That night, the evening newspaper was the talk of the town, Bucket family included.

As Mr. Bucket whipped out his reading glasses and read the latest headline out loud, Grandpa Joe grew more and more excited, his grin getting wider and wider until it threatened to split his face in two. Finally, when Mr. Bucket reached the last few words of the article, the spritely grandparent was about ready to burst out of the bed.

"Wowzers!" exclaimed Grandpa Joe. "The Good Sir Wonka's finally letting people inside! After so many years of being a mystery, we'll finally get some light shed on that riddle, wrapped in a puzzle box, stuck inside a labyrinth! We'll finally get some answers at last!" he said, pumping his fist.

"Well, it's only five of those damn tickets, we shouldn't get our hopes up too high." said Grandpa George.

Grandma Josephine looked around. "Now just wait a fruity minute… where is Charlie?"

Now that question got the family talking.

"Yes, Josephine is right, where is Charlie?" asked Grandma Georgina.

"The last time I saw him, he was getting on with a serious case of the blues." said Grandpa George, nonchalantly. "Must be some boys at school giving him a hard time, or a troublesome girl. Or both. My guess is that he went off to some place we don't know, to be alone for a little while."

"Oh, where could he possibly be?" said Mrs. Bucket.

"Don't worry, everyone. Charlie's a strong boy… He'll be alright." said Grandpa Joe.

Z23 sat on the other side of the termite-ridden, rinky-dink table that took up the centre of their lodgings. She shot Javelin a harsh glare that made the purplette sweat, even under the air of an incoming December.

Ayanami sat by one side, her mask of neutrality failing to hide the sheer worry underneath as she kept sneaking glances to both of them. The very first friends she had ever made.

Laffey, meanwhile, was napping the day away in the corner like she didn't care.

The floors were bare concrete, and so were the walls and ceiling. The only source of light was a lone lightbulb, hanging from the ceiling from cords of bare wire.

The furniture was not much better. The mattresses had no frames, and so were laid on the floor. They were pock-marked with holes.

The window frames were caked in rust, and it seemed only a Kansen was able to make them budge open.

All-in-all, the girls were getting pretty sick of it.

Javelin liked to think that she'd thought deeply about her next words, but they still came out like an awkward stutter.

I'm sorry… I thought… it felt right, so I-"

The sound of Zed sighing cut her off.

"Jav, you know I love you, but… grow up. Just because it feels like the right thing to do, doesn't mean it is one. You have to think about the future, Jav. Or at least, think more than a few minutes ahead." she said. "Making promises like that would comfort him in the moment, but you're only going to hurt him later by setting up false hope. He'll just end up resenting us."

Javelin flinched at that last statement.

"..."

Z23 planted her hands on the table.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do: We're going, all of us (yes that includes you too, Laffey), to their household, look for Charlie, and clear up the confusion. We'll tell him: No, there's no way we can choose to stay here and Yes, you and your folks will have to manage without us soon. If the confusion has somehow spread to the rest of his family, then we'll have to clear things up with them as well.

And you talk to Charlie, Jav."

"Me?"

"You were the one who said that to him, after all."

Javelin just nodded, wearily slumping against the firm wooden backrest of her chair.

"I'm glad you have at least some sense, Javelin." said Z23.

Laffey, newly awoken, took a swig of cola.

Stepping out of Akashi's shop and onto the street, they walked as a group down the sidewalk towards the Bucket house, getting some stares as they passed by.

For some time, Zed had been trying to get them to wear less conspicuous clothing, but they eventually decided that there would be no point in dressing to fit in, not with their... unconventional hair colours. So, they went in their usual threads (though Zed was convinced to keep her Iron Cross accessories pocketed for now. Apparently, people in this world don't have such a good view on the symbols of Iron Blood).

At the very end of the lane, a block away from where a layperson would view as the edge of town, was the rickety Bucket house. It was set back a few dozen paces from the road.

They knocked on the door, and Mrs. Bucket graciously answered.

"Why hello dearies, I don't think we've seen you around much at all! What's going on out there? Is everything all right there at the store? You know, that offer to come stay with us is still on."

"N-No thanks, Ma'am, we really don't want to burden you." Z23 said.

"We were just wondering where Charlie was. We wish to talk to him." Ayanami continued.

"Oh, little Charlie's went out, though he never said where, exactly…"

"I see… Say, has… Charlie told you anything yet? Anything to do with us, or Akashi's Store?"

"Oh, not a single word, dear. Why? Is something wrong?" asked Mrs. Bucket.

