as Shigure puts her hands together and says "Itadakimasu."

"Y'know, you don't have to apologize all the time to me," Damon says quietly, digging into his eggs as well. "I'm pretty chill with most things. Things like this - I don't really get bothered by it. Just remember - if I do something that you're not sure what it means, usually you don't have to worry about it. If there's something wrong or I feel like something's wrong, I'll tell you. Okay?"

Shigure nods. "Yes, Admiral."

"And please don't call me Admiral."

"Ah!" Shigure puts her hands over her mouth. "I-I'm so sorry, I - um - impulse, yes, it was impulse!" Shigure begins to flail her hands in front of her.

Damon shrugs, shoving the strip of bacon on his plate into his mouth whole. Shigure notices his left arm in its sling.

"...how is your arm, D-Damon?" Shigure stumbles over his name, embarrassed at addressing her Admiral by his first name.

"Still sore as fuck. That dogpile last night didn't help at all. Probably made it worse, to be honest," Damon grimaces.

"Oh...please forgive them, I...I'm sure they were only having fun..."

"Obviously. It's not like they were trying to hurt me. It's whatever, it'll heal up soon."

Damon concentrates on eating, leaving the kitchen area silent, too silent for Shigure's tastes. Because only she and Damon are on the entire first floor, completely devoid of sound except for the sounds of breakfast being consumed, Shigure begins to feel the pressure of trying to start a conversation to break the silence, but at the same time she refuses to, in case Damon wanted to eat in silence.

"So how've you been doin'?" Damon suddenly asks, looking up at Shigure from his food.

"E-Eh? Me?" she asks, slightly flabbergasted.

"Yeah. Now that Yuudachi's back and she's been upgraded from what I hear, you feel better now?"

"Oh." Shigure smiles once she realizes what Damon is talking about. "Of course, Damon…sir." She adds in the "sir" at the end because she still feels embarrassed about calling her Admiral by his first name. "I'm…I'm thoroughly relieved that Yuudachi is now safe and well. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much."

Shigure, like Kisaragi from yesterday, bows to Damon at the table. Having already been bowed to before, Shigure's bow doesn't quite make Damon as uncomfortable, but it still feels weird being bowed to.

"Geez…" Damon scratches his head, "I told Kisaragi this yesterday too, but thank Mr. Araki and Sanford first, they're the ones who did the surgery, didn't they?"

"I gave them my deepest thanks after Yuudachi came to after the surgery. They told me to also thank you as well."

What a déjà vu.

Damon makes a small, kind smirk. "You don't have to thank me. Knowing that she's back's enough for me."

Shigure, however, appears melancholic. "But…you became so injured to keep them safe. You fought so that everyone who underwent surgery could do so without fearing for their safety. How can we ever repay you, sir?"

"You already have, haven't'cha?"

Shigure's eyes grow wide.

"Already, sir? I'm afraid…I don't understand…"

Damon stabs at one of the hash browns with his fork.

"Just bein' my ship girls and doin' what I tell ya's enough for me. I mean, if ya think about it, that's what a normal Admiral would do, right? Look after his fleet, make sure none of them sink? Well, in this case, my job was to get Yuudachi and the others to the surgery place and make sure they all got better. Whatever else happens, doesn't matter. We completed our objective, and we got out in one piece."

Shigure gazes at Damon. "Is…it so simple, sir? You really do not feel as though we must owe you something? Surely there must be something we can do? I, in particular?"

The last part of Shigure's statement catches Damon's ear.

"Wait, what do you mean, you in particular?" Damon asks.

"You prioritized my sister's revival over everything else. We were barely here for a single night before we were off on yesterday's mission. You acquired the resources that were necessary for Yuudachi's surgery to succeed. You – " Shigure bites her lip lightly, "without you, sir, Yuudachi wouldn't be alive right now."

Damon shrugs slightly.

"You really like Yuudachi, don't you?" Damon mutters.

"Yes. I love Yuudachi very much. She's…my sister, after all." Shigure blushes a little bit.

"Must be nice."

Nodding, Damon stabs another hash brown.

"…Damon, sir, you…don't have siblings of your own, right?" Shigure asks.

"Nope, got none. Only me." Damon taps his finger against his fork. "Though, I might have a cousin, if what I've been told is correct. Unconfirmed, though."

Shigure leans forward slightly, curious about Damon's personal life. "Do you know anything about your cousin?"

Damon shakes his head. "Sanford told me that I mighta run into someone who might'a been my aunt, she had a girl with her who could be my cousin. I don't know – I don't know anything about them. I never knew I had an aunt and cousin still surviving."

