Azur Lane Warship Gunner

by HunterXKiller87

Kosuke, a Japanese high school student about to graduate towards college, returns home from school. There, he goes about his day before he gets a weird icon on his Phone. Not a moment later, he has been whisked away from his world into one filled with beautiful ship girls fighting an alien menace. What's a Guy to do?

7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Opening his eyes once again, Kosuke's vision remained blurry for a couple of seconds before it finally cleared, revealing the ever-familiar sight of his Sea Cabin's roof. The cold hard metal once more reminding him of his current state unlike the dreams of sleeping in his comfy bed back home. Of the warm atmosphere that the family home offered him, the sheer sense of safety and sanctuary that the house provided those who resided within. Perhaps the saying that one didn't know what one had until they lost it was something applicable to him as well, a fact that Kosuke found hard to stomach.

He'd lost count of how many times he dreamt of returning home at this point...

A low grimace escaped his lips while the male slowly elevated himself by putting his hands on his bed and using them as support to lift himself into a sitting position. Throwing his legs over the side, he planted them onto the metallic ground with two audible THUD sounds accompanying them. No more motions follow suit as Kosuke hung his head downwards while he kept his hands gripping his makeshift mattress's sheets.

Wearing a simple white undershirt and his briefs for some sleepwear, the male had to remark to himself about his state of dress. 'If this place had proper heating, I'd probably have done what I usually would have done and slept shirtless...' a pang of longing exploded within his chest at the thought, but he forcefully crushed it for the time being while rattling his head for a few seconds. He slapped his cheeks a few times to get rid of the excess sleep, opening his eyes with a firm look of resolve to continue the day. "Another day, another addition to the struggle... there really is no such thing as a 'magic pill of success' is there...?"

After raising his head and looking forth towards the Sea Cabin's entrance, a melancholic look overcame the male's features as he finally stood up from his resting place, a groan of stress relief escaping him when he began stretching his arms up to the ceiling above. 'Aaaargh, that's the spot...' the male noted internally, throwing his arms to the side. Throwing down his arms afterwards with a relieved exhale, Kosuke hummed softly to himself. 'Can't believe it's been several weeks already...'

Several weeks had passed since he and Yuubari had started their journey back to the Sakura Empire, since Kosuke had proposed his obviously amateurish plan, and so far things could have ended up much worse than what they had. It hadn't been an easy trip, to say the least since they routinely had to either avoid or outright ambush Siren fleets that were patrolling the waters before they would strike back, sinking them like an assassin sticking a dagger into his/her target's back.

With regards to those fleets, their fights hadn't been very smooth sailing with many of such events forcing Kosuke to expend vast amounts of resources to repair and restore what he could of their ships after each encounter. The male theorized that it was due to him having the [Yuubari]'s blueprint downloaded into his Phone that he had been able to repair her ship so many times, even though it was never completely fixed for some reason.

It didn't help that the Siren Fleets seemed to almost RELENTLESSLY target them whenever they were found or caught unawares. Over the last few weeks, Kosuke had noticed that there had been a sharp increase in fleet sightings of the not-so-friendly kind, something which he and Yuubari had already anticipated given how she had remarked shortly into their journey of how Siren-infested these waters currently were.

Though, this did make him wonder why these attacks only found them AFTER he had found the Shipgirl.

Speaking of Yuubari herself, on that front Kosuke could say that there was little progress to be made. Well, that wasn't completely true due to them having gotten used to one another's presence and company through the sailing and the fighting, heck one might say that Yuubari trusted him enough to follow orders from him as if he were her chicken. Something which Kosuke REALLY didn't appreciate, nor did she but for different reasons, HE didn't like the thought of being anyone's Shikkan due to his own policies, whereas SHE already had a Shikkan and considered it a disservice to consider someone else as that said role.

It resembled a samurai betraying their lord after dutifully serving that said lord for years, despite her apparent distaste for things like honour and pride.

Thus, in current times while they didn't have too much of a hostile relationship, their cooperation had been built on a foundation of mutual benefit, of survival. She needed his help to better fight off Sirens due to her weakened state, and he needed her to guide him to Sakura Empire territory so he could get some answers and finally understand what was going on.

Nevertheless, this didn't deter them from being civil with one another, since both parties apparently shared an unspoken agreement that having a civil, cordial relationship had more practical advantages than the opposite. Thus, the tense relationship only existed as a bit of a small reminder in the back of their heads, a faint whisper keeping them aware of the bigger picture. At least, that was how Kosuke saw it.

'Since I'm up, going to the cafeteria seems like a decent starting activity. Getting some breakfast before some light training will pass a good chunk of time before I go do my annual daily maintenance patrols. [Proto Satan]'s been doing well for the most part, but I'd rather not take any chances...' the male mused to himself, pushing thoughts of the last few weeks from his mind in favour of finally dressing. Once he finished his morning routine, the male stepped to the Sea Cabin's door, opened it and passed through, closing it behind him.

Afterwards, he travelled through the ship to its cafeteria, relishing in the solidarity and safety being within an armoured vessel on the vast, open ocean afforded him. One upside about being in control of a massive beast made of steel was the comfort in the knowledge that if anything DID try to attack him, he could properly defend himself, as stated in previous instances. While Kosuke walked, the male had his hands pocketed inside his pants while looking around at his ship's interior.

He honestly couldn't WAIT for the day when [Proto Satan] was at full capacity, including all its auxiliary systems. The Sirens would be slaughtered in droves.

(Scene Change)

A while later, the male finally arrived at the cafeteria. The facility in question had a rectangular shape to it, with there being a series of long tables on one side while a single prep area could be seen built into the wall opposite the tables. There wasn't much else to say about the cafeteria's design since it seemed to prioritize function over aesthetic, not that he was complaining though.

"MUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH..."

The moment that he heard the sounds of munching, Kosuke hummed when he cast his gaze towards the source: a certain Sakura Empire Shipgirl sitting at one of the tables, apparently eating something crispy. That something turned out to be something shaped like a chicken fillet, and judging by the pleasure-filled expression on her face combined with how her ears twitched and her tail swayed behind her, she seemed to find it delicious.

'Aren't those the Torpedo Tempura that the game has...?' Kosuke mused internally, shrugging his shoulders moments later figuring that it wasn't his business. It did relieve him that she had something she liked to eat on this ship, though he did wonder if the thing he had read in some past event research was true about them being widely used during some kind of shortage. Regardless, they were a staple in the mobile game, so it was a decent surprise to see that being the case here.

"Morning Yuubari, how're things going on the waterfront?" Kosuke questioned after issuing his formal greeting, moving behind the cafeteria, and making some simple sausages and eggs for breakfast.

Looking up when she heard his question, Yuubari offered a curt nod with her expression shifting to a neutral one when she gave her answer. "Quiet. Has been for the last 6 hours, according to my records. It has been a fair while since our last Siren attack, almost alarmingly so." she replied, causing Kosuke to nearly swoon in relief.

To him, that sounded like they would be having a reprieve from aggression, and that sounded like a decent thing to him. In the last few weeks, they had to face off against over a dozen Siren fleets of varying sizes and compositions, requiring various responses to deal with them. Some they had to fight (and later repair the damages using the Drones) others they had to wait for them to pass by without noticing them or outright sneak past them altogether. That last strategy had been the hardest of the bunch due to how large their Warships were, more so than hers, with those times being some exceptions to the whole 'bigger is a better concept.

'Phew, that sounds good... We'll be able to rest easy for a while then and recuperate from our previous engagements... however, now that I think about it...'

On the other hand, Kosuke mused while frowning as he finished prepping his meal and sat opposite Yuubari who had gone back to enjoying her Tempura. He had a hand on his chin whilst letting his thoughts run wild, and right now he had another perspective on their lack of adversaries. It seemed kind of strange to him that they would suddenly have a lull in their enemy encounter rates given how many they had fought beforehand. In the Game, Sirens were potentially limitless in their resources and their numbers according to several theorists on forums, so it didn't make sense that a species with such advantages were to have a lull in their attacks all of a sudden. With how each attack had put Yuubari as a higher priority than him by comparison, that also rung a few alarm bells.

Either way, whatever the reasoning behind it was this could definitely be counted as a blessing for them.

Blessings...

'Hold on, wasn't imperial Japan really into religious stuff? More so than even in modern times?' the male wondered to himself while glancing over to his shipgirl companion. He wasn't a complete history nerd, but Shintoism was much more prominent in the past compared to modern times so he wondered if this was reflected in the AL world too.

Thus, he turned to Yuubari for answers to this. "In that case... you think that the Gods may have had something to do with this little break?" he questioned her, scratching the side of his jaw thoughtfully.

After pausing eating her second to last Tempura, Yuubari arched a brow whilst maintaining that nonchalant expression on her face. "You believe in our Gods, Kosuke?" she questioned back to him.

Only then, did he realize that he could have potentially screwed himself with that line of questioning. Evident by how he began to lightly sweat bullets as his heart began hammering within his chest, a brief look of panic overcoming him. 'Uh oh, oh shit did I just dig myself into a hole?! Kosuke you stupid moron! The Japs were almost fanatical back in WW2, saying your a freaking Athiest would be a testament to committing suicide in their eyes!' he screamed mentally whilst frantically searching for an answer that DIDN'T lead to him possibly getting mauled to death. Or at least get his companion to start plotting such things.

