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?

8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Like the previous chapter, Kosuke lay on his bed looking up at the large ceiling of the room he currently resided within. Only this time Kosuke had his eyes open for a while now and hadn't fallen asleep yet, although that may partially have something to do with his current location.

That location turned out to be a guest room within the Naval Base he'd arrived at with Yuubari, a room normally reserved for officers of a specific rank or VIP guests. Signs of this included the posh furniture scattered throughout the room and the architecture's cleanliness indicating that its use wasn't often utilized. That'd make sense since this place had just been built so the higher ranking officers meant to oversee its operations hadn't arrived yet. As such, it had been granted to him for the duration of his stay as a show of good faith by the few Eagle Union governing bodies that HAVE arrived here.

However, Kosuke didn't fully believe that BS when it had been told to him since it had sounded so... fake. There wasn't any malice directed towards him, admittingly, but everything felt more 'robotic' compared to the Merchant Captain's gratitude like they were just following standard procedure. He had his suspicions as to why this was the case, but since this was just their first meeting he wasn't completely certain, in the end, he could only trust Yuubari and Captain Morgan.

One suspicion in his head was that they wanted to cosy up to and score points with him so that he may later accept a request to join the Eagle Union instead of remaining with a resident of a potential enemy nation. It made sense to him, someone who could control his ship like a Shipgirl could be a massive boost in any nation's research, especially if they could replicate the effect with their Wisdom Cubes. They succeed in doing that, and they get one more weapon to use against the Sirens, Kosuke could even see the factions using their resources to craft personal ships for certain individuals to control.

Pausing his thoughts, Kosuke promptly shuffled on his bed with an uncomfortable look on his face, disgruntled noises escaping his lips now and then. 'Why... this bed...' he began to think to himself, furrowing his brows in confusion before something clicked in his mind.

While the gesture they had offered him was appreciated, Kosuke had to acknowledge that he just couldn't feel comfortable on this cosy bed, no matter how hard he tried. It was the reason why he was still awake even though his body felt like one step away from going for a snooze. He couldn't help but think of his bunk bed back in [Proto Satan]'s Sea Cabin, feeling a sense of longing for it much to his surprise. One might thank their lucky stars for the current accommodations given to him by these guys, but nope that wasn't the case here at all. Quite the opposite.

Maybe spending so long on his Ship had changed him in some way, because right now it seemed like he missed his SHIP more than the actual accommodations.

Regardless, Kosuke knew none of this should be an excuse not to get a good rest before the next day came. He had a long journey ahead of him with Yuubari, which would commence once the repairs to her ship were completed.

Thinking of Yuubari, Kosuke frowned as he shifted onto his left side, looking out through his room's window to the rest of the port outside. A few things had happened upon their docking at this Naval Base, the biggest being the aforementioned Shipgil splitting from him to supervise the beginning repairs to her ship. He'd heard that she had been akin to a spartan instructor, scrutinizing even the tiniest of repairs with a critical eye and holding a no-nonsense kind of attitude.

Completely unlike what he had experienced with her.

To Kosuke, he could understand her stance though. It WAS her vessel which she took to the seas with, practically her original self if the AL lore was to be believed. Maybe it was similar to those Weebs who had massive collections of anime merch such as expensive figurines etc.

Of course, one might assume this stressed out the Engineers working on the vessel due to the unnecessary scrutiny, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. None of the Engineers minded her presence at all, though that probably had something to do with their bafflement at the damages the [Yuubari] had sustained. There were some things about her ship that were damaged and Kosuke had no idea about, like certain radar and sonar systems. Several gun mechanisms looked to need replacing, the turrets themselves looked to be on the brink of becoming useless, and then there were the signs of water corrosion growing on the ship's rear end. There were a bunch of other issues too like some areas being thinner than others to the point where even small tools could puncture holes where they weren't supposed to.

Some had even wondered how she hadn't listed any or sunk under the waves by the time the merchant fleet had arrived. Kosuke wasn't too experienced with shipbuilding so he had decided not to question it... though that didn't mean he wouldn't try to learn.

This lack of acknowledgement of Yuubari's ruthless inspection did make Kosuke wonder what an average life for a shipyard crew was like though.

All this work had gone on since they had docked during the late afternoon and would continue into the night, with the rest of the repairs needing to be done throughout the week. It would have probably taken longer for them in any normal circumstance to repair the damages, but thanks to them receiving an influx of supplies from Captain Morgan who had convinced them to help out, this time had been shortened from months to weeks.