Shigure, disheartened, slowly sits back up.

"But, admittedly," Damon grins, "it felt weird seeing you without Yuudachi somewhere nearby. I think it's best if you two stayed together."

Smiling brightly, Shigure nods in full agreement.

"And, sir…" Shigure says shyly, "can…can you promise me that if I fall victim like Yuudachi did, you would do the same for me so that she won't have to worry like I did?"

"I'd do that for any one of you girls," Damon shrugs. "That's not a question."

Shigure nods one last time. "Thank you, sir."

Once Shigure is done eating, Damon having finished far faster than Shigure, Damon offers to take her plate to the sink.

"Admi – er, Damon, sir, do you have any plans today?" Shigure asks as they wash their dishes in the sink.

Damon sighs. "Gotta take the body over to the cremation office on the other side 'a town. Can't keep that body in here forever like a bad habit."

Shigure's hands stop washing her dish with the soapy sponge in her hand.

"…the boy…who was…shot, right?" Shigure asks in a small voice.

"Yeah."

"…is…Murakumo-san doing well?"

"I talked to her last night. Tried my best to cheer her up, but I'll tell ya, I ain't no therapist. Did my best to try 'n help her get over it, but it's up to her whether or not she wants to get past the whole thing."

Shigure looks down at her plate.

"I'm sure Murakumo-san appreciated you talking to her," Shigure says.

"I'll know for sure once I head out with the kid's body."

"Huh? What do you mean, sir?"

"I told her to come with me to cremate the boy's body, 'cause I'm thinkin' that by doing that, it'll help Murakumo get over this whole thing. 'Course, I could be totally wrong, but I just tossed that out there, see if Murakumo's interested."

"Oh, I see. But where is she right now?"

"Dunno. Probably still up on the roofs…I won't be surprised if she's still there."

"Will you, erm…won't you call her down? It's…lonely, isn't it? Being up there all alone."

"Murakumo feels like the kinda girl to take things at her own pace," Damon says. "Kinda like me. So don't bother her or tell her what to do for now – she'll sort it out eventually on her own."

Shigure continues to wash her plate.

"You're going to cremate the boy's body, sir?"

"Yeah. Burial's really expensive; usually down here in New Chicago, most people cremate their dead since space for graveyards and cemetaries is scarce. Not to say that there aren't any, but it's that if you want someone to be buried, it's gonna cost a whole shit-ton. Cremation's a lot easier. Plus, I'm plannin' on takin' the ashes up to Inner Chicago and go see this place where they'll take people's ashes and compress 'em and turn 'em into a jewel or a diamond – I forget exactly what – and they'll turn it into a piece of jewelry for you to wear."

"Wow. But…that sounds very expensive, the diamond compression part."

"Sure is. I ain't lookin' forward to the hit my wallet'll take."

"…but…all for Murakumo-san? What did she say about it?"

"She didn't say anything. And besides, if you wanna look at it this way, my arm's like this 'cause I went all in on gettin' those girls in that lab to get their surgeries done. Money's not that big a deal anymore for me."

"Then...when will you be leaving for the cremation office, sir?"

"Right after this. Gonna wash my face, clean myself up, and head out."

"Will you be going with anyone else?"

Damon shakes his head. "Nah, no need. I know New Chicago off the top 'a my head."

Shigure faces Damon, still with her plate in her hands.

"Th-Then...may I come with you, sir?"

"Sure, why not, I don't mind," Damon shrugs. "But if you're gonna get ready to go out, make it quick, 'cause I wanna get this over with in the morning."

Shigure nods. "Yes, sir!"


About fifteen minutes later, Shigure and Damon emerge from the front door. Damon is carrying the box that is acting as the small boy's makeshift coffin with his good arm.

"Um...Damon, sir, are you sure you don't want me to carry that for you?" Shigure asks meekly.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. Besides, around these parts, it's kinda weird for a guy and a girl to be seen together, and the girl's carryin' the heavy shit," Damon smirks. "They don't know that you're a ship girl and that you're a lot stronger than you look, y'know?"

"Ah...you're right," Shigure nods slightly. "Then, shall we go?"

They begin to head out, but before they reach the short front gate, Damon stops Shigure and turns around, looking up at the roof of the three-story house.

"Murakumo!" Damon calls out in a loud voice, knowing that if Murakumo is still up there, she will hear him. "Murakumo, I'm headin' out to the cremation office! If you've decided that you wanna come, now's your chance! I'm givin' ya a minute, I don't wanna be waitin' here all day!"

Murakumo is not only out of sight but also does not respond. Damon waits a minute, then turns to leave.