Apparently, he hadn't hidden his feelings as well as he'd thought, because Yuubari noticed his dilemma before tilting her head to the side. "You do not have to worry about hiding it..." she began, trailing off before glancing over to the side, her eyes slightly darkening as a sad gaze began to take form. "I'm no devout believer myself, but faith in our original gods seems much better compared to the alternative..."

Upon hearing that, a concerned frown formed on Kosuke's lips as he dug into his meal, finishing a single sausage in a couple of mouthfuls. He did NOT like the sound of those words she uttered just now due to the implications about the Sakura Empire's relation to the Sirens. He figured that they were involved somehow due to the process of elimination and contextual guesses, but that didn't make the situation any better. "R-Really? Well, then I'd say that I think that seeing is believing..." he began, placing a hand on his chest to help slow his thundering heart rate. After a few moments passed when it calmed to a reasonable speed, Kosuke took a deep breath and continued his response, one with a rather solid firmness behind it. "If you ask me, one needs to take control of the life they've been given to properly live how they see fit, surrounding it to superstitious religion is no better than blaming something else for one's own problems."

"Taking control over one's life, huh...?" Yuubari muttered, having been caught by surprised slightly at the words Kosuke had uttered. She showed this on her face with the slight widening of her eyes and how her mouth had the 'o' shape on it. She looked down at her Tempura, mulling those words over in her head. "That is... an interesting perspective. Reminds me of some philosophies going through the Iron Blood actually..."

Kosuke hummed, knowing what she was talking about. Those words did come from a figure in Germany, but it wasn't like he specifically mentioned them in his works. He just developed that philosophy after reading that person's works. "Well, I got the inspiration from an Iron Blood Nihilist, one who sparked a LOT of debate with his phrase 'God is Dead'. I'd not go as far as to say I'm the same as him, I'm more open-minded to the concept of deities, but that's the extent of it. The greatest thing a person has is their individuality, taking that away from them leaves them with nothing but husks. You can't even call them people at that point." He explained, internally being surprised at himself.

The reason being with how much ease those words flowed out of him like a dam had been opened. All alongside with how better he felt after uttering them since only his homies knew of his ideals and beliefs. Nobody else knew due to the whole thing about victimhood that was going on in society, so he felt really good being able to talk about it with someone who apparently wasn't as devout a believer of what was essentially the national religion.

"...I can understand that," Yuubari admitted after a short silence, her look now one of pondering as her tail swished about behind her almost inquisitively. "As a researcher, it's my job to see if equipment can be used, if blueprints were feasible, to find errors that would need correcting, but at its core researchers figure stuff out. That purpose essentially defines me almost as my nature as a Shipgirl, which resulted in me having less faith in my homeland's gods. It's... not a popular opinion, with many of my sisters in arms having stronger ties to Shintoism than myself, but those who know don't judge me for it."

Yeah, he could see her point of view. Kosuke nodded more to himself than his companion but he said his piece anyways. "It takes a certain type of person to do a specific task. Ones who're brave and loyal to a fault make excellent workers, ones who are very intelligent can do well in scholarly or business roles. People with inquisitive natures like you Yuubari do well in science and development." he remarked, humming to himself. "Though if they talk about miracles, you Shipgirls may come close to one considering the circumstances." he mused further with a light smirk, trying to sound uplifting with this sombre mood that was quickly overtaking them.

Unfortunately, his efforts proved to be in vain due to how Yuubari respond, leaving him wondering if she had a different opinion or not. He expected her to, he honestly liked debating these things with people. Hence, it showed their individuality why he LOATHED it when someone's opinion was discarded or not given a chance to shine.

Nevertheless, it came to be apparent to him that this conversation would be ending soon, so after finishing his breakfast Kosuke put the dishes into the sink behind the cafeteria, before walking back to the Table. "Since we're likely going to have a free morning, wanna do some working out with me?" he offered.

Yuubari graciously denied him with a shake of her head though. "Unfortunately, I must politely refuse, as I intend on performing maintenance checks on my ship," she replied, before looking at him with an approving gaze. "Your 'Drones' as you call them do a good job keeping my Ship together." she complimented a small smile on her lips after munching down on the last Tempura.

Kosuke chuckled at that, slightly disappointed that she wouldn't exercise with him but that was mitigated by the conversation they had this morning. "Yeah, I'm pleased with them myself so thanks. Well, if you need me I'll be in my gym practising some combat drills. Gotta keep in shape till we get to safe waters." he mused, heading towards the cafeteria's exit.

"Good luck." Yuubari simply offered while washing the dishes, something Kosuke nodded at before leaving for the morning.

(Scene Change)

A couple of hours later, Kosuke stood in the centre of his Ship's gym, wearing only his sweat pants and his muscle shirt, with his body positioned in a combat stance. This stance took the form of his left arm being angled downwards diagonally, with the right one curled inwards and its hand clenched in front of his face. His left leg was placed in front of his right at a slightly bent angle, whereas his right acted more as a support for his balance. The male currently stared down at seeming space, whereas he pictured something else in that space in his mind's eye.

That something happening to be a teenage person wearing a gangster-like hairstyle with his hands lazily pocketed in his pants.

For a moment, the male just stood there, until Kosuke promptly acted by stepping forwards to launch a left jab then a right uppercut to the torso and chin respectively. He finished with a third punch in the form of a left hook to the side of the imaginary figure's head.

Stumbling back, the imaginary figure took a moment to compose himself but Kosuke had already pressed his offensive and gone into his next move. He began by launching a spinning roundhouse kick with his right leg, smacking the imaginary figure in the side of his head to land with his back facing the figure, before continuing with a reverse back kick using his left leg. He then followed up with a high kick using his right leg before using the momentum to twirl a full 360 degrees into the following overhead kick down to the imaginary figure's shoulder.

This kind of training, training which he believed was coined as 'mental image training' by his weeb bro Keijo, was the staple for how Kosuke primarily honed his fighting abilities and had been what he'd used to keep his body in shape these days. It also had the benefit of being used anywhere, hence why it had been a favourite of his regarding training.

As for his skills, Kosuke had taken a lot of inspiration from a certain fighting series about muscular men who like ripping off their expensive suits when throwing down with one another. A series which one could say was one of the few which he enjoyed that WASN'T connected to naval warfare Even managed to replicate the Main Character of the first 6 entry's signature style though he had planned on altering it so that he could call it his own style instead of just a copycat version of someone who Kosuke considered to be a damn legend.

'Haven't heard from Yuubari for a while...'

Briefly, this thought made itself known in his mind during his training, his fists flying and legs moving by a chain of different martial arts moves. This had the result of making him think back to something that had happened a short while ago, how Yuubari had spoken through the radio to tell him that she would be scouting ahead to try and detect possible Siren ambushes. They'd been caught off guard a handful of times before, nearly wiping them out, hence she didn't want to take any chances.

Of course, Kosuke hadn't been too fond of that idea given her ship's damaged state, something he had brought up to try and persuade her against that action but Yuubari had insisted till he'd given in and let her do as she pleased. After all, he wasn't anywhere near qualified to give her orders at the moment. Though he did mention to contact him if she were to need any assistance and to make sure to flee back to him in case she found a great enough force.

His concerns for her safety that remained present even now mixed with those that he had for their immediate future, hence why he put as much focus into his training as he could, despite the concerns never leaving the forefront of his mind. It wasn't wise to dwell on such things, doing so would only hamper his judgement when it counted.

Hence why he kept thinking about possible theories around his enemy's actions, more specifically why the Siren Fleets had been acting the way they had as of recent times. He and Yuubari had indeed been trying to avoid the larger fleets, ambushing the smaller ones, in the cases where reinforcements could have arrived from other fleets none of them provided any to the fleets they had attacked. Something which concerned the male. It was as if either the Sirens were preparing for something of bigger importance or they were ignoring them. Something which Kosuke didn't believe and favoured the latter more than anything.

Before he could continue pondering, his ears twitched when he heard his phone beeping from next to his hoodie on a nearby bench. 'That sounds like my comms...' the male thought, glancing over to the said device. Pausing his training, the male jogged on over and picked his phone up, seeing that he was getting a call from Yuubari through her ship's comms.

Quickly pressing the receive button, Kosuke held his phone to his ear before speaking into it.

{What's wrong Yuubari? Any danger?} he questioned, fearing the worst. If it wasn't then that would have been a welcome reprieve of which he could rest easy, knowing the Shipgirl wasn't in harm's way.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be happening today as he would soon find out when Yuubari responded. {I'm fine, but I've been picking up some distress signals nearby. They seem to belong to a fleet of merchant ships, sounds like they're under fire.}

Merchant ships? Kosuke's heart skipped a beat when he heard that, his mind starting to race at this information. What the hell was a merchant fleet doing way out in the middle of Siren-infested waters? What was their goal? One idea that crossed his mind was that they may have been driven deep into these waters by something, maybe like an attack of sorts. But the apparent war between the two sides Azur Lane and Crimson Axis hadn't started yet from what he could gather so he wasn't sure if this idea had merit unless the war had JUST started or the preparations for it had already gotten underway.