Of course, staying here for so long wasn't something Yuubari was too keen on, but Kosuke managed to convince her to accept this help anyways due to their journey back needing them to be as prepared as possible. Having a faulty warship on the oceans going through enemy territory sounded like a sure-fire way to go into davy jones locker for fucks sake.

'Ugh, I give up...!' Finally, his thoughts proved unable to tire him out enough to let sleep take over. Feeling a little frustrated at how he wouldn't be able to sleep like this, Kosuke got off his bed and get dressed, having taken off everything saves his briefs and undershirt, before heading out the room. He didn't want to stay in this room longer than necessary, but he did have the courtesy of tidying it up for the next person to use, doing the opposite would have been a dick move.

Once out of the room, Kosuke proceeded to move through the corridors, down the staircases and down to the building's ground floor. There, he proceeded to exit the building and get out into the open night, letting the smell of fresh air fill his lungs once he took his first few steps. 'Well, it's a military base, so the air's not fresh but I'm not going to dwell on those issues for now...' The male thought to himself, rolling his eyes before continuing on his journey.

After a while of walking, of which he did catch the attention of some patrols but nothing serious came out of them, Kosuke eventually reached the dockyard where his ship was docked, the [Proto Satan] remaining suspended by cranes and support beams. As he approached it, the sight of so many guns on one vessel filled the male with a sense of security and safety that he lacked back in those luxury accommodations, something he deeply appreciated.

Kosuke wasn't sure if there were any regulations he was breaking by being out at night here, but considering that he was more of a guest of sorts not many should apply to him, though he could be wrong.

Shaking his head to clear such worrying thoughts from his mind, the young teen pocketed his hands inside his pants pockets before beginning to survey his vessel's structure. To his relief, it looked like nothing had been put out of place, no touches having been made without his knowledge or approval.

'Guess Captain Morgan gave them some choice words on that one...' Kosuke mused while walking up to its portside. The thought of being able to fall asleep inside his Ship provided a sense of comfort and enthusiasm that the luxury he'd gotten previously never could, further sobering him to the likelihood of his love for his Warship.

Though his reverie soon got broken like a shattered mirror, his steps paused when he noticed something up in front of him. His eyes briefly narrowed at the sight of what looked to be a boarding ramp having been connected to his Ship's main deck, close to [Proto Satan]'s frontmost turret. What was even more surprising, was that there were no other signs of any naval equipment being placed on his ship, just this ramp which did NOT bode well for his Ship's integrity.

'The hell? Why's there a boarding ramp here...?'

The sight of the ramp threw up some suspicions throughout Kosuke's mind which also gave rise to hot anger at the possibility of someone trying to do anything, anything at all, to his beloved ship. To him, it felt more like a massive slap to the face after doing the Eagle Union a solid, something which he would be bringing up to the leaders of this base when he got the chance after tonight if he found even a single piece of equipment changed from what it should have been. The thought of infiltrators or engineers secretly entering [Proto Satan] for whatever purpose irked him immensely, prickling sensations assaulting his clenched fists as if he were palming the backs of a hedgehog.

For a moment, his anger got abated as he neared the ramp when he thought back to Yuubari's reactions to staying in an Eagle Union base. Seeing this potential trickery before his eyes, Kosuke wondered if this was what Yuubari feared would happen and if that was the case, he internally believed he'd not be doubting her intuition again at least when regarding the Eagle Union.

Now, at this point one would expect that anger to return and retake its place at the forefront of his thoughts which likely would have been the case, had it not been for Kosuke noticing a detail that he had neglected to acknowledge previously. That detail was that the Boarding Ramp didn't come from the Naval yard itself it slid out a long, thin compartment inside [Proto Satan]'s forward Deck with its width being just enough for two people to walk onto the deck side by side. There wasn't any kind of railing for safety against potentially falling off into the naval yard below.

Now that he was right before the ramp, the male scratched his head with his left hand while his right placed itself on his hip. "That's..." Kosuke muttered, his previous flames of the range being doused by the possibility of someone sneaking on board his vessel becoming a little less likely. As relieving as that was, that didn't solve the big question of what that thing was doing here. "... Strange. Strange..."

