It was decided, however grudgingly, that the situation wasn't entirely the Destroyer's fault, after Haikou had explained her version of events. Apparently, she'd been so excited to meet people able to actually see her, after essentially weeks of yelling at the top of her non-existent lungs to get a response from anyone on board her, to no avail, that she'd practically sprinted at the small escort-craft.
"I was... kind of stalking them for a while," The teenaged Chinese woman said, somewhat bashfully, "I couldn't feel them on-board, so when I actually saw them I just kinda... followed, at a distance. I didn't think they could actually see me until the white-haired one called attention to me."
"I'm just thankful they had the discipline not to fire off their armaments indoors," Nagato said exasperatedly, "We'd be dealing with a lot more than some damaged compartments then."
Ning Hai nodded, frowning, "Including who knows how many casualties, no one was caught up in the chaos?" She said the last to the ghostly Luyang, who shook her head in a negative.
"No, miss/No Ma'am." She said, almost in-sync with the Human Captain, who had just walked through Haikou, snapping a salute to the gathered Kanmusu even as the spirit quickly re-formed behind him on the gangplank, pouting.
The Captain continued in Chinese, unaware of the interruption he'd made, "The girls made a beeline straight through the ship, put several large holes in the bulkheads, and set some cabinets and coils of rope on fire... somehow," he scratched his head, "I can't fathom what could have spooked them, to be honest, they were just leaving after I gave them the five-Fen tour-"
"Which you shouldn't have done in the first place!" Ning said exasperatedly, the rather short woman gesturing at the twin FU PO's, "Yu and Chien don't know any better, but YOU should!"
The Captain straightened, "I merely showed courtesy to our Eastern allies," he stressed the last word, looking at Nagato out of the corner of his eye, "the fact they were in the company of our very own Kanmusu led me to believe refusing them entry would cause unneeded tension to the current... situation." He looked behind him, wincing as he looked through Haikou to see some of the damage to, well, Haikou, "Obviously, things did not turn out as well as I had hoped."
Ning Hai sighed, shaking her head, causing the red-ribbons tying up her pigtails to flap even more in the stiff breeze, "While I will grudgingly agree to your reasoning, that isn't what I was referring to! It's..." She pursed her lips, before gesturing for the man to come closer, gaining a slight blush as her voice tapered off.
The Captain, a little confused, did so, leaning down, as the Chinese Kanmusu went up to her tip-toes to whisper into his ear.
...
He straightened, his expression one of mild embarrassment, "Oh."
"Yes, 'Oh'," Ning leaned back, "It need not be said you will not be inviting any Kanmusu inside Haikou from now on, correct? Especially the escorts?" She pointed with her thumb behind her, to where Desdiv 6 was STILL getting chewed out by a mortified Tenryuu.
"I... yes, that would be... prudent."
Haikou's head suddenly appeared in front of Ning Hai then, seeming to grow from Captain Bohai's chest as the teen, tired of being ignored once again, stuck her spectral self through the human man on her gangplank, "What are you talking about?"
"EEK!"
The Captain jerked back as a Kanmusu in front of him seemingly startled again for no apparent reason, "What is it?" He said cautiously, afraid of having another Kanmusu-related mishap so soon after the last.
Ning Hai, clutching at her heart-equivalent, gave the Guided Destroyer an unimpressed look as she recovered from the jump scare, "Nothing, Haikou just surprised me, is all."
"I don't like being ignored! Especially when I'm the one being talked about!" The Ship-Spirit said petulantly, coming around her Captain to stand before the Cruiser, "Tell Bohai I said hello, by the way," her shoulders sagged a little, "I've been trying to tell him that for a while, now."
"So... she's right, there?" The Captain pointed.
"You currently have your hand inside her forehead, yes," Ning said, a little exasperated, they had drawn a small crowd, as sailors overheard what their Captain was talking about, and scuttlebutt as it was, naturally, the entire ship's crew knew about their latest (or perhaps oldest?) member within minutes.
The Captain jerked his hand back, "I didn't, feel anything?" he stated, a bemused Haikou giggling from where she stood.
"She's laughing at you," Ning said, getting a squawk from the Luyang at being ratted out.
"So... how long have we had an invisible woman wandering around the ship? S-She can hear us, right?" One of the sailors off to the side said, getting a few uncomfortable shifts from the men around him.
"Sheis the ship, but her current form manifested a few weeks ago, apparently," Ning said.
"Tell Aiguo that yeah, I walked in on it once, and yeah, I thought it was disgusting." The Luyang said, crossing her arms as a small blush painted her cheeks.
Ning relayed the message to a suddenly very embarrassed crewman, as the Japanese Kanmusu on the nearby docks looked on, most completely in the dark, as everyone was conversing in Min-dialect Chinese.