However, this also presented an opportunity Kosuke soon realized after he forced himself to calm down and think rationally. This could offer several benefits: one, gratitude from the sailors, making possible discussions about specific topics an opportunity to explore. Two, he and Yuubari could finally get a concrete idea of where they were and if his previous theories had been viable or not. Knowing where they were would be the highest priority for them if they wanted to make it back to the Sakura Empire with their necks attached to their bodies.

{I see. What do you think we should do, then?}

{I say we go in and rescue them, Kosuke. From the sounds of it, we're the closest ships to this fleet and they don't seem like they'll hold out for much longer. The enemy fleet seems to consist of Destroyers, Battleships and Cruisers, meaning we can take them out fairly easily.}

Yuubari's words sent waves of relief through the male, especially the enemy fleet's composition. From the sounds of it, this fleet seemed more like a scouting force, meaning that a larger fleet may be nearby, but that also meant that if they could focus on fleeing then they could get away before that fleet arrived. Sounded like they would be racing against the clock if they did this...

{Alright, let's go and rescue them, tell whoever's sending the comms out that we're inbound. We should probably go with hit and run tactics, for now, keeping them distracted. You do that, Yuubari and I'll catch up. I'll also keep an eye on my radar in case we find the main fleet.}

{Hai.}

With that decision made, Yuubari cut the call and Kosuke looked at his phone a moment's later, seeing that he had a message, one which he opened to see that he had been given some coordinates. Odds were that they were where the Merchant Ships were, to which Kosuke ignored the pit of nervousness rising within his stomach as he proceeded to assume direct control of [Proto Satan] and urged it to move at its highest speed at the moment.

Part of him remained somewhat nervous about meeting more people from this world though it wasn't nearly as bad as when he had been about to talk to Yuubari. Plus, these wouldn't be shipgirls but ordinary humans, something that didn't seem very prevalent in Azur Lane aside from a few theories about them. One of which he didn't take kindly to and that was their treatment of Shipgirls in the lore. How would they react to someone like him, who could control a Warship as a Shipgirl could?

'No matter, I'll worry about that after I've given [Proto Satan] the chance to exercise his guns a bit. Bet he's been itching to sink some metal hulls for a while now...' The male mused internally, a dark smirk spreading across his lips while he quickly got changed into his usual outfit then ran out to the Main deck, intending on viewing the following spectacle with his own eyes.

(Scene Change)

After a long while consisting of remembering how to read Coordinates like Yuubari had taught him during the last few weeks, Kosuke finally arrived at the battle zone.

Upon doing so, he quickly became witness to the sight of a bunch of ships sailing away from the conflict, though they were going at a turtle's pace plus they had a few fires on board from previous hits to their hulls. He could see that there were people on board trying to put them out though, firmly confirming that there were indeed humans in this world. 'Obviously, you idiot why else would there be even a Commander at all. Even a formless stupid self-insert had to come from somewhere.' He internally chastised himself for his brief moment of idiocy.

However, the male soon became aware of several other things a few seconds later, namely the [Yuubari] sailing in these wild, erratic patterns across from a bunch of Siren Destroyers which looked to be constantly trying to shell its hull with their lasers and torpedoes. However, the Light Cruiser kept dodging and evading what she could return fire when appropriate, resulting in a near-constant exchange of bullets and laser fire.

Though he did wonder why the area close to her stern (suspiciously close to where the Engines were), looked to have been burned. Recently too, he hoped it wasn't anything too serious.

He would have wondered why she wasn't trying to destroy those Destroyers outright if it hadn't been for the other thing: the fact that near the rear behind the battling warships, Kosuke spotted a line of Battleships with their broadsides aimed at them, their guns all primed and ready to fire on her at the slightest opening.

In that instant, he quickly figured out what was going on with his gaze sharpening as a result. 'I see, Yuubari was going for a distraction strategy. Seems that the plan had to be altered on her end for some reason, so she put herself between the Destroyers and the Merchant Ships...' briefly, he glanced at several burning ship wreckages nearby, their fates easily solvable by the male's brain. 'dispatching the cruisers in a likely surprise attack too. But by staying close to the Destroyers, she's preventing the Battleships from getting a clear lock on her.'

Whelp, he knew EXACTLY what to do here.

{I'm here Yuubari, you focus on the Destroyers, I'll deal with the Battleships!}

{About time! Had a few close shaves already over here!}

After briefly calling her via their comms and exchanging those words (internally, he swore Yuubari had been about to make some fox noises whatever they were), Kosuke cut the call and quickly got to work. He started by switching to the main guns for now while shifting [Proto Satan] to portside, angling it so that he would be sailing to the opposite side of the Siren forces rearguard, to eventually wind up behind it. Of course, the Battleships quickly noticed his position and promptly responded, their main cannons quickly shifting themselves to point at him and open fire on his vessel seconds later.

In those initial moments, [Proto Satan] got peppered with Battleship-tier laser fire, watery geysers erupting all around the ship's hull whilst some managed to hit their marks. Those hits, fortunately, were only limited to the ship's stern and bow armour though, whereas the superstructure only got mildly singed by the lasers as the vessel itself chopped through the waters with 2 levers pulled on his mental UI

This STILL meant that it was moving faster than they could keep firing on him, to which in no time flat he had wound up directly behind the Battleship rearguard with all the Warship's main guns aimed and ready to fire. 'I knew it! These Battleships have slower turning speed compared to my [Proto Satan]'s...!' Kosuke thought, confirming a building theory he had been debating over the last few weeks. Raising his hand and forming the gun gesture while mentally celebrating that his ship had turning turret speed that surpassed the Siren Battleships, Kosuke aimed at the enemy rearguard...

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

... And finally, let loose.

Each gun roared like a thunderstrike every time their rounds were freed and launched towards the enemy battleships. Each one slammed into their hulls with the fury of a thousand raging bulls, rocking their hulls with their impacts while Kosuke kept the barrage up. More and more rounds fell upon them like a shower of hot lead whilst the Siren Battleships struggled to return fire, showering Kosuke with laser rounds... though sadly for them, their return salvos were minuscule compared to [Proto Satan]'s.

This was mostly due to how he had positioned himself in a way that allowed him to fire full salvos RIGHT onto their main guns, knocking a lot of them out of commission which was something he had been advised to do by Yuubari a few times in their previous battles to conserve ammunition. In a few moments, Kosuke and [Proto Satan] had managed to disable the majority of every Battleship's main guns, making them easy pickings for one last salvo, reducing them to lifeless husks that would soon sink to the ocean depths.

'Alright, now that that's done...' Kosuke mused, looking upon his vessel for the damages. From what he could see, he had to wince at the number of hits to his ship's superstructure there were, he probably hadn't noticed due to focusing on taking out the enemy. Fortunately, those hits were easily repairable, with a few of them looking to have been REAL close to some core systems from what he could tell. 'Looks like those Sirens are getting wiser to where the remaining auxiliary systems are located...' Kosuke mused, a frown of worry plastered on his lips.

{You doing alright, Yuubari? Just busted up the Battleships here.}

{Yeah, just about finished with mopping up the stragglers."

Taking a moment to look at Yuubari's position after radioing her on his phone, he saw her having destroyed several Sired Destroyers with 2 remaining, probably due to her increasing her offensive now that she knew that the Battleships were no more. Yuubari just finished busting one of those two remaining destroyers and was just about to do the same with the other when it peeled away from her, shifting its rudder to turn towards the other Merchant Ships.

{Chikusho! Kosuke, the Destroyer's going on a suicide run! Help me blast this husk to kingdom come!}

{On it!}

Immediately, both individuals pointed their arms towards the moving Destroyer which caused their Guns to align themselves towards it. Thanks to the [Yuubari] being located to the southeast of the [Proto Satan], the latter Warship had a clear shot to lend aid in the form of its own salvos.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

In an instant dozens of flashes erupted from the [Yuubari] and the [Proto Satan]'s main guns as they unloaded their salvos on the poor Destroyer, intent on stopping it from getting within firing range of the Merchant Ships. Fortunately, both Warships had still been in range and were capable of taking decisive action, filling the seas with exploding geysers thanks to their massive rounds. Rounds which slammed into the Destroyer without mercy, the poor bastard never standing a chance.

Now that the enemy fleet was destroyed, Kosuke sailed up to the [Yuubari]'s portside, having already launched his Drones to scavenge the other sinking vessels for resources to make into extra ammunition for his guns. The said male himself stood close to the bow-mounted Drill, leaning over the railing and looking down to the Shipgirl. "You doing alright, Yuubari? Sorry, I couldn't make it here sooner," he called out to her.

Looking up at him from her position close to her vessel's own Bow, Yuubari nodded her head whilst looking like she had run a marathon. Her clothes were ruffled, various burns and scratches adorned her form, she essentially looked like she had just survived a vicious catfight. Fortunately, she looked much better than when he had first found her, but still, the point that she didn't look very good stood. "I am well, Kosuke. My Ship however is another story," she replied, gesturing to the Ship's stern where the recently extinguished flames were located. "When dispatching the Cruisers, some shots landed and damaged my Engines. Unless your Drones can repair them, my Ship cannot reach its optimum speed."

"Tch, now that's a bummer..." Kosuke muttered under his breath while he frowned at this information. He had hoped that when he'd noticed the damaged stern that the engines hadn't been affected, but turned out that fate wouldn't be so kind. Worse, he wasn't sure if the Drones could repair the Engines of the [Yuubari] while still out accomplishing a previous order. He probably should have thought ahead and skipped scavenging the wreckages, an idiotic move on his part.