Before, he had assumed that there was more to this ship than meets the eye especially when he found that there weren't areas that he could access yet for some reason. Yet this just proved that to be even more true, making Kosuke glance down at his phone that served as his main control centre for the Warship. 'Just... what are you, [Proto Satan]?' he wondered to himself.

His confusion and slight suspicion increased yet again when, after walking along the boarding ramp onto his vessel's main deck, the said object elevated itself slightly like it had a mind of its own and then slid back into the ship. This not only kept him on the ship itself but also made him even warier of what this ship truly was. This wasn't something he'd seen in his game, so he didn't think it was from there... though then again, considering how old Warship Gunner was maybe crew-like stuff wasn't factored in.

Nevertheless, it wasn't long before the male heaved a sigh of relief, the tension in his body rapidly fading away despite his concerns remaining valid in the back of his mind. The warm comforting atmosphere surrounding his ship quickly enveloped him, showering him in its familiarity to the point where he let out a small smile. This atmosphere was something that Kosuke had long since gotten used to, this was the atmosphere that had accompanied him for weeks on end way before he had met Yuubari, the atmosphere which had comforted him during the darkest of days, accompanied him into the battles with the Sirens.

He probably felt this way because the familiar atmosphere was something to his preference, he was more used to it compared to the 'fakeness' shown throughout this military base. The sight of all those guns surrounding him provided a sense of comfort only they could, something which he bet would make people wanna give him a wide berth. After all, Kosuke wasn't sure if people would prefer to be on a Warship filled with weaponry compared to amongst his or her kind.

'Maybe Turner from that pirate's movie was onto something when he said 'part of the crew, part of the ship'...'

Regardless, none of this distracted him from his previous fatigue which reared its ugly head in the form of a large yawn that escaped his lips. One which he suppressed a bit by covering his mouth with his hand. 'Ugh, gotta head on to bed. My Sea Cabin is calling for me...' Like a drunkard being attracted to a dark alley by a prostitute, Kosuke started waddling over to his ship's superstructure like a puppet cut from his strings, head swaying from side to side now that most of his adrenaline from the previous thoughts had left his system. He didn't have much night left, but he wanted to catch as best asleep as he could before the following day.

It was probably because of this state of mind that the teen didn't notice one peculiar oddity near the space where the boarding ramp had touched the naval yard. There, hidden beneath it, had been a small pile of dust with a single trail running down into the docks below. This implied that the pile had been bigger at one point, but had grown smaller over time.

This pile also looked to be rather... unique, as the dust somewhat resembled human skin in terms of colour, with a bright bluish-white centre. Shame that nobody would find it by the next morning though, since it would have been scattered across the dock and cleaned up without anyone being the wiser.

(Scene Change)

The weeks passed by almost like a blur for Kosuke and Yuubari, much to their delight.

While their stay wasn't too bad by any means, neither of them wanted to stay here longer than necessary for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons was that for the majority of this time there had been eagle union soldiers arriving on this base from afar, where exactly wasn't revealed to them thanks to it being classified and Yuubari being from a potentially opposing faction. Those meetings between them and those new arrivals... well, it went as well as what one might expect.

As time had passed, more and more personal became aware of Yuubari and Kosuke's presence on the island, to which they (likely due to the tense relations between their respective factions) regarded the duo with suspicion and contempt. They would get glared at while just wandering the base without doing much, and that was the worst of it so that could be a silver lining.

The fact that they didn't do worse like outright bully them such as the case in those American high school movies was probably due to the good word Captain Morgan had put in for them to their superiors, who would then have likely briefed them about their 'guests' while warning them to not mess with them. It would only be a matter of time before some punk would show up and cause trouble for the duo, however, something they were both aware of thanks to their foresight so, after some discussion between the two aboard Kosuke's ship they'd agreed to only remain where they were supposed to be and refrain from venturing out into the base unless necessary.

That meant that Kosuke would remain aboard his ship and only let visitors into his vessel when he felt like it, whilst Yuubari would stay near her vessel in the opposing dockyard, overseeing its repairs. This way the chances of their presence inciting a fight would be minimal, and they could get on without causing too much trouble. Fortunately, the higher-ups on the base were just content with letting them be for the most part so they didn't interfere with their affairs, and those who arrived didn't see much of the duo beyond the areas they stuck to.