"I think we dodged a torpedo here, Nagato-san," Tenryuu said, the tall Battleship looking to her as she continued, "looks like the Chinese are so concerned with having a Ship-Spirit they arent giving the munchkins too much flak," She nodded towards Desdiv 6, who had been mostly trying to remain unnoticed, clustered with the Chinese Destroyers they had seemingly befriended.
Nagato followed the gesture, before looking away from the nervous escort craft, cupping a cheek with one hand, "W-We should get going, back to the hotel. Where we will be staying until tomorrow, is that clear?" She said the last sharply, looking at a point somewhere near the Destroyer's feet.
"Yes, Nagato-Sama... please don't be angry with us!" Inazuma said worriedly, stepping forward and wrapping her small arms around the Battleship's left leg, who was now currently making an excellent impersonation of a wide-eyed statue.
Inazuma squawked as she was dragged away from Nagato by the ear by Hibiki, "Don't do that, you are bothering Nagato-sama!"
Tenryuu looked at the Battleship, shaking her head as Nagato let out a whine similar to an overheating tea-kettle, "...Let's just go, brats," she herded the sullen ships away with her hands.
Chien waved goodbye with her sister, "I guess we'll see-"
"-You girls tomorrow?" Yu finished.
"Yeah, it was nice hanging out with you! Until the, uhm... bye!" Ikazuchi said, as the rest simply waved nervously.
With Nagato:
"My goodness dess!" Kongou cried, as she spotted the returning ships, "what had you all running off in such a hurry!"
"There was an... incident, at the docks," Nagato said carefully, "the Akatsuki's apparently thought it would be a good idea to go on a guided tour of the missile Destroyer moored at the docks," she grimaced, "they put several holes through the walls and started a couple of fires."
Iowa, standing nearby, dropped her mouth in shock, before barking out a snort of laughter, "Haha oh wow, and I thought MY DD's were misbehaved!" She snorted again at the embarrassed looks Desdiv 6 had, before quieting down once Tenryuu gave her an unimpressed glare, "oh, don't get your eyepatch in a twist, Tennie!" She waved a gloved hand at the Light Cruiser, "But in all seriousness, the little gal's alright?" Iowa said, tone turning serious.
Nagato nodded, "They are undamaged, though I'm sure once the mission is complete Admiral Keiko will have some interesting things to say over the entire thing." That got some startled reactions from the DD's, as they began to dread what the old human woman they saw as an Aunt-figure would say.
While the small girls fretted over the equivalent of 'I'm telling mom what you did!' while being led away by Tenryuu, Kongou cocked her head questioningly, "Now how on earth did they manage that ne-" She interrupted herself before anyone could reply, "You know what? Let's talk about it over a nice hot cup of tea!" Kongou waved towards the table, where an elaborate setup of English Teaware was set up at the table behind her, "I JUST finished brewing some absolutely fantastic Yingshan Cloud Tea the hotel had in stock!" The Japanese Battleship practically vibrated in anticipation, "It's imported all the way from the Hubei Province!"
Nagato gave her fellow capital ship a deadpan glare, "You just want someone to share your tea with, don't you?" Nagato sighed as Kongou happily and unrepentantly nodded in agreement.
"I heard from the kitchen staff that it's a good stress reliever, and good for high blood pressure!" Kongou gained a quizzical look, "Not sure if that would translate well to our boilers but it's worth a try dess!" She said the last with a small cheer, punching the air as she tugged a treasonous smile out of Nagato, who slowly sauntered over to the table, pulling out a chair.
"Oh, very well," she looked over from her fellow JMSDF Battleship to the American, "care to join us Iowa?"
The buxom blonde shrugged, "Sure, why not, my girls are already watching some Disney-stuff with Houston in their room." She sat down, grabbing a teacup from the table with no fanfare and holding it out for a twitching Kongou, who nonetheless filled her glass, "I think it was... I dunno, something about a clownfish? I think I heard Nimu was in it, and they were trying to find her," she looked at Kongou, "how are the Submarines settling in, anyway? They were pretty quiet at dinner."
"Oh don't worry about them! They'll probably be in the jacuzzi all night, knowing them," Kongou said with a laugh, "I wouldn't doubt it if they all fell asleep in there!"
"Hmm, good thing they don't prune up, then," Nagato stated, waiting patiently as Kongou prepared her own tea, "it's good that they have a chance to take a small break and boil the barnacles off, even if it's just for the night, especially I-8," she winced, "imploded compartments are... not exactly appealing to look at, I'm glad we had those IRB's assigned to us."
Iowa leaned her elbows on the table, tea saucer hanging off her pinky and threatening to spill as she spoke, "I still think those are kinda sketchy, I don't like the idea of bathing in glowey-mystery gunk when I don't know what's in it," she snorted, "I swear, if it's concentrated dry-dock bathwater, I'm going to laugh my aft off."