Still, there had to be something that he could do to help his comrade out, one possible idea being to keep on sailing alongside her at reduced speed. That would probably be detrimental in the long run but he refused to allow the Shipgirl to be left behind. He was her bodyguard on escort duty after all.

Then there was the option of towing the Ship along, which could be possible though he'd have to check if his Ship had the cables necessary to hook onto the [Yuubari] and pull it along. No such options had been made available to view back on Naval Ops Warship Gunner, but he figured that such equipment would be a standard thing for any vessel in case of emergencies.

Warships were freaking expensive to build.

Just then, Kosuke brought himself out of his musings when he heard his iPhone ring, promptly pulling it out to view the screen which had the same symbol visible whenever Yuubari radioed him. Looking back down at the Shipgirl who had a hand over her ear, the said woman looked back to him and pointed her free arm (the other one by her ear like she had some kind of invisible earpiece) towards the distant Merchant ships. "We're getting a radio transmission from the Merchants we saved, specifically their captain."

Huh, so that was it huh? Whelp, honestly part of him had feared that they would have just left them to their own devices despite them risking their necks for them. Kosuke felt glad that he had been wrong on that one. "Got it," Kosuke replied, nodding while pressing the receive button on his Phone.

Following that, the two of them heard a masculine, gruff voice through their lines.

{Thanks a bunch for the assist, you two. Damn Sirens would have wiped the floor with us and sent our supplies to the ocean depths.}

Briefly glancing at him, Yuubari subtly motioned to let her do the talking which Kosuke nodded in acknowledgement at. He doubted that these guys would be as cooperative with a teenager compared to a qualified naval operative like a Shipgirl, so he'd let her do her thing till they would meet up in person.

{We fulfilled our end of the bargain and would like to discuss further negotiations with you in person.}

{Aye, I'd honestly want to meet you two myself, especially the captain of that strange ship. Always heard that the Sakura Empire had a few radical ideas regarding shipbuilding, this must be one of them.}

Internally, Kosuke had to suppress his urge to say something to counter this claim that this captain had made about his Ship's origins. Back in the game, he had used german technology to construct [Proto Satan] and the other Ships since the game utilized different national technologies as some kind of difficulty setting. He had wanted a challenge back then, and he had definitely got it.

Unaware of what he was thinking as well as his reaction, Yuubari nodded her head after deliberating within herself for a moment.

{Very well. Cut your ship's engines and we will regroup with you. We will meet on your flagship's main deck.}

(Scene Change)

Later, [Proto Satan] and the [Yuubari] could be seen sailing up to both sides of the head Merchant fleet flagship with the other ships surrounding them. From what Yuubari had mentioned to Kosuke the two would be meeting just the flagship captain and his first mate, the rest would be simply minding their own business.

The thought of meeting the locals unnerved Kosuke a little if he were honest with himself. He had been worried about what to say to them that would stop them from asking too many questions about his Drillship since he did not doubt that the Captain at least would want to know what the hell it was that had saved the lives of his men.

Not to mention that if he didn't play his cards right, Kosuke could find himself pinned to a dissecting table within some secret laboratory.

Fortunately, he had already devised a cover story based on the facts that he was aware of at this moment in time. This was only known to him though, he hadn't told Yuubari due to the aforementioned reason, it could still happen no matter how trustworthy she was on the battlefield due to her being both a scientist and a member of the Sakura Empire, a faction based off a Nation who had engaged in... horrendous human experimentation.

He had no intent to be deceiving since that went against his principles, instead, he'd just keep a lot of the truth to himself. However, he'd divulge just enough to satisfy the curiosity of those who asked him just like he had done with Yuubari's scientific curiosity.

Upon jumping down onto the merchant ship's deck, Kosuke immediately got the reaction that he had anticipated since this all began: many sailors looking at him with surprise and more than a little confusion. Odds were they hadn't expected a simple teenager to be onboard such a massive, imposing vessel, something Kosuke ignored although he DID internally smirk at the reactions his Ship had garnered from the Sailors when it had moved up alongside the vessel's port side.

He really liked going to people's portside, didn't he? Kosuke just now realized that.

Standing upright, the male heaved a sigh before opening his eyes and pocketing his bandaged hands inside his sweat pants. Now that he was on a foreign vessel other than the [Yuubari], Kosuke had to take a moment to get used to the sensation again which hadn't been something he had done in weeks since he usually stayed on his own vessel, and the one time that he'd boarded Yuubari's was due to investigate and later rescue the Shipgirl.

'Huh, looks like this Ship's really taken a beating...' Kosuke mused to himself while surveying the damage that the Flagship had endured. Certain areas on the superstructure were glowing brightly with pieces of their metal being melted clean off, whereas various areas looked to have been completely blown to kingdom come. There looked to have been areas once hit by fires too, scattered across the main deck which had various holes in its railing. He immediately figured the Sirens had been at fault due to the damages themselves being similar to what he'd seen from the aftermath of said enemy rounds hitting parts of his ship.

However, from what he could see the whole scale of the damage the ship had undertaken seemed relatively minor compared to what the other Ships in its fleet looked to be going through.

Aside from this...

The sailors themselves didn't look too good. Not only were there very few he could see on the deck, those that hadn't looked up when he'd jumped onboard looked downright MISERABLE, sitting on the edge of the railings whilst looking like they were victims of a bomb going off. Many of them had dozens of different injuries to their persons, with multiple doctors and nurses tending to them. The fact that they were out here exposed to the elements answered why there weren't as many crews.

While thinking this, Kosuke looked around at all the looks being sent his way, his mind eye briefly making his surroundings shift into... something he found way more familiar than he'd like to admit, with the deck becoming the ground in front of a tall school building, each sailor being replaced by teens with varying school uniforms...

No, he shouldn't go too deep into memory lane, he had a job to do.

Moments after regaining his mental awareness, Kosuke soon noticed Yuubari having already jumped on board herself with the duo regrouping together, something that brought him more comfort than he had initially anticipated. Together, they looked to the Ship's superstructure before the two heard footsteps coming up to them. Initially thinking they belonged to the Captain and his first mate, Kosuke turned to open his mouth only to find a pair of Sailors walking up to him.

Before they could say anything, the sailor to the left beat them to it. "Sir, we've been ordered to take you to the command bridge, our captain awaits you there. If you'd please follow us." the Sailor requested, both of them turning on their heels and heading for the forward superstructure.

Glancing at one another, both Shipgirl and human nodded in union before the following suit.

(Scene Change)

After a few moments of walking, Kosuke and Yuubari entered the command bridge with their escorts staying outside, closing the blast doors behind them. Inside the Command bridge, only 2 other people were present at the moment with both wearing officer uniforms. Both of them were white, but one of them had more decorations to it than the other which indicated the officer's rank of Captain. The 'captain' also looked closer to an elderly age, about his 50's whilst the first mate looked to be about in his 40's.

'So, this guy must be this fleet's head honcho...' Kosuke thought to himself.

"Welcome to my shop, I'm Captain Morgan of the Eagle Union Merchant Navy, this here is my first mate." Captain Morgan began, introducing himself and then his first mate. He then looked back at the duo. "You two must be the Shipgirl Yuubari of the Sakura Empire, and..." He began to say, before looking Kosuke up and down and arching a brow at him. "Where is your captain, boy? I was expecting to meet him and not one of his crewmen."

Internally bristling at the feeling of being looked down on, Kosuke kept his face passive whilst mentally running through his responses. He had anticipated this, from what he knew of the military through stories and interviews with soldiers those who didn't have the merit to back themselves up would be looked down upon initially until they had 'proven' themselves capable of being trustworthy on the battlefield, THEN they would be treated like brothers in arms. In this Captain's mind he imagined the captain of a Sakura Empire Battleship to be... well, not him, so Kosuke probably had to be some kind of rookie seaman in his eyes.

Nevertheless, because he had anticipated this Kosuke already had a response ready. "Unfortunately sir, I AM the ship's captain as of late." He replied, taking out his free hand to gesture to the shape of [Proto Satan] outside the Command Bridge. "The circumstances around my... new position are a bit sketchy at best. I suddenly found myself aboard my ship when I found a strange cube-like thing one day after coming home from school. I touched that cube-thing, and I conked out, the next thing I know, I'm on [Proto Satan]'s Deck."

There, that was the cover story Kosuke was going for as of right now. He intended to sell a story similar to what actually happened, and it wasn't like he was telling any lies either. He really wasn't sure what that thing was that had appeared on his Phone before he wound up on [Proto Satan]'s main deck, but it had stark similarities to a Wisdom Cube, though what he didn't say was that he doubted that it truly was one due to differences. He also didn't mention that he was in his home in another world either, though it was true that he was coming home from school when all of this had begun.

Then there was how he had structured it, he had talked like someone who truly didn't understand anything about his situation, yet also had enough knowledge to know of the things someone from the AL universe would see as common sense. That part had been rather difficult for him, but he'd formed a decent idea of what humans knew in this universe thanks to talking to Yuubari, who had regular interactions with her Shikkan on a professional level. Essentially he had played the part of someone who had no idea what the heck was going on, which was actually somewhat true as well due to previous circumstances already explained.