"...sir?" Shigure asks hesitantly, glancing up at the roof.

"Let's just go," he mutters, "apparently she decided not to come with us."

"But...was that the right thing to do?"

Damon shrugs. "I told you, I'm not a therapist. But I know that sometimes, it's just better if you leave someone alone so that they can sort out their own shit. I've already done what I could."

Shigure, regardless, looks worried.

"What if she...what if she doesn't manage to get over it, sir?"

Damon shrugs again. "I hope she will."

They set off for the cremation office, a twenty-minute walk using the shortcuts and terrain that Damon knows due to local familiarity.

"Have you ever been to the cremation office before, sir?" Shigure asks in the middle of their walk.

"Couple times," he replies as they pass through a small pocket of merchants and vendors selling their products. A Chinese man yells at them in Cantonese to come inspect his wares.

"I see...what were they for? If you, um...don't mind me asking..."

"Once to know where it was, when I first came to live in New Chicago for a time; twice to cremate the body of a business partner's buddy who apparently blew his deal and got shot up like hell; third time was to help the guy who works at the cremation office confirm one 'a the bodies that needed to be cremated; and the fourth time was to cremate this old guy's pet dog who died when it got hit by a car."

"Oh..." Shigure falls quiet at the mention of the fourth time. Damon notices her reaction.

"Well...that kinda thing happens more often than you think," Damon shrugs. "We are in Asiatown, after all...unfortunately, some stereotypes don't simply go away jus' 'cause nukes blew society up..."

"Er...what stereotype, sir?" Shigure asks.

"Never mind, you don't need to know."

With no further event, they reach the cremation office. Several people are already there, some present with coffins with them, others with none, waiting outside the small cremation office.

Shigure, looking around and noticing the people already there, asks Damon in a small voice, "How often do people come here?"

"I mean, there's a whole lotta people livin' in Asiatown - not to mention, people from the other districts also come along to cremate their dead here too, so I'd say this place gets a few people every day?" Damon estimates. "Though, this's a bit more than the usual, that's for sure. The other times I've come here, there've only been one or two people."

Damon leads Shigure into the office and up to the front counter, where he takes a pen nearby and writes his name on a clipboard, at the very bottom of the short list of names for the day. After that, he puts down the pen and rings the small bell next to the clipboard.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'!" an old man's voice drawls out from the back room, and soon a short old Filipino man with small bifocals hurries out from a door leading to the back and greets Damon. "Ah, long time no see, Mr. Polchow. Another body?" he says in an almost bored Filipino accent.

"Yeah, this time, it's gotta be on the down-low," Damon mutters quietly. "I'll pay the extra, just don't register this one."

The Filipino man nods. "I hear you, but you know the deal, I wanna know the story."

"Right...so me 'n a crew headed out to Trenton over at New Jersey to secure some supplies, but we ran into the rebels that broke out from the nearby CCPL at Trenton. Hear 'bout that?"

The old Filipino man nods sagely. "Yes, yes, I heard."

"So we had to fight out our out of that - one of our guys picked up this kid who got caught up in the crossfire, but when we were gettin' extracted, the kid took a bullet and died. Dunno what else to do with the body. Seeing that he might've been from the Trenton CCPL, he might be registered with the Feds."

"Okay. Wait a bit outside, I take care of everyone else first. Next, Miss Kyouko Nakayama?"

Damon and Shigure head outside to await their turn, sitting on a nearby bench.

"So how did Yuudachi's upgrade go?" Damon asks Shigure, setting the box down next to him. "I only know that it's called a 'Kai' upgrade or somethin' like that, but not much else. What'd that do for her?"

"If I heard correctly," Shigure explains, "the Kai upgrade significantly boosts our performance, both on land and at sea. Fuel consumption, damage resistance, and damage resilience have all become more optimized, in addition to faster cooldown between shots for our ship guns. In addition, we gain a type of passive shield that protects us from incoming shots or other physical attacks. Judging from Yuudachi's performance yesterday immediately after her surgery, it appears that this shield can easily ward off bullets from small arms fire - but I cannot say if they can adequately protect us from other enemy ship gun shells."

"Like what happened to Kagerou," Damon mutters.

"Yes...like that," Shigure agrees. "But perhaps the most crucial aspect to the upgrade is the fact that Yuudachi was able to deploy her ship guns and utilize her full mobility as though she never deployed them. It appears that the Kai upgrade removes our lockdown restriction when we deploy our ship guns on land."

"Shit, seriously?" Damon says, impressed. "I heard that the Kai upgrade was pretty resource-intensive, but if that's what everyone can have, that's an investment I'm willin' to lose an arm for. Do you know if everyone can have an upgrade like Yuudachi?"