"That sounds ridiculous," Nagato scoffed, thanking Kongou before bringing her own cup to her lips, she sipped gently before continuing, "I'm sure there's a fair amount of effort behind making them, and very finite resources involved in their creation, otherwise we'd have received far more than three canisters."
"Didn't you say they were initially kept in buckets?" Iowa asked.
"Yes, but I'm sure they wouldn't have assigned them in those outside whatever lab they were created in, could you imagine trying to haul one of them across the ocean without spilling any?" Nagato said,
"Hmm, I guess," Iowa played with a strand of her golden hair, before sighing, "I hope this operation goes well."
"Don't jinx it, and it might," Nagato said archly, taking another small sip of her tea, "we'll find Chitose, and secure that modern Submarine Abyssal the Admiral had us briefed on," she looked at Iowa, "You were around when USS Georgia was in service, correct?"
The blonde Battleship shrugged, gulping down her cup in one go, swishing it around with a thoughtful look as she put the cup next to the teapot for a refill, "Hmm, yeah, I was" she finally said, after swallowing, "good tea by the way," she said as an aside to Kongou.
"I'm glad you like it," Kongou said, in an uncharacteristically flat voice as she refilled the cup.
"...Hmmm, ah!" She smacked her fist, luckily before taking up her refilled cup, "That's right I met her-no, nono, that was her sister, Florida, yeah, she was in San Pedro after I was donated to the Pacific Battleship Centre, she was just passing by though."
"What was she like?" Kongou asked, a little interested.
Iowa leaned back, "Well, I don't know about what she'd look like as a Kanmusu, she was just a steel hull then, still is now, come to think of it, but she was... BIG," she put out her hands in some arbitrary measurement, "I don't think I've ever seen a Sub that large before."
"Yes, I... wasn't present, at the time of the original Ohio's commissioning." Nagato said carefully, "I'm told they use some kind of contained nuclear explosion to power them?" She asked.
The fact the word 'nuclear' was said with a slight tremble didn't go unnoticed by the other two ships but remained uncommented on.
"Nah, it's a reactor, nothing to do with explosions!" Iowa said, waving her hand, "It uses natural circulation methods, can operate at such low power the sucker doesn't even need coolant at its lower settings, anyway, yeah, Florida," Iowa leaned forward, "now, I'm used to 'old' Nautilus, see? She was moored pretty close by me for years, wasn't much for conversation though, if you know what I mean," she knocked on the metal table for emphasis, "so the sheer size of the new boomers took me by surprise."
"Ah, that's right! you were a museum for quite a while, weren't you?" Kongou said, smiling, "that must have been quite interesting!"
The American shrugged, "I enjoyed it, to be honest, I was never bored, there was always someone new on my deck to follow around and entertain myself with. There were tour groups, and even some film crews, getting good shots of me for some movies I was in," the Battleship shuddered, "Uhhh, I hated being in 'Bermuda Tentacles', the CGI was so bad."
Clink!
Iowa looked up, to where the two Japanese ships had frozen, "What?"
"A-And this film was made... when you were still a steel hull?" Nagato asked carefully, taking a furtive sip of her tea.
"Yeah..." Iowa looked between the two of them, a brow raised, "why do you ask?"
"N-no reason, dess," Kongou said, holding her freshly heated kettle close to her chest, even as steam caused it to whistle slightly "though, just out of curiosity,where would you go about finding that movie, ne?"
With Ning Hai:
"Now, we'll be going over just how much trouble you two are in later, when the Admiral gets a full report, got it?" Ning Hai said to the pair of Fu Po's, shepherding the two girls into their shared room for the night.
"Y-yes Ning Hai..." Chien said shakily, Yu, for once, not bothering to add on to her sister's sentence as her lip trembled.
The Cruiser's eyes softened, "Look, I'm sorry," she came over to sit on the twin-sized bed, helping the smaller Coastal Defence ships up as she continued, "I've been... really on edge today, with all that's been happening, and who's here, you know how it is..." she took off the pair's sailor caps, rubbing their short blond hair fondly as she did so, "I'll end up being in more trouble than you two anyway, for letting you off into the city in the first place, so don't worry about it too much, alright?"
The pair simply nodded in response, and Ning Hai helped them get ready and tucked them into bed, "sleep well, you two." She started towards the door.
"Arent you going-"
"-to sleep?" The pair asked, tucked away so just their noses peaked over the covers.
"No, I have to fill a situation report for the Admiral, then damage reports... then cover the entire situation with Haikou turning up as a spirit..." Ning slumped in the doorframe, before turning back, a shaky smile on her face, "I'll be back sometime tonight, Okay?" The two nodded.