This continued throughout the weeks, until this early morning where the time of departure had finally arrived. Right now, Kosuke and Yuubari stood atop a wooden platform with Captain Morgan while watching their respective vessels being push out of the various dockyards back onto the open ocean. It wouldn't be long before the ships were once again back where they belonged, and between the two of them, Yuubari looked to be the antsier of the two judging by her subtle shifting on the spot she stood on, whereas Kosuke just remained passive while staring intently at his ship. Though despite this, the sense of reverie and respect for his treasured vessel finally being 'freed' could be seen in his eyes.

"You guys will be leaving soon, I take it?" Captain Morgan questioned while glancing off to a smaller wooden platform located to the side, where he could see his vessel and crew loading up supplies they'd need for their return voyage. They'd spent the past few weeks recuperating from their previous journey and mourning for their dead after their escape from certain destruction. He had given his men the chance to recuperate but now was the time to get back to sea, they had many more voyages to deliver and time waited for nobody.

Glancing back at the man who had been their ally throughout this entire journey, Kosuke and Yuubari nodded in unity, the male addressing him curtly. "Yup, we've spent enough time here but with Yuubari's ship being repaired, we can continue our journey. What about you?" He questioned, and although she didn't show it Yuubari also wanted to know. After all, Captain Morgan was one of the few who had treated her well during their stay here, others including key members of his crew.

Morgan dismissively waved a hand to the side. "Meh, we're going to be returning home soon, gotta restock on goods to send elsewhere. A job needs to be done, and time waits for nobody," he remarked, a slight smirk of mirth present on his lips. "Although we never would have gotten this chance to do so without you two, so thanks once more..." Taking a pause, the man took off his hat and placed it over his chest, offering a salute to the duo. "Thanks again for saving my men."

"No problem sir, glad we could help," Kosuke replied, a slightly sheepish look forming on his face. Perhaps Captain Morgan was the first human he'd met to show him any kind of gratitude for helping his ass like this, that'd explain the bashfulness he felt inside at being praised.

SPLASH!

The sound of a warship being pushed onto the ocean reached their ears, causing the trio to glance at the [Yuubari] which now slid into open water. Seeing this, Yuubari's eyes glittered with joy at seeing her beloved vessel looking as good as new, a good job having been done with repairing the damage it had undertaken beforehand. Her form began to vibrate during her fight against her urge to just jump off the platform and onto the ocean since she could sense her connection to her vessel being strong enough to formulate her Rigging.

"Getting a little eager, are we Yuubari? What, you wanna leave our current company so badly?" Kosuke questioned with a joking smile, one which caused the Shipgirl to lightly flush at being noticed.

A look of frustration crossed over her face as the woman let out a faint 'tch' while glancing to the side, frustrated at being found out much to the amusement of the two males.

After sharing a brief chuckle at Yuubari's expense (much to the shipgirl's embarrassment if the blush was anything to go by), Morgan decided to play peacemaker between the two since he didn't want to see Yuubari try to use Kosuke as target practice. "Ah, don't be too hard on her lad, a Shipgirl's best home isn't anywhere on land but the ocean. Just as humans love walking on the ground, the Shipgirls as a race love sailing the seas," he remarked sagely, closing his eyes and thinking of the Eagle Union Shipgirls.

Not like he'd met many of them himself, but he'd heard stories from Sailors who claimed to have met them.

After hearing another splash to signify the [Proto Satan] entering open water once more, Kosuke immediately assumed control over it and mentally directed it to the platform next to him, something which Yuubari also performed. The two vessels quickly began heeding their respective calls, proceeding to sail towards their platform to pick up their masters.

"Oh, one thing before you two go." Morgan then spoke up before the duo could board their respective vessels, catching their attention as the two ships deployed their boarding ramps. "It's best for you to be careful during your journey. The Sirens have been getting increasingly active recently, more and more fleets of merchant supply ships have been getting attacked."

Both Kosuke and Yuubari frowned at this information, worried and concerned glances being traded between them. That didn't sound good, if the Sirens were acting more aggressively attacking merchant fleets then the various factions would be pressured to apply more protection for them to preserve their supply lines, taking manpower away from their offensive against the Siren menace. Thinking about it, it was a wonder why the Sirens hadn't already swamped them with their seemingly endless supply of ships and Siren Shipgirls.

Though, Kosuke hadn't yet encountered any Siren Shipgirls for some reason, not even those clones. It did confuse him.

"So if your travelling far, is wary of a Siren-like Cruiser advancing towards you at unusually high speeds. Chances are, it'll be nigh impossible to hit."

"?!"