His father had once told him that 'the best lies were those based on truth', and that it was actually rather common in daily life. For example, if one's parent were to ask them if they passed a test, they might reply with 'I did what I could. That was all well and good, but it wasn't really asking the question and in the end, that person may not have passed the test at all. Not really a good enough example, but Kosuke didn't have time to think of one.

The thing was, there was a difference between 'innocently lying' and 'lying to manipulate and mislead'.

Innocent lies could be like saying that someone's shirt looks nice when they really think it looks like garbage. People in situations like these tend to lie mostly to avoid either being embarrassed or judged for their opinions, but they don't really see it as ethically wrong and don't even realize that they're lying at all.

As for the latter choice, that one was used quite a lot in negotiations and politics, where someone dodged direct questions using seemingly 'truthful' facts on the surface. There was even a term for this called 'paltering' and it's so common because it's a useful tool to achieve a specific objective, despite it being potentially problematic in the long term.

In Kosuke's case, what he was doing could be considered paltering by mentioning facts that were indeed true in his mind, but not all of them. He didn't mention being from another world or the fact that he suspected that it wasn't a Wisdom Cube, but manipulated things to keep people from unveiling his secrets. He was even doing the same somewhat to Yuubari, someone whom he fought alongside and was starting to consider the possibility of her being trustworthy...

and Kosuke internally HATED that.

He abhorred it down to the core, but no amount of self-loathing could keep him from seeing the bigger picture and how necessary this move was. It was sort of easier with the Captain and the first mate due to them being strangers, but Yuubari was a different matter altogether. One silver lining for him was that he wasn't stating anything outright deceitful, so deciding on whether or not he was wrong or right in this situation wasn't so easy when one looked at either side.

Captain Morgan took a long, hard look at the lad before him with a pair of searching eyes, trying to detect any signs of deceit. Seeing that there weren't any, he frowned in confusion. "Sounds like you made contact with a Wisdom Cube, boy. I'm not supposed to be telling you this due to the classified nature of them, but they're what Shipgirls are made from, and there is much we don't know about them. The fact that you found one at all is strange as Wisdom Cube technology is supposed to be restricted to military-controlled areas. The normal human populace remains unaware of Wisdom Cubes and Shipgirls in general."

"Wisdom Cubes, huh...?" Kosuke questioned, thoughtfully. He put an index finger on his chin while pondering that, his thoughts simply flowing out of his mouth. "I feel like that should mean more to me, but maybe it's due to fighting the Sirens with [Proto Satan] for so long, but the surprise just isn't there for me. Is that weird or something?"

At this, Captain Morgan shook his head. "No, from what it sounds like to me it seems you were a civilian caught up in a big mess, and have done what you can to survive." he (correctly) remarked, to which Kosuke clicked his fingers as if to say 'that's right!' to which the older man nodded. He then looked back to Yuubari and gave her a look of gratitude with a matching smile. "Be that as it may, it's necessary to offer you my gratitude, Sakura Empire Shipgirl Yuubari. If it weren't for you and your companion, we would have been sent to the depths before we could transport our supplies to New Guinea."

"It is of no problem, Captain," Yuubari replied curtly, lowering her head in acknowledgement of his gratitude. To her, it felt a bit weird being thanked by a Captain of someone, not of the Sakura Empire, she could see a certain emblem on his jacket's left breast that identified his nationality which she brought up moments later. "With how things have been going, I'm surprised that an Eagle Union officer was willing to trust someone from an opposing side to rescue them. Why is that, if I may ask?"

At this, tension quickly spread throughout the atmosphere with the first mate furrowing his brows at the wording Yuubari had used. Kosuke had wisely kept his mouth shut to avoid triggering anything that could negatively affect them while internally mulling over these reactions. Seemed like the Eagle Union and Sakura Empire really weren't on favourable terms with one another which made sense given the timeline, but seeing it first hand? Yeah, this was definitely a whole new experience for him.

Part of him even wondered if it had been the same back in his world before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor...

Eventually, however, Morgan adjusted the hat atop his head a bit before giving his response in a composed, measured tone. "Things between your people and mine are... tense, for lack of a better term, but as long as I can do my job and keep my crew around I'll take any help that I can get. National affiliations do not matter to me, nor all those pointless politics our Nations' leaders are trying to shove down our throats."

'Huh... the way he presents himself... this guy's telling the truth...' Kosuke mused to himself after analyzing the Captain for a few moments. He even went and did the same to his first mate who showed similar signs, which made it safe to assume that the rest of his crew had similar opinions and even if they didn't, their Captain would make sure they'd be curt with those who had done right by them.

This guy, Kosuke felt, would be the kind of person he could come to trust like a brother in arms if things played out nicely.

But despite this, looking out at the size of the slowly sailing fleet reminded Kosuke of something he had noticed beforehand, and decided to inquire on it. "This fleet of yours, it seems rather small if you ask me. Aren't Merchant Fleets supposed to be bigger? And with Escorts too?" he questioned, frowning. Thinking about it, he found it strange that there were no escorts for these ships, especially if this man was from the Eagle Union according to Yuubari which seemed to be the case.

Since the Eagle Union was the America of this world they likely could be classed as a massive superpower that could fight on multiple fronts, something that can not be said for the Iron Blood which is the Germans in this situation. To this end, they should be able to easily provide escorts in the form of either mass-produced ships, or even Shipgirls, since merchant ships would be of considerable importance in keeping their bases stocked with supplies.

The fact that these guys were headed to New Guinea did register in his mind, but Kosuke shoved it down on the list of priorities.

One culprit was probably the Sirens. They had probably taken out the majority of the Ships in this fleet during some kind of ambush attack since that was their primary MO, using their BS Portal technology. This was supported by the type of damage the Ships had taken, since they were similar to what [Proto Satan] had incurred when he'd first awoken on top of his deck. If one were to ask Kosuke, he'd wager that the Sirens had ambushed them and busted them up to this degree, and while the Escorts had managed to take out the majority of the enemy fleet the remnants had finished them off and then started to play cat and mouse with the survivors.

"I'd imagine the Sirens dealt with the majority of your ships, Captain. It'd explain why you were fleeing from them and they were chasing you down..." Yuubari commented, unknowingly voicing Kosuke's rather convoluted opinion in just a few simple sentences.

Looking over to the Captain, Kosuke guessed this was to have been the case... and in the following seconds, Captain Morgan's response surprised the both of them. "You're... about half right."

"Half right?"

"Indeed," Morgan replied, stifling a smirk when he saw the two tilt their heads towards one another with literal question marks atop their heads. It reminded him somewhat of his two grandchildren back home, though the following intel soured those memories. "I and my fleet of 6 ships with 4 cruisers, 2 Carrier and 2 battleship escorts were ambushed by a single, strange-looking Siren ship, one which obliterated every ship that we had requested for escort duty. If I had to put my mind on its type, I'd say it'd be a Cruiser, not a Battlecruiser because it moved way too fast to be one. Even so, it carried guns you'd see on a Battleship and many torpedo tubes. It had the classic Siren ship appearance other than those though..."

'Wait... why the hell does that...?' Kosuke began to think when he felt a bit of nostalgia within those words. A single ship wiping out a majority of a fleet? Moving fast with a Cruiser hull and Battleship tier guns...? It then suddenly clicked inside his mind, and it took all his willpower to keep his expression cool while internally he felt like cursing up a storm. 'Oh no...! Don't tell me it's the same ship that I think it is!' He shrieked in his mind.

If this 'Ship' that Morgan was describing was the same one that he had been thinking of, then it was a wonder how the hell they had managed to freak SURVIVE let alone escape. If this was the ship Kosuke figured it was, then it being 'fast' would be a freaking understatement, especially for a ship in a purely WW2 Era, he doubted ANYTHING could match it in the speed department. The fact that it was a Siren Ship didn't make sense though, which he actually found solace in since it was the one piece of evidence that fought against his hypothesis.

Still, the similarities were WAY too unnerving for him to dismiss the idea completely.

While he thought of all this Kosuke remained unaware of how Yuubari slightly tensed up at the mention of this ship, her eyes flashing with shock, then a whole influx of emotions: realization, anger, fear and understanding.

"It primarily fought with hit and run tactics, moving far too fast for us to get a good lock on its position. As such our return fire was hardly any accurate, which could not be said for its guns which disabled and sunk our escorts like ants stomped on my boots. Not even Aircraft could have hit it with their payloads due to it being so ridiculously fast not to mention it seemed to shoot something out from its hull that hit our planes with insane accuracy." Morgan explained, his first mate shuddering slightly at the memories of seeing countless sinking hulls going down to the depths of davy jones locker, taking countless good sailors and soldiers with them. "It spent a bit of time chasing us, about 40 minutes or so before it then left. We... I'm no religious man, but I'd guess it was a stroke of divine intervention that we were able to escape."

Divine intervention...

Kosuke wasn't a religious person either, but in this case, apparently, Lady Luck pulled an all-nighter to bless Morgan and his remaining ships with this escapade. That ship could have very well kept pursuing them and eventually gunned them all down without much issue, so the fact that it wasn't was anything but a stroke of luck of the highest purity. "Then I guess that these Ships we sunk for you were a splinter force or something?"