Shigure nods. "We are all capable of one such Kai upgrade, sir, according to Araki-sensei. He even mentioned something about a 'Kai Ni' upgrade as well...though he refused to elaborate on that."

"Kai Ni...sounds like a third upgrade. Wonder what that'll do for ya."

"I wonder, too..."

They become quiet for a moment. Slowly, though, Shigure leans closer to Damon until she can rest her head on his shoulder. Damon, feeling her head bump against his shoulder, glances over at her.

"...uh, I don't mean to kill the mood, Shigure, but..." Damon mumbles, "but there're people watching."

Shigure jerks upright quickly, realizing that the other people who are also waiting outside are gazing at them. One of them mutters something about the irony of a lovey-dovey couple waiting in front of a cremation office for their turn to burn a body. Shigure averts her eyes down at her lap, feeling the heat creep up her neck and into her cheeks.

After a brief pause, Damon breaks the silence between them again.

"...hey, Shigure, is it okay if I ask you something?"

Shigure looks up at him.

"Yes, of course. What...would you like to ask me, sir?"

"...do you remember like last week or something - God, it feels so long ago - you remember the talk we had in front 'a Benjamin Yamamoto's house? The old house we were in before we moved to the new one we're in now?"

Shigure's complexion grows somber at the mention of it.

"...yes, sir. I remember," she says, almost depressed.

"Look...I know you don't wanna talk about it. But ever since I received the information files on you girls from Sanford, that thing I read...the 'Guilt Protocol' or whatever it was...everything else was explained at least a little bit. All yours said was that you'd become super dangerous. I just wanna know what that means."

Shigure stays quiet.

"...and please don't throw another cup of hot chocolate at me, I've been enough of a punching bag lately," Damon adds quickly. Shigure doesn't seem to be amused by that, but she eventually opens her mouth to speak.

"...I was constructed with a specific protocol titled the 'Guilt Protocol'," Shigure quietly explains. Damon can tell that she is extremely reluctant to talk about this. "They built this protocol into me because...of my historic tendency to survive all of the battles that I participated in during the war, except for the last one. The fact that my captain, Hara Tameichi-taichou, was the only Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer commander to survive the full duration of the war certainly helps as well. Because of this...I possess...the survivor's guilt syndrome of sorts. I was constructed with the desire to prevent myself from seeing any more battles like the Battle of Surigao Strait, or the Battle of Leyte Gulf. I don't want to be the only ship to escape from battle unscathed. I can't bear the thought of being the only one unhurt while the rest of my comrades are suffering and being wounded. Therefore...I was given this power called the Guilt Protocol..."

Shigure tightens her hands.

"...but I hate it."

"But why do you hate it?" Damon asks. "The other ship girls who've got some kinda awesome power, like Murakumo, Amagi - theirs are pretty awesome. Is there somethin' about yours that you don't like?"

"Sir," Shigure begins to grind her teeth, like every word from here on out is a dagger to her heart, "the Guilt Protocol...if I use it...it turns me into a monster."

Damon tilts his head, confused. "Monster? Like, literally? Or what do you mean?"

Shigure lifts her hands off her lap, looking down at them, trying to remember any time that her hands were not completely blood-soaked when her Guilt Protocol was active.

"I...gain an immense amount of power - so much that the powers that they grant me are...how should I say...demonic. At that point...I...I simply cease to continue being a ship girl. I am...something else altogether. Something unholy...something...something..."

Shigure's voice has dropped to a little more than a whisper.

"...something evil."

"...somethin' evil, huh," Damon murmurs.

Shigure leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees and burying her face into her gloved hands.

"...I feel as though I am filled with some kind of immoral desire for bloodlust..." Shigure murmurs through her hands. "...as though I cannot stop, that I will be wasting my Protocol usage unless I stain my hands and clothes with blood. It's terrifying, sir...that's...that's why I did not want to talk to you about it then...because...because if I told you...maybe you would think that I was a freak talking about this..."

"So using it changes you, huh," Damon notes. "What, like a multiple persona disorder kinda thing? I mean, that's pretty common in like anime and manga and stuff, right? When you use a super powerful ability, you just change how you normally behave?"

"I do not know either, sir, but...but I know one thing for sure," Shigure says, her face still in her hands, "the person I become when I use my Protocol...she isn't me. Please...please do not think for a second that the person that I become when in Guilt mode is representative of who I am...because we're not the same...we aren't..."

"So normal you is like this, and Guilt you is someone runnin' around and killin' stuff?" Damon shrugs. "A'ight. Doesn't sound too different from me if I put it that way."