Oh, NOW Kosuke and Yuubari gave the man their full, undivided attention when he spoke of the ship that had reduced his Merchant Fleet to the state it had been upon their rescue. The latter of them even growled under her breath with fierce anger burning behind her gaze while the former narrowed his eyes at Morgan. "You're talking about the Cruiser that attacked you, right?"

Morgan nodded, his gaze just as angry and serious as the Sakura Empire Shipgirl's. "Indeed, you see it run like hell even if that proves impossible. In a direct fight, it will be next to impossible to hit it due to that absurd speed it has, even worse if it has a support fleet backing it up do not even THINK of trying to take it on. My escort thought otherwise and immediately paid the price." In the end, the man released a gruff, weary and resigned sigh while placing his cap back atop his head, pulling its shade downwards slightly to cover the sadness in his eyes. "Figure I should warn you two since you two seem to take this stuff more seriously."

Kosuke internally scowled at the mention of that, briefly glancing back at the Naval Base behind them before returning said gaze to the Captain before him. He didn't mention anything specific, but the clues had been there for the teen to figure out who he was referring to and the bigger picture. The Eagle Union higher-ups here had been informed by the Captain of THAT ship's existence, but they likely didn't take him seriously due to how fantastical it sounded.

One ship taking out a whole fleet of diverse ones? Who would believe such a tale? That was probably their consensus when hearing it, but Kosuke wasn't a fool. He knew EXACTLY what that ship was although he did have some questions about it, so as much as he could understand their point of view it frustrated him to hear that they weren't taking it so seriously. Was it just typical bravado like what a lot of Americans were known for back in his world? Or were they so sure of their power that they thought this wasn't a problem they needed to handle unlike the Sirens or the emerging potential war with the Crimson Axis?

While thinking about this, Kosuke still noticed the way Yuubari mildly tensed at the mention of this ultra-fast Cruiser, but still kept it to himself.

"We'll keep an eye out, thanks for the warning. Hopefully, the Eagle Union will change their minds about this ship especially if it's as dangerous as you say."

Morgan nodded his head solemnly at that, his gaze like those who underwent PTSD as he thought back to that slaughter-fest. He couldn't even call it a fight what had happened back then since they'd been ambushed so thoroughly. "Aye... hopefully they'll take a similar stance to the royal navy, they seem to have more brains than us yanks regarding this... but anyways, safe travels you two. I fear the seas will be a greater danger than they've ever been."

"Yeah, safe travels to you too," Kosuke responded, the two shaking hands firmly in both a physical and mental sense. Physical in the actions they did, and mental in their shared opinion of the potential dangers coming their way.

With that done, Kosuke and Yuubari boarded their ships which then retracted their boarding ramps before they started heading out into the open waters once more.

Their destination: the Sakura Empire.

(Scene Change)

"We're here."

Sailing through the waters, the Sakura Empire Fleet dispatched to Hawaii finally arrived at their destination. The one who had made this declaration had been Takao who had remained standing with her sheathed Katana in front of her being used as a cane with her gloved hands atop its pommel. She had not moved from this spot the whole journey, her complex feelings about it and various thoughts refusing to allow her to.

{So, we've finally arrived here, my dear imouto...}

Atago's voice broke through their comms, sweet and enticing which at this point was a natural trait of hers. Even amongst their kind, she had to be one of the more insatiable ones when it came to certain activities. However, Takao being the one who had the most experience in dealing with her as her sister, looked underneath the seductive tones to find the weariness beneath it.

This prompted her to sign through her nostrils while closing her eyes and admitting to herself that this had been a long journey with little rest, so of course their stamina wasn't the best right now. She could understand her sister's plight, as well as wasn't unaware of the fact that her sister wasn't the only one suffering from fatigue, the shrine maiden sisters Fusou and Yamashiro, Ryuujou, basically their entire fleet had some level of exhaustion to their current status she could tell. Perhaps it was due to some of them not having seen action for a while but it nonetheless wasn't all that apparent. Plus, each of them was a warrior so they wouldn't let some fatigue keep them from completing their mission.

After all, this was just a side effect of how important this mission was, as well as those involved in the future of the Crimson Axis. They'd been sailing here for a few weeks to get to this destination, this area being the last known location of a very specific fleet of Shipgirls accompanied by mass-produced ships. This fleet had enough importance to its name that it had been monitored by both the Sakura Empire and another faction within the Crimson Axis:

The Iron Blood.

