The Five Stories Of Standard Carrier Shoukaku

Chapter One: The Introduction Part 2

.-.

"And," Shoukaku paused, struggling to finish the recollection, "He, I mean, his hands, he... Moved, and... He touched me. It was disgusting." She spat out the last words as though it was unclean. She felt unclean. The many wet wipes she had borrowed from Zuikaku never felt like it fully removed the dampness of Seiji's mouth or the musk of whiskey that clung to it.

To her credit, Zuikaku did not scream, break out in tears, or do anything of the sort. The sister shipgirl bit her lip as she poured Shoukaku a cup of tea from the pot, though the slight tremble of her hand was plain to herself and Akashi, who was sitting by the side and was wide-eyed as Shoukaku recounted the events. Shoukaku gratefully accepted the warm tea and drank deeply; the warm liquid served to calm her nerves somewhat.

"Admirals are the worst," Zuikaku cursed quietly under her breath. "I don't mind fighting for them, but that doesn't mean... That doesn't mean we allow that kind of thing to happen. Don't you think so?"

Shoukaku murmured in agreement, and even Akashi put down her cup and nodded solemnly. "Shoukaku, this may be the first time you've encountered this situation, but I have seen and listened to other shipgirls talk about this. If you ever need assistance, you can come find me as well."

"We'll support you all the way," Zuikaku declared. "Untill that bastard admiral apologises or gets his comeuppance, I won't let him lay a finger on you!"

She couldn't help but tear up in the face of such fervent assurances from Zuikaku and Akashi. Dabbing at her eyes with a napkin, Shoukaku whispered, "Thank you. Thank you both."

"Cheer up, sis!" Zuikaku grinned as a waitress entered their booth with a tray full of steaming dishes, fish, and rice. "We're here to eat and drink the best I, the best carrier in CarDiv 5, can find this side of Port Yokosuka! We'll eat more than Kaga could ever hope to order! Akashi will get drunk and start complaining about Yamato and her repair costs! We'll be here all night trashtalking shitty admirals until you stop frowning and you start smiling!"

Akashi promptly spilled her tea as several girls sniggered from outside their both. "Zuikaku!" she held out for just a moment, before collapsing into a fit of giggles. Just then, the first bucket of cheap beer was delivered to their table.

Even Shoukaku had to gasp in mock horror. "Akashi, I take it that you've never seen Zuikaku get drunk before?"

Akashi counted the bottles in the bucket. "How are the three of us going to share twelve beers?"

"We're not!" Zuikaku was already cracking open the coldest bottle she could find. "That's one for you and ten for me!"

.-.

Unsurprisingly, Zuikaku had to take an off-day the next morning by virtue of not being sober enough. For better or for worse, Shoukaku barely saw Admiral Seiji the entire morning and afternoon - save for some pleasantries in the morning, Admiral Seiji had decided to jot down everything into a small notepad for himself, and instead assigned Shoukaku a couple of tasks that would keep her busy.

Then as the shipgirls were gathered in the Port's spacious auditorium, only the dumbest of shipgirls could fail to notice the large banner hung on the stage:

'CHANGE OF COMMAND CEREMONY'

Naval officers in white dress uniforms gathered and sat down next to the shipgirls. The lights dimmed slightly and a spotlight opened up over the pedastal, where Admiral Miyamoto rose to give a speech. Behind him, Admiral Seiji and several other officers were seated with their hands on their knees, their expressions tense and their mouths thin.

As she was looking them over, Seiji looked to the audience, and he found Shoukaku just as her gaze fell on him. His stomach lurched and he looked away immediately, pretending to check out the assortment of brass in the front row.

So much for remorse... He had wanted to apologise to Shoukaku as soon as he could, but at the last second he had reflexively begun going over the day's schedule when they first met that morning. She seemed to have gone with the flow, not wanting to breach the subject either, so that had seemed that that was the best for them.

Miyamoto tapped the microphone and began his opening speech. "We welcome the officers and shipgirls gathered today..."

As expected, it was long, dry, and boring. Even the sandwich he had slapped together for his breakfast this morning had more bite than this. Seiji longed for the days when Shoukaku would make him an extra box of food to have for lunch, back when she was newly launched and eager to impress...

'Bad. Very bad thoughts.' Seiji immediately shut down his naughty reminiscing brain and tried his darnedest to memorise every word of Miyamoto's speech. Still, his stomach rumbled loudly, prompting Admiral Satoshi besides him to grin.

"May I invite the nominees to step forwards for the awards?" Miyamoto's invitation shook Seiji out of his stupor, and the assembled officers rose from their plastic chairs, standing in a line. The assembled clapped politely and it took all of Seiji's will to not glance at Shoukaku. The guest-of-honour, the Chief of Navy, took a small golden medal shaped like a flower and stood before Seiji. He stiffened reflexively and pushed his chest out in empty pride.

"Well done, Admiral Honda Seiji," the Naval Chief nodded, pinning the flower to his chest. "The Navy will sail smoothly with you at the helm."

"Thank you, sir." Seiji shook hands and saluted. The Chief of Navy returned the salute and moved onto Satoshi.

All the awards were given out to another smattering of applause, and now Seiji really did look at Shoukaku. Yet, the sight of her smiling and politely clapping did little to sooth his nerves or assure him that all was to be well.

The reason for that, he figured, was because it had just walked through the door. Miyamoto was announcing something, Satoshi and the other award recipients were clapping on auto-mode, but Seiji merely went through the motions in a daze.

He was unexpectedly short, probably the same height as Seiji himself or even a little shorter. And yet, every little detail about him seemed to be perfect - his boots were polished to a mirror shine, his uniform had zero creases on it, and he could swear the badge of his peak cap was glowing like a holy deity. As he shook hands and smiled at Miyamoto's introduction, Seiji found himself wondering what was he just so scared of.

"Oh, that's right," he thought to himself, "That's Amagawa Teiichi, and he's taking Shoukaku away."

tbc.

Part Two is being released early due to time constraints this week. I'll be completing the rest of it by Friday or Saturday.