"It - it is not that simple, sir!" Shigure lifts her face off her hands to turn to Damon. "I - despite how I may behave and speak, I do not mind hurting and killing enemies or those who threaten the safety of my friends and comrades and you, sir. I know some of the other girls may have trouble coping with this, but I do not. It's just...it's just..." Shigure gazes back down at her lap.

"Just what?"

"...it is just that...the person I become...is a murderer. That's...not who I am. I am a soldier, a ship girl...not a mindless murderer...who bathes in the bloody rain of her victims..."

Damon decides to drop the subject, seeing how much agitation the subject is giving to Shigure.

"A'ight, then, let's just drop the subject," he murmurs, glancing inside the cremation office. "Our turn's almost here, anyway. Sorry for bringing that up...I won't ask that again."

Shigure nods, relieved.

"But...but no matter how much you hate using it, just remember that if the lives of anyone you care about's at stake, you can't hesitate to use it. Just...just letting you know."

Shigure's relieved smile quickly fades away.

"...I understand...sir..." she bites her lip. "I know that...already...it's just that...I hope that I never have to show you what I look like when...when..."

They fall silent for a minute, but another question drifts into Damon's mind that he feels that he must ask.

"Shigure..." Damon turns to his ship girl next to him, "don't answer this if you don't want to, but...when Yuudachi got taken down back there, what did you feel...? I know that sounds like a dumb question, but...I...I wanna know. I've lost a few good buddies in combat before, so...so I just wanna know if we felt the same thing."

Shigure sadly shakes her head.

"...I couldn't think of anything else other than my sister, sir," Shigure says quietly. "When I realized that she was clinically dead...I kept thinking to myself, 'I'm sorry', 'I'm sorry', 'I'm sorry'..."

"Because of the whole survivor's guilt thing?"

"...yes. I felt...terrible for letting that happen once again, even in this second life we have been granted. I, wishing to prevent myself from making the same mistake in this new world, failed to protect my sister." Shigure wipes her eye. "...I felt...awful, sir...so awful that...at first, I couldn't even bring myself to cry. I was...just too shocked at the moment."

"And you let it all out on the trip home, right?"

Shigure nods sadly. "Yes...when...when I asked you if it was alright to cry into your arm, that's when I...knew I couldn't keep it in any longer."

"But, like, I know that some 'a the girls already knew that there was a surgery that the ship girls can go through to revive them again if they've been 'killed'. Did you know about that at the time?'

"Yes, I was aware of it, sir."

"Then did knowing that make you feel a bit better? Or no?"

Shigure shakes her head. "The fact that Yuudachi had died in battle, I feel, would have not been affected by knowing that she could be revived eventually at a later date. The point was that I failed to protect one of my most beloved comrades, my own sister-in-arms. Nothing else...mattered."

Damon nods. "Yeah...sorry for askin' such personal questions, Shigure. I tend to ask a lot of dumb and insensitive questions just 'cause I like knowing what's going on...sorry."

Shigure shakes her head. "Thanks to you, sir, I do not have to let myself worry about those things anymore, because Yuudachi is alive again and stronger than before. I owe you this much, at the very least."

Shigure looks up at Damon and smiles warmly. Damon is reminded of Kisaragi's own warm smile - some people just have that kind of smile, as it turns out.

Damon grins back and reaches over with his right hand, putting it on Shigure's head and patting it.

"Ah..." Shigure blushes as Damon takes his hand away. "...there was no need for that, sir..."

Damon smirks at Shigure. "Ya like it? I know that some people really like head pats. Or head rubs."

"Er..." Shigure averts her gaze, embarrassed to answer, and Damon leans in closely to Shigure, his smirk widening more and more.

"You reaaaaaally like head pats, don't'cha?" Damon jeers teasingly, causing Shigure to shake her head furiously.

"N-N-N-No, sir, I-I d-d-don't know what you're talking about!" Shigure crosses her arms with a pout and two flushed cheeks.

Damon simply follows her along the bench and reaches over, poking his finger lightly into Shigure's right cheek. Shigure yelps lightly in surprise and blushes even harder, pouting harder as well at Damon.

"S-Sir, please don't tease me..." she whines. "I don't like it when people tease me..."

Damon relents quickly. "People tease you? Tell 'em to stop."

"W-Well, not...not too much, but...Yuudachi teases me sometimes, and some of the other destroyers tease me too..." Shigure says. "But it's nothing major, it's just - I don't like having my cheeks poked like that..."

Damon rolls his eyes. "So you don't like head pats, and you don't like being poked in the cheek. Jesus, you're no fun..." Damon sighs sarcastically.