"... Nothing, Ma'am. Just checking."

The girls walked away from the house, when Javelin suddenly took the lead. She then stopped in front of the group.

"Umm… Jav? What is-"

"Girls, follow me. I'm pretty sure I know where he is." she said, striding off in some other direction.

Leading them, Javelin circled the Bucket's compound.

"Umm, Jav, why are we going around the house…"

"Come on, do you think that if Charlie wanted to be alone, he would go into town? But I know that Charlie wouldn't be the type to just go wandering into the wilderness on a whim either. So, the most likely place for him to be would be…"

She stopped right next to a ladder, reaching all the way to the roof.

Javelin put both hands on the ladder, and began to climb. After looking at each other, the other girls followed.

They reached the top, and as Javelin popped her two legs unto the roof, she saw Charlie, sitting on top of the roof's precipice, watching the sunset. It's light turned the town into a beautifully stark silhouette.

He turned around, suddenly noticing the girls' intrusion.

"..."

"..."

"Umm… Hey." said Javelin.

"Hello." said Charlie.

Silence.

"..."

Her eyebrows creasing, Z23 began to glare at her purple-haired friend. Wasn't she supposed to be the one good at talking?

But eventually, Javelin shook her head vigorously, as if throwing off something nasty that had started clinging to her face.

"Charlie… We have something very important to speak to you about." she said, with an admirable smoothness and amiability that the rest of her buddies could hardly manage, even on a good day.

"I-It's about you girls leaving, right? I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me back there. I'm dreadfully sorry, I was rude. I was awfully, awfully rude. I wa-was intending to surprise you guys, but then I overheard what you were talking about and I just… I just...

… I mean, it was just silly of me to act like that anyway. Just because you passed by, doesn't mean you'll stay forever. So it's silly for me to throw a fit like that when I heard you were going away… "

Charlie drew away from the Shipgirls, like a puppy that's been slapped in the face one too many times.

"... Well, that was surprisingly easy. Come on Zee, let's go… " said Laffey, but Zed just shushed her.

"Umm, Charlie…. Do you know why we have to leave so urgently?" asked Javelin.

"Umm… You miss your Mums and Dads?" Charlie guessed, to which Javelin only smiled.

"Charlie, we don't have parents, don't you remember? We're ships." she said.

"Oh! Umm, I'm really sorr-"

"But you're also right, though. We do miss our families." she said. "In fact, we miss a whole lot more people than just our sister ships…"

"We consider the entirety of Azur Lane as our extended family." Ayanami declared, locking eyes with Charlie as she did so.

He paused, and looked back at the girls.

He looked at them for nearly a minute, only blinking his eyes once.

"..."

"You know... I never really got to know you, or where you came from…" he stated. "I'm... a lot of people actually… are still confused about you, about what you do, why you can do those things… Most girls I know don't carry around cannons, o-or crash through rooftops, or talk about scary and complicated stuff, or don't go to school at all…"

Javelin scratched the back of her head. "Ehehehe, well, actually, we do go to school…"

"R-Really? I didn't…"

"But the school you go to isn't really the same type of school that we Kansen go through."

"Oh... I see... I know this'll sound silly and all, but to me you're all like angels, come out of nowhere to b-bless our family, or something…" he said, drawing even more into his jacket, newly bought by his mother from his father's increased paycheck.

"A-A-And, d-don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for all the help. Really, I do! B-B-But I hardly know anything about any of you. The whole town barely knows anything about you! Akashi says you're all from another world, but no more... A-A-And I know it's silly and all… but not knowing stuff like this... it scares me…"

"..."

The Shipgirls looked at Charlie, then at each other.

The girls approached Charlie, and sat down, with Javelin right in front of him.

"Alright then…" she said. "You said you hardly knew anything about us, right? Well, where do we start?"

The Loompa-Copter was a miracle of chocolatineering, one whose use Willy Wonka reserved solely for himself, never patented.

It was essentially a giant, hollowed-out gobstopper. Inside sat a specially-trained Oompa Loompa, and an array of blinking controls. The gobstopper itself was infused with significant quantities of minty menthol. The cool-headedness it gave the pilot (who, after some time jerking that joystick around, would feel an immense urge to lick it too), lifted the whole invention up, much like how a cool wind lifts one's spirits on a hot summer day. How refreshing.

And lodged right in front of the thing, was a camera.

Did I neglect to mention that it was invisible? Because it was.

