It was another day of paperwork at the office, or at least that's how I wanted it to be this morning.
"So, what are you going to wear senpai?"
"I'm not telling you."
"Oh come on, please~"
"No"
"Myoukou, could you please stop harassing Indianapolis? It's awkward enough for her that her sister is dragging her along, let alone choosing the dress for her."
"But that's what I want to know! I don't want to outshine my senpai."
"stop calling me that." I gritted. Myoukou, now understanding that I didn't want to talk about the upcoming party, dropped back in her seat and continued working, although thinking about what Myoukou said, I turned around to my boss. "Why exactly is it that they're throwing a party now for? I mean what's so special about the 1st of May?"
"Well," My boss explained "I believe it's one of those old-time celebrations that the Royal Islands have, where they dance around a large pole, and some people with funny costumes, straw hats and carrying some small bells do some sort of funny dance."
"Yeah…but what is it supposed to be celebrating?"
"I haven't got a clue" I just stared at Hornet before turning back to do the paperwork in complete silence.
"(Trust the Royal Navy to celebrate something insignificant)" I muttered.
"Ah, now I'll have to disagree with you there Senpai!" my partner said "Over in the Sakura Empire we have all sorts of ancient traditions that we still perform, even though most of them are obsolete now."
"Then why bother doing it?" I asked
"It's tradition!" she replied "It's like you with Thanksgiving, everyone else doesn't understand it, but you have a sense of history and tradition behind it!"
"Well, I suppose you have a point." I muttered, luckily for me, I wouldn't have to talk about the upcoming party anymore, as there was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Hornet yelled. There was a pause before a figure opened the door, parcel under her arm, and turned around and slammed the door shut, then she opened the door slightly, peeked around the door, looked both ways up and down the corridor, before slamming the door shut again and turning around to give a big sigh. "You okay Cleveland?" The light cruiser gave a frown on her reddened face before shouting.
"No of course I'm not alright!" She ran over to Hornet's desk and threw the package on top "Take a look at this!" We made our way over to the desk as Hornet unwrapped it, it wasn't what we were expecting though. Inside the brown packaging was a small deep blue and white dress with a frilly skirt at the bottom. We all looked at each other, confused.
"Well…if there was a mistake with the dress you could always go and see Akashi" I suggested.
"What…exactly is wrong with this dress?" Hornet asked
"That's the seventh one I've received this week!" Again, we all looked at each other.
"So…was there a mix up with the order?" Myoukou asked.
"No…I've already got my dress! And now some creep is sending me dresses, it's creeping me out!"
"It wouldn't-" I started but I was cut off.
"No, it wasn't the commander, or my sisters. Not that they'd send me a dress, they'd try and get me into a suit like last time."
"Why?" Myoukou quizzed.
"WHY DO YOU THINK?" Cleveland shouted. Hornet gave a small cough.
"Perhaps it'll be best if you start from the beginning?" I returned to my seat and began to jot down Cleveland's story.
"Well, about a week ago, the commander asked me to accompany him as his secretary to a meeting by the higher ups in New York, seeing as Enterprise was, is still on commission. After the meeting ended the commander decided to spend a bit of time in the city to do some shopping, as my day's leave for all the recent commission works that me and my sisters have done. So while I was there, I saw a beautiful dress that I though would look pretty on me, I figured that if I bought myself a dress, then I wouldn't be forced to wear a suit by my sisters. However, when I got back to the base, there was a package waiting for me on my bed, when I opened it up it was a pretty white dress, almost identical to that one." She pointed at the item on Hornet's desk "Which I though was a nice gesture, but as I had already bought myself a dress, I didn't need it, so I gave the dress to one of my friends, who still needed a dress for the upcoming party. But then, then next day, right after breakfast, there was another package on my bed, and when I opened it, I found that it was another dress, at first, I thought it was a prank, but every day since then I've had a package on my bed which contains another dress. It's creeping me out, I mean, what if there's some stalker out there who's enjoying my discomfort, or even worse imagining me in that dress as part of their fantasies~?"
"Okay I think we get the idea!" Hornet interrupted before Cleveland could take this scenario down any further routes.
"What do I do? I'm running out of friends to give these dresses to. And the party is in two days, what if someone tries to do something to me at the party?"
"Look, just calm down alright!" Hornet said stand up from her desk and grabbing Cleveland by the shoulders and giving her a good shake. "Here's what we're going to do. When you receive your package tomorrow, you'll come over and give it to us, without opening it, and then you'll leave the rest to us."
"O-okay…" Cleveland sniffed "But what will I do with this dress?"
"Oh! I'll take it off you!" Myoukou chirped. We all turned around to Myoukou with a look of confusion as she walked over to Hornet's desk and picked the dress off the desk. "Hatsuharu said that she needed a dress this morning, and you're about similar height, so I thought…"
"Nice thinking rookie!" Hornet gave a thumbs up as Myoukou tucked the dress under her desk.
"Don't worry, we'll find whoever's been stalking you." I said, trying to reassure Cleveland. Cleveland gave a shaky nod before she walked back towards the door and exited the room.
"So…any ideas rookies?" I shook my head
"I'm at a loss. I don't know any ships who hero worship her, or anyone with a light cruiser fetish, destroyers, yes, but not light cruisers."
"Could it be that someone saw her while she was in New York and developed a crush on her?" my partner asked. Hornet shook her head.
"No, they'd need to have access to this base if they were to place a package on Cleveland's bed."
"But they could have posted it, and the Manjuu's could have delivered it to Cleveland's room." Myoukou explained.
"Unlikely, there are no packages or letters that arrive on this base, other than those sent by the higher ups or ordered and sent through stores." Hornet explained. Myoukou looked towards me for inspiration, I had none to give so I gave a shrug. Hornet gave a sigh and turned towards the window. "We'll just have to see what tomorrow brings." She sighed.