"W-W-Who in their right mind would like getting poked in the cheek?!" Shigure cries, shaking her hands indignantly.

"I dunno, actually. I'll try that to each of the girls, see who outta the fleet likes gettin' their cheeks poked."

"But - but why?"

"Just so that I can come back to you and tell you that someone likes getting pokes to the cheek and that it's not weird."

"I did not say it was weird!"

"Then why did you say that no one in their right mind would want to have their cheeks poked? Must mean that you think it's weird, right?"

"I-I didn't mean it like that...!"

Damon, who has been grinning more and more every time Shigure responds back to his rapid-fire questions with an increasingly harried tone, finally breaks and lets out a laugh. "Okay, okay, I'll stop," he says. "No more, I swear."

"Hmph..." Shigure turns her back to Damon, slightly annoyed. "Now I know that Admiral likes teasing me..."

"Awwww, c'mon, Shigure."

Damon hears his name being called from inside the cremation office by the old Filipino man in his Filipino accent.

"Shigure, we're up," Damon says, beckoning to her and lifting up the box, and they walk into the cremation office and follow the Filipino man inside the incineration room.


"How will you go to Inner Chicago, Damon, sir?" Shigure asks. They are nearing home, nearly three hours after leaving. The cremation took roughly an hour, and the ashes took up the rest of the time in being prepared in the small metal box that Damon carries with him back home.

"I know my way around Chicago," Damon murmurs. "I don't like the fact that I'll have to head back into that shithole of a place called Inner Chicago, but it's gotta be done."

"Will you be safe, sir? Who else will you take with you?"

"Just plannin' on goin' alone. And don't worry, nothin's gonna happen to me inside there. At least shootings don't happen in there, unlike outside the damn place. People there don't have a reason to shoot each other...whether that's good or not I haven't been able to tell."

Shigure and Damon cross a street intersection just in time to make it before the street signal denies them the opportunity to cross.

"Sir, um..." Shigure asks, "you mentioned before that you have had a few good comrades fall in battle, correct?"

"Yeah, I did."

"I would like...I would like to know what you felt as well. If...if, of course, it's not too much to ask..."

"Yeah, sure, I don't mind. Well, first, it sucked," Damon shrugs. "Those guys were good men. They were honest guys, either guys with family and did whatever they could protecting themselves and their families, or were just guys like me trying to make something for themselves in this nuked-to-hell-and-back world. They weren't shady people, they weren't dickbags - sure, they did some nasty things, but then again, in order to make enough to feed yourself 'n your kids, who hasn't by now? They were all good guys who all died at really, really bad times."

Shigure bows her head. "I'm...sorry to hear that, sir."

"You don't have to be - they've all been dead for at least a year, so I've gotten over their deaths. It's just..." Damon clicks his tongue lightly, "it's just - when you see a good guy just get his life ended right in front of you, somethin' in you dies along with 'em. I mean, they weren't even like, friend friends to me. We just happened to run into each other 'cause we were under the same assignment or the shit we had to do made us run into each other and team up for our mutual benefit. But after talking with them, I could tell they weren't bad guys. Just knowing that much, it still sucked to see 'em go."

"...how did they...die...?" Shigure asks further, her curiosity getting the better of her as she wants to find out more about her own admiral's past, but when she sees Damon's teeth start baring themselves and press together, she immediately regrets her decision.

"...Baltimore," Damon hisses. "Fucking Baltimore."

"B-Baltimore, sir?" Shigure asks. "Is that...isn't that the name of the capital city of the American state of Maryland, sir?"

"Sure is. It's also the name of a battle that I was in - a battle that turned out to be another fucking government science project. They died there. They all fucking died there."

Shigure can physically feel Damon's accumulating rage just by standing next to him, so she puts her hand on his right arm.

"A-Admiral...!" Shigure whispers, "please...calm down, Admiral. I...I didn't mean to ask such an agitating question..."

Damon twists his lip, heeding Shigure's advice and letting the topic go.

"It's best not to mention the word 'Baltimore' whenever I'm around," Damon warns Shigure. "Maybe one day I'll explain what happened there, but...but it's still too early. I can talk about my friends dying, but if I get started on Baltimore..." the young man shakes his head. "I'll fuckin' wanna blow someone's head off."

Shigure nods. "I understand, sir. I...won't ask that again."

They return to the house in silence, since they are by now not too far away. Another ten or so minutes of walking, past the Plaza, down the road to the secluded house, and they are home.

"I hope Murakumo-san is doing alright..." Shigure says as they open the front gate, gazing up at the roof. Damon is about to close the gate behind him, but a small girl's voice calls out somewhere behind him,

"Ummm...mister!"