"Good night." The door clicked shut. Ning Hai breathed out a heavy sigh, leaning her forehead against the door for a second.
...
"It is, isn't it?" Came Kaga's voice from behind her.
Ning Hai's back arched, like a startled cat, a startled scream choking in the Cruiser's throat from the sheer surprise.
"...A good night, that is," Kaga continued, seemingly unperturbed by the violent reaction of the Kanmusu in front of her, "clear skies, hopefully the wind will die down by tomorrow, when we depart, but I wouldn't hold my breath." She finished, standing demurely in the hall outside the Chinese Kanmusu's room.
"W-w-what are you doing here!?" Ning Hai hissed, recovering from her shock, "Your room is on another floor."
"I came to speak to you, of course," Kaga said, tilting her head so that her side-tail drooped, "it seems we have unfinished business, you and I."
"What is there to say, first you sank poor Ping, then ME a day after, even little Chien!" Ning said angrily, able to vent now that the two were alone.
"Many of us have had to deal with the ships that sank us, and if I remember correctly, you were sunk a second time by a US Submarine, though I don't see you acting nearly as hostile around them," Kaga said archly.
"They didn't build me, they didn't give me away, only to turn around and sink me, when I'd finally found a place to belong." Ning hissed, starting to slowly walk down the hall, leading the Carrier away from the doors of her room, "We may be allies, but that does not mean I have to like you, I still dream about that day, when I sank in shallow water, able to see the surface, but unable to reach it, because of your, your..." She struggled with the words, and Kaga interrupted.
"Sky-Cancer, I've heard some Battleships call it, if you must find some derogatory term," Kaga said, tone not betraying any particular mood, honestly, the woman sounded almost bored, "we all have our own memories to bear, I'll remember the sands of Midway for as long as I'm alive, and Hagikaze and my surviving crew's tears as they watched from her deck, as her torpedoes scuttled me." Kaga paused then, meeting Ning's eyes, "I'm fairly certain she lost something then, that day, watching as her crew used her weapons to sink me, something she has yet to truly regain."
"Hagi- but she hasn't been summoned yet, the Intell- the news would have shown it if she had!" The small Cruiser caught herself, as Kaga simply raised a brow.
"Not as a Kanmusu, no, she has not," Kaga said, leaving it at that.
"O-oh."
Kaga reached out, putting a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder, getting a small flinch, "tell me, when you shot down three of my planes over the skies of Kiangyin, were you manning the guns?"
Ning squinted at the Carrier, "Of course not, I was the guns," she said, pointing at herself.
Kaga nodded, "And back then, did guns pull their own triggers?" she asked simply.
...
Kaga filled the silence, "As steel hulls, we were tools, instruments to be wielded. We had no say in who we attacked or why, in fact, you could say that we never truly attacked anything at all, we merely existed, outside the bounds of this world, backseat passengers within our own bodies, watching our fates unfold."
Kaga looked at the Cruiser, "I didn't cry out in joy, when I heard my pilots had sunk you. I had watched you grow, you know. In the Naval yards of Aioi, shortly before my refit back in '33, I still had my two lower flight decks, then. You were so... small, even then, I had no idea how they expected you to float, but you did. I didn't really understand the concept of a 'brown water' navy, back then." Kaga dropped her hand away from the smaller ship's shoulder, "Yuubari was so proud of you and your sister. All the experimental technology that went into her, used to construct you two, she likened herself to Houshou, who had influenced the designs for the Carriers after her, like me."
"Why do you think I still call her 'mother', after everything? For all that she can barely face us anymore?" Ning said, "I honor that, even after everything, but, but I-" She drooped, "It's so, so hard, to let everything go. Especially here, where there's so much, pressure, to excel, and no means to do so." She pointed at herself, "I'm the largest Kanmusu to come back, aside from my sister, and I'm hardly larger than some Destroyers, calling me a Cruiser is almost a cruel joke, and yet I'm expected to hold the line, with nothing but outdated torpedo boat-Destroyers and protected Cruisers at my side."
"You did it once before," Kaga said simply, "And while it may have ended badly then, at least now, you can pull your own trigger, as can I. Shall we point them at the same enemies, this time?" She asked.
There was a long pause, before Ning Hai sighed explosively.
"As long as you can keep those damned planes away from me? Fine, I may be willing to give you one small, immeasurably, absolutely tiny chance."
Kaga nodded minutely, stepping back before giving a bow, "That is all I ask," she straightened, "do enjoy your night, we will be out of your hair by morning, I hope your reports don't take up too much of your time." The Carrier turned around, clicking down the hallway in her Geta-inspired footwear as Ning Hai groaned.
She'd, however briefly, forgotten about the paperwork.