It's finally done. I finally finished chapter 5.
Kure Naval District
Hiroshima Prefecture
Rainy Season
"I hate rain kuma. Kuuuumaaaa… kuuuumaaaa… Aah! I hate the rain kuma. Kuuumaaa…"
"What? Where am I…?"
"On a rainy day, I wanna curl up in the room, nya. I'm sleepy, nya. Good night, nya."
Hibiki felt a large and heavy object on top of her.
"Tama, you can't sleep there, kuma. That's Hibiki, kuma."
The weight of the Light Cruiser surprised Hibiki as her eyes opened to see Tama almost curled up on her lap. With a scream, the silver haired destroyer sent Tama crashing to the floor.
"Nya!" The Light Cruiser exclaimed as she hit the floor.
Kuma heard the commotion and turned to see Tama and a panicked Hibiki, now sitting up in the bed.
"Kuma! Hibiki's awake, kuma!" Carefully stepping over a hissing Tama, Kuma dove to Hibiki giving her a bear hug.
Hibiki could barely talk with the nameship of the Kuma class on top of her now, but managed to speak,
"Where am I?"
Kuma blinked and stepped back for Hibiki to have air,
"You're in Kuma and Tama's room, kuma! You fell asleep as Kuma was carrying you back to the base, so Kuma let you sleep in Kuma's bed, kuma!"
"So you were up all night?" Hibiki looked puzzled until she noticed dark circles under Kuma's eyes.
"Kuma!" Kuma replied, smiling.
"She did this for me? Even though we just met?" Hibiki smiled, realizing Kuma could become a good friend, the first she had in this base.
A few hours later, Kuma and Tama were to go on an Expedition, leaving Hibiki to explore the naval base on her own. As she placed her hat on her head, the silver-haired looked out the window of Kuma's room. Raindrops were splashing against the window, creating the illusion of shadows on the floor. Small objects were tied to the window sill, and as Hibiki looked closer, she instinctively mumbled,
"Inazuma's Teru-Teru bouzu looks nice. It's cute. As for Akatsuki's... what may it be? A monster?"
"What? Why did I say that?" Hibiki was taken aback by her own words and stared at the teru-teru bouzu once again before shaking her head.
"Right. They're… not… here… anymore…" Hibiki's eyes started to tear up, but she managed to brush them out of her vision. The girl slumped her shoulders and made her way into the hall.
This time, Hibiki looked around to make sure there weren't any high speed Destroyer Kanmusu running down the hallway. Seeing as there weren't, the silver-haired Destroyer stepped out of Kuma's room.
Rain pelted the windows as Hibiki walked through the empty hallways. In a way, it was eery for the Destroyer, but soon, she heard the sounds of laughter and chatter coming from the mess hall. The sounds lifted the Destroyer's spirits and as she approached the doors of the hall, the smell of roast beef filled her nostrils. Placing her hand on the door, Hibiki pushed it open, revealing a large room filled with tables. Sitting at these tables were some child-like Submarines, their hair and swimsuits dripping water onto the floor. Some nearby Destroyers and Light Cruisers glanced at the water on the floor before a Battleship class dropped a towel onto a Submarine's head.
"It's peaceful here…" Hibiki thought to herself as a black haired Aircraft Carrier approached Hibiki.
"I haven't seen you before, are you a new girl?" The Carrier, Houshou bent down to Hibiki, smiling, her voice gentle and kind.
Hibiki somehow felt at ease, this Kanmusu gave off a motherly feel and Hibiki almost hugged her out of instinct.
"Ah, yes, I'm Ver-Hibiki, a Destroyer. I'm referred to as The Phoenix and-"
Hibiki was cut off by a quick hug from Houshou,
"Welcome to the base! If you ever need anyone to talk to, you can always find me either here in the mess hall or around the base."
Hibiki nodded her head, unable to talk from Houshou's body pressing against her.
Hibiki sat a table eating her roast beef. She was sitting alone, silently, until a young, pink haired girl in a swimsuit sat next to her and loudly exclaimed,
"You're the Destroyer we brought back! Iku, it's the Destroyer, dechi!"
Hibiki couldn't even take a bite of her meal as Submarine Kanmusu surrounded her.
"Iku wants to know the Destroyer's name!"
"So does Goya, dechi!"
The voices from the Submarines echoed into Hibiki's ears. Too much was happening at once, the Destroyer's eyes turned to swirls as she almost collapsed into her food.
"Hey, hey hey! You're stressing her out!" I-26, Nimu yelled over the Submarine's chatter.
"Thank you…" Hibiki muttered, as Nimu helped the Destroyer sit up.
Nimu smiled.
Hibiki glanced around at the smiling faces of the Submarines,
"What do you mean 'brought back'?"
"Iku and her fleet rescued you from the bottom of the ocean!" Iku smiled proudly, flashing a victory pose. Hibiki was not amused.
"What she means is that we're the ones who brought you here." Not lifting her eyes from her book, but pushing her glasses back up her nose, Hachi, I-8, clarified.
A silence fell among the Submarines until Hibiki's stomach growled. She was hungry and her food had possibly become cold at this point. She looked around for something to warm it up with, and not finding anything, started picking at her roast beef.
Nimu blinked, "Why don't you just give it to that Destroyer… what was her name… Tokitsukaze? She's like a dog, so she'll eat anything."
Hibiki huffed, remembering her first encounter with Tokitsukaze in the hallway. She didn't want to interact with that Destroyer any more than necessary.
"Have you had a bad first impression?"
A rather huge Battleship Kanmusu sat down next to Hibiki with five plates of food. Hibiki stared at her and her large amount of food in front of her.
"I know what you are thinking, and yes, I will be able to finish all of this." The brown haired Battleship picked up her chopsticks.
"It's Hotel-onee!"
Yamato had taken her first bite when all the Submarines jumped onto the giant Battleship. Hibiki's eyes widened as the Battleship Kanmusu was unresponsive to the Submarines crawling all over her. Yamato then turned to Hibiki and smiled.
"I'm Battleship Yamato. Please don't call me a hotel."