Damon and Shigure turn around, and they see a small girl standing next to a woman who is sitting on a beat-up looking perforated crate that was probably used to carry beer bottles or something. The woman is sleeping with her arms crossed, but the child shakes her until she awakes.

"Huh? J-Jeannie, is someone...?" the woman asks, looking up. Damon instantly recognizes the two of them.

"Hey, you're the two from the other day in front of Mr. Araki's place!" Damon calls, holding the gate open and exiting the front yard. Shigure follows closely behind, in case the woman is Damon's enemy without Damon knowing. "How long've you been waitin' there? And how'd you find us here? I was wonderin' how to find you two!"

The woman quickly gets up, taking the child by the hand and approaches Damon.

"I believe we arrived here two hours ago..." the woman begins, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. "But when I tried to ring the bell, it - nobody replied."

Damon rolls his eyes. Everyone was probably sleeping in and completely ignored the doorbell. Either that, or he needs to get it fixed so that it actually works. He doesn't even know if the doorbell works in the first place, the button by the front gate.

"And how I managed to find this place does not matter," the woman says urgently. Damon can tell just by looking at her face that she has the look of someone who really needs to talk to someone else. "I must speak with a man who goes by the callsign of 'Sanford'."

Damon narrows his eyes.

"You part 'a the Seal Team Six crew?" Damon asks. "Answer me that first."

"Yes, I was. Or am - Seal Team Six was never disbanded," the woman says determinedly. "Now allow me to speak to him."

"Not quite yet," Damon says quickly. "I wanna know how you managed to track us here."

The woman sighs. "Very well - yesterday, Araki-sensei left a note on his front door, informing his customers of an urgent business he had to leave home to take care of, and that his three girls had accompanied him on the business trip, therefore closing down his shop for the day. I have been his customer for a long time - I shall not say for how long, so please do not ask me. The problem is that Araki-sensei never previously took days off. Even on traditional holidays, he has always had his shop open for business as his hours have stated. Even while sick, he has kept his shop open and worked. So when I found out about this yesterday, I felt the situation was very strange. And earlier last night, I heard that someone had recently rented the big three-story house that no one wished to buy because of its inconvenience in proximity to the rest of Asiatown and its exorbitant price. I also heard that many girls were seen walking down this road that leads to this very house, so I arrived here earlier this morning to see if I could speak with the person I wish to meet with."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up here," Damon says, shaking his head. Although he knows that this woman could very well be his aunt, and the child next to her his cousin, Damon wants to be completely safe and hear what she has to say in case there is anything she says that he can remember and bring up at a later time in an event where she is acting suspicious. "There's too many damn holes in your story. First, how do you know Sanford? Second, jus' 'cause you heard that this place was rented doesn't mean that should automatically tell you that Mr. Araki or Sanford are even here. You know somethin', don't'cha? Spit it out."

Damon takes a step towards the woman, as if threatening her. Shigure also moves with Damon, ready to defend him in case of any trouble.

The woman sighs.

"Yes, I am aware of your dirty little secret. I know the game that you play - I have been playing it ever since my daughter was born."

Looking back up at Damon with icy black eyes, the woman narrows them at Damon.

"Now would you kindly allow me to see Mr. Sanford...Admiral?"

Damon's eyes snap open.

"...how much do you know?" Damon drops his voice level down to a little more than a forced whisper.

"Everything," the woman gazes into Damon's face, as though she is boring holes into his face with her eyes. "You and your entire fleet - I know it all. What you have been doing, where you have been, even the dates you found each ship girl under your command. Something like tracking you down when you have nearly forty other walking signatures around you has by far got to be my easiest tracking work I have ever done."

"W-Who are you!?" Shigure, hearing the entire conversation clearly, jumps in front of Damon to protect him. "Don't you dare threaten him...!"

"Stand down, Shigure," Damon says calmly, "she may be friendly." Shigure reluctantly steps aside. "A'ight, I'll give. But how do I know you're not about to kill me? 'Cause if you do, all the ship girls under my command'll never have another Admiral again. I've hard-coded their command prompts to never accept another Admiral other than me."

"I have no desire to assassinate you, considering that you might be who I think you are," the woman says quietly, closing her eyes. "Please, let me see Mr. Sanford. If we recognize one another, all will be well, and I will explain to you how I know about you and your fleet."

Damon tries reading into the woman as best he can, trying to see if his instinct or intuition is ringing any alarm bells, but so far there are no such alarms. Casting aside his mental doubt and going with his gut, Damon relents.