For some time now, Wonka had been watching the boy, Charlie, from afar. Watching him and his family, but mostly him. He'd reach out and make tiny contributions to help his family survive just a little longer. He'd convinced those stuffy bigwigs not to fire the boy's father, despite the fact that automatic toothpaste-cap-screwers were among the hottest in the market. He also secretly blocked a planned demolition of the Bucket home for violating zoning laws.

A bit of help, but not so much as to lift him out of his misery entirely.

Why?

Charlie, simply put, was the perfect heir to his empire. Curious, wide-eyed, and imaginative in all the best ways. But also destitute and hungry enough to realise the importance of good financial management, and giving him an attachment to luscious treats that a more well-fed boy would take for granted.

Finally, that family destitution could serve as a useful stick to pair with the lure that is becoming the heir of the Chocolate Factory.

But he'd been in a bit of a pickle lately. It just wasn't his day, these last few days. Every time he ordered the pilot to get closer and see what Charlie was up to nowadays, he always seemed to get some kind of interference.

Something was very wrong that he did not know about, and it galled Willy Wonka. He laboured day and night to fix that damn interference problem, disregarding all reports from the outside. A new, shiny shop on their street? Bah, it's like any other Mom-and-Pop, stop wasting my time.

"So you all don't have families, then?" Charlie said, frowning.

"Oh no no no. Many of us do have sisters. I have lil' Juno and sleepy Jupiter. Adorable, the both of them" said Javelin, with cheer in her voice.

"I have Benson." said Laffey, in one of her vanishingly rare sober moments.

"I have so many sisters, you wouldn't even believe me if I told you…" Z23 said, straight-faced to the point of deadpan.

"And besides that, a lot of our… more mature comrades, our bigger battleships and aircraft carrier nee-sans, are almost like big sisters for all of us. The base is one big happy family." said Ayanami.

"Also, to many of us, our Admiral feels almost like a… like a father to us..." said Javelin." I can't really say I've had any fathers before, but if I had one, he would look like Admiral Daniel."

"Or a husband." Ayanami added. To which Zed and Javelin flushed deeply.

"Ahem. Javelin, his proper title is Rear Admiral Keli'li. It is completely inappropriate to address your CO by their first name." said Z23.

"Aww, but wasn't it an order from the Admiral to call him by his first name?" Javelin said, cheeks still pink.

"Ah… I-I suppose that is true…" Zed said in a rare moment of bashfulness, looking away with a flushed face.

Laffey took a sip of Cola.

"Wow… You must really love everyone back in your world, don't you?" said Charlie.

"Isn't it obvious?" Laffey quipped.

"Umm, well…"

"Yes, you're right, we really do love them." Z23 said, moving to face nose-to-nose with Charlie. "Which is why you must understand why we must leave here as soon as possible."

"Zed!" yelled Javelin.

"We have to rip off the band-aid sometime, Jav. This is not cruel, this is a mercy."

Charlie didn't speak. He looked down and thought for a long time.

"... Take us with you." he said.

"... What?"

"T-Take me and my family with you!" he said, standing up. "M-Me and my family's been struggling in this town for a long time, but things have never gotten any better! My father works his bones off at the factory, b-but we never had enough for more than a watery broth each day! B-Before you people came, I spent more time hungry than not. T-They don't know that I know, but I remember h-hearing my mom crying every night. I remember overhearing my Grandpas and Grandmas arguing whether it was a good thing that they were still alive and we had to take care of them! If… If you can't stay with us, at least let us come with you!"

For a few moments, the boy stared at the Kansen. The Kansen stared right back.

"Ridiculous." said Z23. It felt like a slap to Charlie's face.

"The grass isn't always greener on the other side, Charlie. First off, even if Akashi allowed your family to come with us, what will they even do once there? Our world isn't like yours, Charlie. The factory jobs that your father did to provide for you have long since been automated. The pay Akashi gives him is actually extremely generous, as normally a retail job like the one he's currently doing doesn't pay nearly enough to support a family as large as yours.

You and your family also don't have any records that are considered valid in our world. No citizenship papers, no birth certificates, no passports, no governmental record of any kind, no ID card, no anything else that a police officer on the street might ask you for. You can probably live like that for a while, maybe even get a job, but you won't be able to keep it up forever. And when the authorities finally find out about that, they might assume that you're criminals, or homeless, or even illegal immigrants! You can't just suddenly pluck your roots up and plant them in another world. That's not how the world works!" said Z23, her throat nearly rasping.

"..."