Morgan hummed in acknowledgement. "I'd say so, they only popped up about 3 hours ago. We had been trying to flee from them ever since, till you two came along," he replied, placing his hands behind his back.

Now that this information had been revealed, silence dominated the atmosphere as everyone pondered on what to do next.

For Kosuke, he had concluded that these lucky sons of bitches would likely not be able to survive the remaining voyage to New Guinea. They lacked the proper protection from enemy forces, and something in his gut told him that they weren't out of Siren infested waters just yet. If another fleet were to find these guys, they'd be toast and he didn't fancy seeing that happen after they had just saved their asses.

'But since they were on their way to New Guinea, and probably have means of getting there and a better grasp of navigation...' However, thoughts on a solution soon popped into Kosuke's mind moments later. Thoughts which he immediately began weighing the pros and cons of for a brief time before he looked over to his charge. "Hey, Yuubari," he questioned, having stepped up to her and whispered the two-word sentence into her ear.

A sentence which she responded to in an equally hushed whisper. "What is it?"

At this point, Morgan's first mate got a radio call from a fellow Ship which he took, Morgan himself walking up to their com station. Sounded like a status update from what Kosuke heard, but he didn't see that as important at the moment. "Why don't we provide escort duty to these guys? At least till they reach New Guinea. Without us, these people will be sitting ducks, especially without any escorts. Plus, if we go to New Guinea we can get a better idea of how to go to the Sakura Empire instead of just simply going east and wandering without much hope for reaching anywhere meaningful."

For a moment Yuubari didn't respond as she looked down in thought, her eyes shimmering in contemplation. Eventually, she raised her head with a steely gaze of resolution in her eyes. "very well, we should request that they allow us to escort them to New Guinea." she replied, looking over to Kosuke. "Not only do you have a point about their prospects, but we do need proper directions to an area we can continue our journey from."

Even while she admitted this, there were some things that Yuubari didn't mention that factored into her decision. Those being things she had heard from rumours brought about after various war councils back at her Shikkan's naval base, these rumours regarding New Guinea being one of the first few areas that the Sakura Empire would proceed to invade after joining the iron blood and formalising the Crimson Axis's declaration of war against Azur Lane. If she were to help escort these Merchant Ships to New Guinea she could learn some valuable data about their defences that would make its takeover much easier. From what she had heard, the war was inevitable and New Guinea was likely going to fall into their hands...

No matter her feelings about the whole thing being in the mixed category.

(Scene Change)

A few weeks followed since this decision, and they were a somewhat eventful few weeks.

It hadn't taken the duo of Yuubari and Kosuke to persuade Captain Morgan to allow them to escort his remaining ships to their destination. They really didn't have much choice in the matter in hindsight, considering their situation and the level of wounded on board. Those wounded, interestingly enough, had actually been mostly from the rescue attempts their men had made on sinking ships they had tried to help, Kosuke had learned while on the move. Apparently, after the attack from that Siren Ship (which still gave him shudders at the possible identity of the said ship), they had seen fit to try and rescue who they could and book it before enemy reinforcements came to finish them off.

Sadly, not all of them had managed to make it this far either due to their injuries or the Siren ships that had appeared much later.

There was no time for them to mourn or grieve, however, since they had a job to do which led to the second thing that had happened. That was the encounters with the Siren Fleets that they had, of which there had been many. Way more than when the duo had been sailing alone, but through a combination of tactics and positioning the fleets were decimated with their hulls being scavenged by [Proto Satan] to be turned into resources for further use.

Let's just say that he found the sailors faces when they saw his Ship literally ripping Siren Ships apart for resources to be an amusing pastime. The fact that it gave them some sort of vindication also helped.

As for right now, Kosuke sat on his usual perch atop his ship's frontmost Turret, [Proto Satan] itself sailing to the right side of the small merchant fleet's flagship whilst the [Yuubari] sailed opposite the said vessel. The male in question sat on his ass in the cross-legged position, arms crossed in front of his stomach whilst gazing ahead and letting the wind ruffle his hair and hoodie.

'Things seem to be going well for us at the moment, which usually means we may be getting attacked soon...' Kosuke mused internally while searching his vicinity with his mental radar. Fortunately, he didn't pick any signatures up, which given the advancements of his Vessel's radar compared to the norm would be quite a good thing.

Though he found himself a little lost without blasting Sirens to kingdom come (was he developing some kind of new kink or craving for combat?), Kosuke bet this would give the other Sailors some peace of mind, knowing that they weren't going to be attacked for a while. That is if those Sirens didn't do what they did in the Azur Lane anime and drop ships from portals high in the air over their heads, surrounding them and cutting off their escape routes.

While he thought about these things...

"As usual, you are deep in thought Kosuke san."

"Hm?"

Glancing behind him, Kosuke looked over when he heard someone say his name. Part of him guessed it would have been Captain Morgan or his first mate (who seemed oddly tense around him for some reason, he wasn't sure why), but in the end, it turned out to be Yuubari walking up to him from the main deck till she stood beneath the frontmost turret.

Upon seeing her, the male gave a two-fingered salute that he then flicked to the side whilst smirking. "Yo, Yuubari. Things doing well for you?" Kosuke greeted warmly, watching her grab onto the turret's right barrel with her hands then swing onto it, landing atop it before plopping herself down on it like it were a cosy cushion.

Afterwards, she presented her response in her usual demeanour. "Satisfactory for now. None of the Eagle Union sailors has tried to tamper with my vessel, thankfully." While replying, she kicked her legs into the air between the right and centre barrel, only possible thanks to her petite stature.

At this, the male arched a brow with a spark of concern flickering within his chest. "You think they would?" he questioned curiously, his mind whirring with thoughts about her opinion. Those Sailors hadn't struck him as the type of people who would do such things, heck even if they were it wasn't likely that they'd be able to get very far not to mention the more reasonable ones would have condemned them for such actions since they'd be sabotaging their chances of making it out of here alive. Thus, he didn't get the reason why Yuubari would say that about them.

"Not really, however, it's something I'm constantly concerned for..." Yuubari began, trailing off for a moment before sighing. "I'll be blunt, things aren't looking too good between our nations, and the Sailors are probably aware of it to some degree. That's why they discreetly send me distrustfully, cautious looks despite me giving my word that I would not try to sink them in favour of escorting them instead. It... keeps the unnerving concern that they'll try something to my ship in my head." she admitted, looking down to the side.

Kosuke frowned, searching through his memories for anything that could add to those claims. He didn't recall anything he had seen from the Sailors that would imply those sentiments, but perhaps it was due to him not looking like a Sakura Empire citizen? Maybe? Perhaps this was done out of his sight for whatever reason, maybe due to them having never heard of him and his ship not looking anything like other ships. That could have somewhat affected their views of him to a more neutral stance, Yuubari wouldn't have the same courtesy.

It could also be just her being paranoid, too.

Now that he thought about it, maybe it was also due to the intensity of the souring relations between the factions that affected their views of her. Some might be suspicious as to why Yuubari was even out here so close to Eagle Union territory or something, if he was someone who was currently being escorted by an unknown force then he'd probably be a bit tense around them too. "Well, as long as they haven't done anything then it should be good."

"Maybe." Yuubari conceded, shifting her gaze to the right to look over to the distance ahead of them. "Then again, things will unfold once we reach New Guinea. It's meant to be part of the Eagle Union, so they might have a force stationed there. If so, there's a high chance a fight might break out especially if some of their more war-like Shipgirls are present."

'Is that so...' Kosuke mused internally. When he thought of the more war-like eagle union Shipgirls, the one that personified the USS Washington came to mind. Apparently, in the game, she really had a strong drive to fight which he had assumed came from her being a Battleship in an age where the top dog spot was being contested by the Aircraft Carriers. He wasn't too familiar with all the Eagle Union Shipgirls, so Kosuke couldn't offer much on that one.

Knowing that she expected an answer out of him due to feeling her gaze being drawn to him, Kosuke looked up into Yuubari's eyes while opening his mouth. "If you ask me, this situation reminds me of a certain something said by a certain philosopher. His name was Friedrich Nietzche, and he remarked in one of his works that the path to success doesn't really exist, one has to make their own paths, make their own choices. Our situation made that a necessity I'll admit, but it's a good life lesson too, plus if one adds in how one shouldn't pick the easier route since the rewards will feel more worthwhile, and you get the main point: good things come to those who work for them. Always hated the whole 'good things come to those who wait for' thing." he explained, shuddering with a scoff.

At first, Yuubari was rendered silent by his words while the male internally fumed about the apparent laziness some people (read: a LOT!) had. This didn't last long though, for she soon tilted her head at him with a curious expression on her face, her interest seemingly piqued. "You seem to be of somewhat Sakura Empire Heritage with a name from our conventions to boot, Kosuke san. Yet you quote someone from the Iron Blood lands, why is that?" Her eyes then slightly narrowed as one particular thought crossed her mind. "Do you not have pride for your nation?"

"To be certain, having pride in one's nation is indeed important." Kosuke started after sensing the accusation in her tone. He internally had to congratulate himself for remaining composed, since he forgot about her being unable to form Rigging amid fears she would aim such guns at him for what could be considered heresy by imperial japan standards. "But in all honesty, national pride takes second place on my list of priorities, beneath the first spot which has 'self-pride' firmly locked in place there."