"Fine - come on in. Shigure, keep an eye on her," Damon orders, and Shigure nods, glaring at the woman who simply ignores Shigure. Damon lets the four of them into the front yard, and they walk up to the front door together.

"Wait here," Damon says before closing the front door behind him to fetch Sanford. Shigure remains outside on the porch with the woman and her child. They do not have to wait long, as they hear rapid footsteps clambering down the stairs towards the front door, and the front door promptly opens, revealing Sanford and Damon.

"Lauren!"

"S-Sanford!"

Sanford grasps Lauren tightly in his arms. The child with the woman named Lauren looks up at the two adults hugging each other with slight interest, but appears as though she does not know what to make of the situation.

"Uh, yeah, sorry ta break it up, but I wasn't plannin' on having a family reunion on my front door," Damon says loudly, facepalming. "And there's a lot of explainin' that's gotta be done."

Sanford quickly turns to him and flicks him right on the forehead.

"Shut up, kid, go make some fuckin' friends, why don't'cha."

"The fuck!? I'll snap your fuckin' neck, dude!"

Lauren, who has parted with Sanford's hug, finally lets out a heartening giggle, which takes Damon by complete surprise, because he thought she wasn't capable of making a giggle like that.

"He is quite the image of his mother, is he not, Sanford? It is almost as though we have found her again, too!"

"Ch'yeah, this kid's got quite the fuckin' potty-mouth, am I right, 'eh?" Sanford also laughs with Lauren. "Anyways, come on in, Lauren. And is this little Jeannie we've got over here?" Sanford bends his legs to look at the child who is tottering over to Lauren's side.

"Yes. Jeannie, say hi to Uncle Sanford," Lauren insists, and Jeannie looks at Sanford and stretches her arms out at him. Grinning, Sanford lifts up the girl under her arms and swings her around, causing Jeannie to squeal with amusement. As Sanford plays around with Jeannie, Lauren faces Damon and bows slightly.

"Hello, Damon," Lauren greets Damon, brushing her long, silky black hair out of the way. "I am your mother's friend and your aunt-in-law. Your uncle was my husband - it's been a long time, hasn't it..."

"A long time...?" Damon says awkwardly, not knowing how to react or what to do. Shigure simply presses herself against the wall, deathly afraid of interrupting the atmosphere. "Have we met before?"

"You would not remember; I visited your mother when she first gave birth to you," Lauren explains. "But since, I had become embroiled in troubles and problems of my own...I'm sorry it took this long for us to meet each other." Lauren bows slightly again, and Damon looks away when she bows.

"Well...er, sorry for not trustin' you," Damon mumbles. "I wasn't sure if you could be trusted. I told Sanford that we met you the other day, and he did tell me you might've been - y'know, my aunt, but...I didn't wanna just believe it all haphazardly, so..."

Lauren smiles. "I understand; you do not have to worry about that anymore."

"Hey, Lauren, should we call you Damon's fairy godmother then?" Sanford calls, laughing as he picks up Jeannie in his arms and carries her over to them. Lauren giggles as Damon glares at Sanford for making such a ridiculous suggestion.

"I would love to be his godmother. You must have had fun being his godfather, then?" Lauren chuckles.

"Ooooohhh, yeah, tons 'a fun! So much fun you wouldn't believe!" Sanford cackles madly, dodging a slap from Damon.

"Anyway, and the kid?" Damon points at Jeannie. "She's my cousin, right? How old is she?"

"Yes, this is Jeannie, my daughter. She is seven years old now - Jeannie, say hi to Oppa!"

Jeannie looks at Damon and waves a hand.

"Hiiiiii," she says awkwardly. Damon, giving her an awkward grin and waving back at her, notices that her hair is completely white, and that she has vividly cherry-red eyes.

It might be Damon's imagination, but something just moved across one of Jeannie's eyes...

...like a scrolling of text.

"Oppa?" Damon asks, slightly confused. "Isn't that - "

" - a Korean term for 'older brother'," Lauren explains quickly. "I speak to her in Korean at home."

"But...she knows English, too, right?"

"She knows all the languages that I do."

"...and they are?"

"English, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, German, and Spanish."

Damon feels his jaw drop.

"At seven?"

Lauren's bright smile fades a bit.

"...yes...there is a reason why that is..." she says with a touch of sadness in her voice. "It will explain how I know everything about you and your fleet, Damon."

Damon blinks at Lauren, his aunt. "And that is?"

Lauren motions at her daughter, Jeannie, with her hand.

"My daughter. Blacklist: Vatista. Unfinished prototype of the Second Fleet Expansion and Enhancement Test. Status: fugitive from the United States Federal Government."