Charlie didn't know what to say. He just sank down to the tin roof, and wrapped his arms around his tucked-in legs. Quietly, he started to rock.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... I guess even the highest caliber guns aren't enough to pierce the structural oppression of poverty and borders…" said Laffey. Ayanami quirked an eyebrow.

"..."

After a few moments, Laffey sighed. She went over to Charlie, still rocking himself in a fetal position, and bopped him on the head. He looked up at her, startled. She grabbed his shoulders and turned to the rest of them.

"Come on losers, we're going to Akashi's place."

Akashi's Place

"You know you're going to have to pay me back for all this eventually, nyaaa… " Akashi said, putting down yet another oversized tray of sweetstuffs.

The destroyers (plus Charlie), were in a brand new wing of Akashi's store, a sort of mini-cafe. Around them, students from around town chatted over fruit juice, milk and cola.

Despite this store being designed as nothing more than a side-project, a convenient money-maker while she was away from her main business back home, Akashi was nothing if not a shrewd and savvy businesswoman, and she'd pounce on any money-making opportunity that cropped up.

Recently, the most popular items on the menu were various snacks and instant meals. Not surprising, considering such cheap, convenient food options like instant ramen and pasta would be all-but-unthinkable in these dark, dark times.

Of course, they were also unhealthy as all hell, but that was something only people in her home world knew. Let her customers savour the convenience, she would say, before people start having heart attacks and strokes.

But enough of that. Now was a time for sweets.

Ice cream, chocolate, jellies, cakes…. Z23 had no idea how Laffey managed to get the cheapskate of Azur Lane to willingly give such a feast of desserts.

Another faint thought was that all of this sugar couldn't possibly be healthy for anyone. But looking at Charlie's exuberant face as he gobbled up more desserts in half an hour than he had ever had in his entire life, Zed felt like her worries were a bit silly.

He's just a kid, after all. He can burn off those calories pretty easily.

One of the dessert types on the table was very special. It was a Willy Wonka-brand Super-Fudgilicious Chocolate Bar. The specific variety of Wonka bar that his family so meticulously saved up for him every year, and which he savoured for days after his birthday.

There was just a whole pile of it there. Like, right there on the table, within easy grabbing distance of Charlie.

Charlie's hands shook, as the two sides of his mind debated hotly with each other on how to react to suddenly having a dozen of those priceless bars in front of him. Should he take them all? Should he let his friends take one each?

His instinctive mind yelled the former, to snatch up those precious chocolate bars before anyone else could get to them! Meanwhile, his more socially-conscious side pressed for temperance. Charlie didn't know what to do.

Akashi, looking at Charlie's quivering state, scoffed freely.

"What are you putting yourself through such a headache for?" she admonished. "There's plenty more where that came from nya. It's just two pounds pence at a pop. Help yourself like nothing before!" she proclaimed.

And with that, Charlie's Id picked up his socially-conscious side, and threw it over the edge of the ring. His wandering hands shot up and grabbed a whole handful of the chocolate bars at once.

He stared at them giddily, not quite knowing where to start first. Eventually, he just opened one at random. He peeled off the first wrapper like he was opening a Christmas gift. The first Christmas gift of the season. Then, with the sweet gold in front of him, Charlie took one savoured bite of it, then another, then another, then another, until it was very nearly finished. And then, he finished it.

And then he started with the next one. He opened the wrapper a little faster this time, a little more messily. And when the chocolate was finally revealed, he ate it up in fewer bites.

For the third bar, he ripped off the wrapper in one smooth motion, and ate the whole thing in three big bites.

He grabbed another bar, and another, and on and on he went, to the point where even Akashi started to comment on his avarice.

"Hey, don't get diabetes, kid, that won't look good for your financial future." she told him.

Charlie paused.

"But nevermind that! That just means more money to extract from you later! So eat up!" she said, dropping another pile of chocolate on the table.

"..."

Charlie stared up at the summit of the pile, now looking very unsure.

"Hey Akashi, stop pressuring him." Zed snapped. "C'mon girls, let's help him out."

She then took a chocolate bar out of the pile. Laffey did too. Ayanami generally didn't like chocolate. She was eating dango instead.

Z23 neatly opened the chocolate's wrapper, methodically teasing apart the individual folds that were glued together.

It was then that she noticed a strange shine coming from within the seemingly worthless wrapper.

"Great Scott girl! Let us see that!" yelled one bystander, who rushed into their table and held up her hand (and thus the wrapper) up closer to the light. It glinted even more brightly, and by now it was obvious what it was.

A Golden Ticket.

Zed blinked.