THIS caught Yuubari's attention, her previous attitude quickly fading away to be replaced with interest once more. "Self-pride, you say? That sounds suspiciously like arrogance."

"Meh, self-pride and arrogance are somewhat connected at least in my opinion, though the latter is more an excess of self-pride causing them to look down on others." Kosuke calmly responded, shrugging his shoulders. "This may be an unpopular opinion for you and the Sakura Empire, but in my eyes, I've always placed self-pride and confidence in my actions as my greatest priority in life. If one can't look at themselves in the mirror without shame, then how can they live their lives with their heads held high? One needs to take control of the lives they were given because metaphysical concepts like gods without solid proof are nothing but a hindrance."

Despite growing up in a relatively normal home, Kosuke quickly learned the importance of having pride in one's own achievements and their own abilities, as well as what could happen to one who had such things forcibly ripped from them. It left a DEVASTATING hole in their beings that they would try to fill, lest it get too wide and they'd feel empty inside, then do anything they could to escape it.

For example, if someone wanted to become an Olympic athlete, they'd prioritize everything necessary to attain that goal and they'd do whatever it took to achieve it. They'd go to the gym, conduct stamina training, learn the necessary diet that such athletes follow, that sort of thing which someone who didn't have such a goal wouldn't pay as much attention to.

Then the athlete would either work hard and through trials and effort, would eventually succeed in his or her goal. Then some pumped themselves up with drugs to quickly rise to stardom, taking the easier route and thus earning their consequences later down the line. This was just one example he'd come up with after learning of this revelation.

But then, in a society where the rule of dog eat dog was prominent, there would be those who would try to strip these dreams and ideas from others for their own gain. They would sabotage, steal, lie and spread false rumours about them just to get them down. If not, then they would resort to more indirect means, yet they could be even more insidious.

This had taught him a massively important lesson: the value of one's individuality and the consequences of losing it.

Following this lesson, other things about society helped shape his perspective to what it was today, some good, some bad. The bottom line was that he lived according to his three principles:

Self Pride

Choices

Individuality.

These three principles shaped the majority of his life goals and ambitions, and Kosuke would NEVER let anything that threatened those ideals stand.

Now that he had done this little rant of sorts, something which he found himself surprised at since he didn't expect it here of all places, Kosuke waited for Yuubari's response. Honestly, he may as well have shot himself in the foot with this rant since imperial japan was quite religious on a fanatical level from what he could recall. She could be like them if not in religious faith but perhaps in loyalty to her Nation's pride, so him literally expressing a different opinion might not flow well with her.

Moments later, she finally responded after a silence that had been so tense one could have physically cut it with a butcher's knife. Though her words... once again put his mind into shock. "I can relate... especially on that part about unproven concepts being useless." She admitted slowly, looking down between the turret barrels. Kosuke could see her hair shift so that it could cover her eyes as she took a moment to think of what she would be saying next. From the looks of things, this might have been the first time she'd admitted it. "As a scientist for the Sakura Empire, I've always had to think about things unconventionally to produce the results that I have. It was my primary directive declared by my Shikkan. As such, I'm... not that popular with my peers who are all abutting 'dying honourably' or their suicidal stuff." She explained, and judging by the bitter tone she took at that moment Kosuke easily guessed her less than stellar opinion on THOSE traits her Nation possessed. "Especially since I don't do any of that since, in my view, it conflicts with the directive I was given. Not only that but Science and research has quickly become my passion, second only to testing equipment on the battlefields I take to. Why should I die honourably when if I did then my data for research would be wasted? Honour is good and all, but for me, it's a contradiction with my own purpose in life."

... huh. Now, THIS piqued Kosuke interest. The more he heard of this, the more he began to think of Yuubari as like an 'outcast' at least in her Nation. From the tones she had during her speech and the way she currently acted, Kosuke felt like this girl wasn't all too popular with her peers due to differing views on their code of honour. They seemed to stem from a more pragmatic viewpoint on things, a viewpoint which contrasted heavily with her Nation's viewpoint... for this reason, Kosuke just had to remark the following. "Sounds like they see you as a black sheep or something..."

"You're not wrong, Kosuke san... but you seem relieved to hear this, why might I ask?"

Glancing over to him, Yuubari had noticed a strong shift in Kosuke's tone to one of relief, like he had confirmed something that had been bugging him. She would like to have the same feeling as it was one of the more interesting parts of being a scientist in her view. He wasn't wrong with his statements, she DID feel like she wasn't as well-liked by the more radical of her peers, the Shipgirls more into their honour code and dying honourably on the battlefield. SOME Shipgirls didn't have the same level of care for the stuff, but they were much younger than her in both body and mind, like the Destroyers, for example, so she didn't have a lot of people she could talk to openly about her viewpoints lest she gets... harshly disciplined, especially by those in charge of the SE Navy.

After putting his arms behind him and leaning on them for support, Kosuke looked up to the skies with a small smile on his face. "Well, the answer to that's simple: you just confirmed my initial impressions of you," he answered, and when he felt her gaze remaining on him he elaborated. "I initially had you pegged as more of a learner than a fighter, although that doesn't lower your drive on the battlefield. The amounts of Siren Ships you've sunk can attest to that." He chuckled a bit, something which Yuubari also did albeit less noticeably. "I noticed this thanks to your combat style, you usually fight by studying your opponents with the eyes of a tactician, and you tend to shoot at areas that pose the most threat to your current position such as the Runways of Carriers, or the main guns of Battleships. Those were the signs of a combat pragmatist if I ever saw them, which considering your researcher mentality compliments you quite well."

"...I could say the same about you, although you have quite the berserker feel to you as well."

"Can't argue with you there. Sometimes I tend to lose myself in the thrill of combat. It's probably the adrenaline."

"That may be so..."

Thus, slowly their conversation started to shift from the heavy stuff like philosophy and ideals to more casual topics though still slightly heavy such as battle tactics, combat styles and how they could improve. All the while, a sense of leisure enveloped them like the two had lost themselves in their own little world. Perhaps it was due to this that they didn't notice that they were being watched by a certain someone.

Within his command bridge, Captain Morgan could see them conversing with one another while he worked on papers at his desk. He couldn't hear what they were saying obviously, but he could sneak a few glances and look at their facial expressions, to which from what he could see he could tell that the two were... quite close to one another. 'Those two... they remind me of brothers in arms after a long war...' he thought to himself.

To be frank, he had shared his crew's opinions on Yuubari escorting them to New Guinea, at least initially. But a combination of consistent performance, her keeping her word and now seeing how she talked with that boy, those opinions had left him. Honestly aside from the brothers in arms feeling he got from them, he also got reminded of his grandchildren when looking at them.

That thought just made him want to get back home even faster. He missed those two brats and their massive grins.

'I guess, that no matter what Navy one may belong to, no matter the flag they sail under and no matter their values, in the end, we sailors and Shipgirls are siblings of the sea...'

(Scene Change)

Up in the distance one morning, the silhouette of New Guinea began to take shape which indicated the group's arrival. This had been seen by Kosuke who had woken up this morning earlier than he usually would so he could conduct his morning patrols and training routine outside of his Ship's superstructure for a change. Something he did on occasions such as pull and push-ups, hang off the side of their barrels or even run laps around the entire vessel.

Nevertheless, the moment that he saw New Guinea's form which he had figured the identity of mostly through common sense and process of elimination, Kosuke's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Hah! Yes, we're finally here!" He whispered under his breath but failed to contain the positive emotions overflowing from his chest. He even pumped a fist whilst leaning forward a little, his lips curved into a big smirk.

After giving the place a closer look through some of his Commands, Kosuke saw that where their heading to was Port Moresby which he knew a little about due to looking up some of its WW2 histories on a whim. He remembered that it had been colonized by the British Empire for a while, then in the early 1940s imperial Japan went and occupied it before it was retaken by the allies further down the line. Over the decades that followed it eventually became the capital of an independent New Guinea, of which it had flourished ever since.

Judging from his position, he could see that there was a significant military presence building upon the Port given the amount of stuff he could see there. Seemed like the beginnings of a defence force were being assembled, and if that was the case that would make sense given the tensions between the two Factions. Perhaps the reason why they hadn't opened fire on Yuubari, a Sakura Empire ship, had been due to being radioed by Captain Morgan who had explained to them the situation and had gotten Yuubari permission to escort them to the port.

Either way, it'd be best if they didn't overstay their welcome.

'Though there IS the problem of anchoring [Proto Satan]...' A stray thought passed through his mind that ground Kosuke to a halt, the male looking down at his Ship and then furrowing his brow. He worried a little about his Ship being unable to fit anywhere in the port especially due to its unusual shape, massive Drill and large Sawblades, making him somewhat lament the fact that he had such an unusual vessel.

"You worried about something, boy?"

Glancing behind him to see an approaching Captain Morgan, the old man having his hands behind his back, Kosuke offered a nod of acknowledgement to him. This was both for a good morning and an acknowledgement of his question. "Kind of. [Proto Satan] is shaped oddly so I'm thinking about where to anchor him. Don't know if this Port can even house such a vessel, given it to be mostly a trading port from what I remember."

"Ah, no worries about that. You see the presence of soldiers on this island?" The older man questioned, pointing at the military fortifications spread across the Port. There weren't many, but there were a few noticeable ones. Though the more Kosuke looked at them the more he began to see some more... futuristic-looking ones here and there, and they looked to be at the start of their construction. "Because of the Siren menace, the Allied factions of Azur Lane dictated it necessary to turn all ports into hybrids of civilian and military ones. This means allocating resources to various ports and fortifying them with defence systems in case of an enemy attack, most of them being having Sirens in mind although they can be used for other factions."

Somehow Kosuke got the hidden meaning behind those last few words there, Captain Morgan was obviously hinting not so subtly at the Sakura Empire. From what he knew of history, Kosuke saw this as similar to how it played out in his own world, where the allies gathered a bunch of forces together on port Moresby in case of a Japanese invasion, which almost happened in the form of the Kadoka Campaign in the early stages of that war.

'But then, given the Siren presence and the dangers they posed Azur Lane's going to extra lengths to protect its remaining territories...' the male mused, feeling a bit of irony swelling inside of him. From what he knew of the videogame's lore, the Sirens seemingly seek evolution through progress so stuff like this is pretty much playing into their hands, yet it was also something necessary so the humans of this world had no choice but to comply.

"I see... everyone's seeking protection from outside forces, both human and non-human alike."

"Aye, and it seems our luck's not done with us yet. Check it out."

Throwing his arm to the side again, Morgan pointed towards the right where Kosuke looked to, which allowed him to see the opening of what looked like a Dockyard. His eyes became filled with awe since this was the first time he had ever seen such a thing in person, the sheer size of it and the way it opened up seemed to let the waters rush in for a Ship to dock inside. Judging from its size, Kosuke felt willing to bet that it could house aircraft carriers or battleships.

Speaking of which...

RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING!

Hearing his phone ringing, Kosuke quickly pulled it out and received the call which allowed a masculine-sounding voice to breakthrough.

{Captain of unknown Warship, we're aware that you're having some docking issues. We have a Yard that can fit your ship, but you will have to reverse into it once the floodgates are completely open. As for Warship [Yuubari], we have a similar dockyard prepped for you on the opposite side of the port.}

"Huh... I'm surprised they're willing to help a member of a potential enemy Nation." Kosuke mused, surprised at their generosity. Behind him, the clacking of sandals alerted him to the said Shipgirl's presence though he assumed she had already heard the radio transmission. Part of him did feel a bit nervous at being able to step on dry land once more since that was something he hadn't done in weeks, but that was much lower on his list of concerns at the moment. 'Not only that, but they didn't try to question me very much about [Proto Satan]'s nature... maybe the Captain reported my cover story to them? Likely, but that doesn't mean that I can let my guard down, so just in case I think I'll stay in my ship's accommodations. That way I can act quickly against any threats.'

Morgan huffed, getting his attention. "We aren't enemies yet, but judging by your ship's state and how much you guys have done for us, we'd never be able to preach our values if we just left you empty-handed." He commented, making Kosuke wonder if this guy was a psychic or if he himself was too easy to read. Judging by the knowing glint in his eye, Kosuke felt willing to bet it was the latter. "Hence I pulled a few favours and allowed you guys the chance to stay for a bit. Even with a full repair job for our Sakura Empire friend over here if she wishes it." He explained, gesturing over to Yuubari who gained a surprised expression.

Such surprise quickly turned into distrust as she looked for any signs of deceit in the man, soon finding none. This only made her feel worse inside though, considering that such generosity would be likely repaid in their blood in the coming years. She also got the impression that this Sailor, as old and withered as he may appear, may have even suspected that the Sakura Empire would soon invade New Guinea yet helped her anyways out of an ethical obligation.

And then there was the whole repairs situation...

Out of nowhere, Yuubari blinked when she felt two entities pop into existence via poofs of smoke: a Yuubari wearing a traditional white kimono while sporting angelic wings on her back, and then a dark, oni-like Yuubari with claws, fangs, wings and a tail.

"DON'T TRUST THOSE FOOLS! THOSE EAGLE UNION DOGS WILL SOON BLAST US TO KINGDOM COME WITH A BOMB IF WE AREN'T CAREFUL!" Yelled the dark Yuubari, guttural growls escaping her mouth as she glowered at the main Yuubari.

However, the white and angelic Yuubari countered this while gently plopping herself onto Yuubari's shoulder as opposed to how the dark one did the same on her opposite one with none of the grace the light one did. "No, you must not listen to that decrypt creature. This sincere man has been nothing but generous to you throughout this whole trip, even with his suspicions of you. Moreover, he was able to go out of his way to offer us the chance to repair our ship and fix the damage done to us."

"PAH!" The dark yuubari spat, actually spitting to the side while sitting on her shoulder as a typical western gangster would. "WHAT A LOAD OF BALONEY, HE MAY BE ACTING THAT WAY NOW BUT WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THOSE LOT? THEY AREN'T ANYWHERE NEAR AS TRUSTWORTHY, NOT EVEN ENOUGH TO LICK OUR FEET! THEY SHOULD BE GRATEFUL WE DIDN'T SINK THEM WHEN WE HAD THE CHANCE!"

Another narrowed-eye glare got aimed at the dark Yuubari by her light counterpart, clear annoyance on her face. "True, but what reason do they actually have to do so? We haven't declared war on them yet, nor do we have any intent to harm them despite your rantings, evil me. There may be tensions between us, but we both know that Eagle Union engineers are nothing if not professional. We can even request to oversee the repairs so that they don't do anything stupid with our ship, and you do seem to have forgotten that we can potentially revive our ability to form our rigging! We will be able to better protect our chivalrous bodyguard with that power while we get back home."

Just when the evil Yuubari made to counter those arguments, she suddenly stopped at the last moment and looked to the side, seeming to try and find something she could say at that. However, nothing came to her no matter how hard she tried, and a feral snarl escaped her as she soon went up in smoke just like how she had appeared before.

This left a victorious smirk on the light Yuubari's features before she gave a supportive wink to Yuubari and went up in smoke herself.

As... weird, as that was, Yuubari had to admit that both sides rose some good arguments. She may know that the merchant ship sailors were trustworthy, but not the residents of this Port. She hadn't sailed with them for a few weeks, she hadn't seen the way that the sailors gradually changed their views on her from antagonistic to neutral in these residents. Thus there was no reason for her to think they'd share the same sentiments. However, that can be solved by her overseeing the repairs to her ship if she accepted, and if all went well she could finally return to fighting in the way that she was most used to, since fighting in the conventional 'human' way was not something Yuubari had done for a long, long time.

Not since she was first commissioned and sent out to sea so long ago.

"...That would be very much appreciated." Yuubari finally declared towards the two men or three since there was still someone on Kosuke and her lines. "However, I would like to oversee the repairs your engineers do to my ship if you don't mind. It is the vessel that I fight with, so I hope you understand my reluctance."

The response came swiftly, the tone used is just as calm and professional as before. "That's fine. Our other dockyard shall open momentarily, so if you follow my instructions we can get your ship parked in and we can start doing our thing. In the meantime, Captain Morgan could you take the civilian dockyard and start unloading your stuff? Everyone's eager to see what you have."

Captain Morgan nodded, slightly tipping his hat over his eyes. "Will do."

---

Chapter end.

Hey guys, sorry for the long wait, but this chapter is complete. Not only was it much bigger than normal, but a combination of revelling in passing my Uni course, lack of inspiration and drive delayed this chapter quite a bit. Now that it's done I can finally breathe easier knowing you have something to sink your teeth into while the next chapter's in development.

About the story itself. Sorry that it's so slow-paced, but that's usually my MO when writing. If there's a chance I can slow things down and add good content then I will, it's just how I write. Nevertheless, the long time between chapters just means that I can put more effort into making them and increase their quality.

Speaking of the story, there's a lot to dissect here.

Slowly Kosuke's character is coming together, and the traits that define him as a person are being brought to the surface. I tried to pace myself with this because I wanted to properly write the kind of character I want this guy to be, which is a large reason for my interest in philosophy and psychology. Those coming to play in the form of that quote from that german Philosopher (he, in particular, is QUITE special since his works unintentionally contributed to the Nazi regime so it could be interesting to write the iron blood's reaction to Kosuke following things like this) as well as the Paltering thing. It's a real thing that people do, politicians and businessmen more so, I myself wasn't aware of it till I looked up the expression 'lie by telling the truth'. Quite interesting, plus this stuff helps me write intriguing characters with their own viewpoints on life, so I'm all for it.

THEN there's the whole thing with the Merchant Fleet being ambushed by a... Siren Ship? Just one, and it seems to be quite different, wonder what that's all about... well, I know, but what do you think it is? This, combined with the last few chaps, further hints at some new variables I'll be introducing later into the story, variables that may shake things up for this world no doubt about that. Look forward to when they appear, plus it seems they're connected to Yuubari in some manner. More pieces to the puzzle...

As for Yuubari, seeing her talk with Kosuke the way she did, put a smile on my face. Honestly, since there is so little about her personality (probably due to there being so many Shipgirls that nobody wants to write a proper wiki page about her) save for the TV Tropes pages, I made do with what I'd been dealt. Slowly the two are getting the hang of talking with one another, especially since their viewpoints are somewhat similar to one another, though I'll admit that my writing about shipgirls could use some improvement.

Now that should be it, hopefully, you like the chapter, lemme know what you think and I'll see you in the next one.

PEACE OUT!