'If they see this fleet as so important, why the hell didn't the Iron Blood send any ships alongside us?' Takao had to think to herself with a twitch of her brow. As much as she had propped up the importance of this fleet to their side, the fact that they lacked any support from the Iron Blood did irk her to some extent. She did ask her superiors why this was the case but they had been pretty tight-lipped about it, something about them having too few ships at the current moment.

Why that was, she had no freaking clue... but she did have a couple of guesses.

"This ocean..."

Just then Takao's eyes abruptly shot open when she heard Fusou's voice from right next to her, her right eye glancing to said direction to find the aforementioned Shipgirl standing next to her. She had a hand over her forehead to shade her eyes from the sun, as well as help her see further into the oceans ahead of them, a worried frown forming on her lips.

Takao narrowed her eyes at her subordinate, about to chastise her for coming here without orders before she noticed the look on the Battlecruiser's face. "What is it Fusou? What does your Shrine Maiden sense tell you?" she questioned slowly, trying to ignore the dark feelings pooling in her stomach. She didn't like the tone that was used here, cause that could only mean ill omens were ahead of them which did not bode well for the Sakura Empire's cause.

As for Fusou, she didn't glance back at her leader for this mission but she didn't need to, being like Atagao in that she could see through her tough facade since she had a sister of her own. Nonetheless, as a Shrine Maiden for the Sakura Empire she saw things that ordinary warriors did not, something she would usually be quite proud of... but right now was not one of those days, for this 'sight' showed her something that chilled her down to the very bone. "This sea... much blood has been shed here, it seems. There are many lingering spirits lost here, wandering without purpose..." she whispered while trying to sound composed, which she was NOT feeling inside.

She bet her sister Yamashiro felt something similar to her, but as the elder, she felt it in much greater intensity.

"...Then it is as I feared." Takao reluctantly admitted, gritting her teeth while allowing her hair to hang over her eyes to shadow them. Yet the way she gripped her Katana's pommel showed how she truly felt at this admission. Fusion's words had confirmed it for her, that something terrible had happened, that something likely being the worst-case scenario.

Up ahead of them, the seas remained as silent and tranquil as ever which created a sense of calmness... if it weren't for the atmosphere surrounding it. Ordinarily, this picture would be providing a calming feeling to the fleet as they went about their business, but right now an air of death hung over this ocean like a sickly plague, a remnant of a great tragedy that had gone on unnoticed until now.

It wasn't just Takao and Fusou either, for on their respective ships each of the Shipgirls could feel that a great battle took place in these waters, a battle that claimed a number of their comrades' lives.

{These seas... a number of our comrades have fallen here...}

Through their comm channels, Atago frowned in worry as she put a palm on the pommel of her sheathed blade attached to her hip. She discreetly noticed how Yamashiro looked like she was about to have a panic attack atop her ship's superstructure, looking incredibly flustered all the while. The white-clad Shipgirl figured this was her way of coping with what she had been seeing ever since her service return.

Back with Takao, the said Shipgirl quickly regained control over her emotions before proceeding to make the following order through their Comm channel.

{Ryuujou, proceed with deploying your planes. See if you can find any Cubes in the vicinity, also see if there are any remnants of enemy ships. We need to know what has happened here.}

{Hai!}

Moments later, the sounds of planes taking flight from their flight deck filled the air while the Shipgirls each rendezvous atop Atago's ship, having formed a defensive formation with their Aircraft Carrier in the centre. The planes would be scouring and sending their recon data back to Ryuujou who would then process it and see if there were any coo-ordinates where things of interest were at such as potential lost Wisdom Cubes.

"Sheesh, the heroes once more arrived too late..." The aforementioned Aircraft Carrier remarked with a frustrated sigh escaping her lips, the Shipgirl scowling with annoyance afterwards. Just by looking at her, one could tell she wasn't in a good mood, though this could also be said for the rest of the group.

Yamashiro pouted, agreeing with her fellow Shipgirl though her angry pout looked cuter than anything. It was a stark contrast to her earlier panic at the display she had seen. "Mou, I was scared at first... but this is just mean! Everyone seems to have suffered here a lot!" she proclaimed in annoyance, her sister nodding her head sadly.

"This is worse than I thought... all of this matches the reports that were submitted by previous forces..." Otago remarked worriedly, cupping her chin with her hand in an uncharacteristically serious tone. As such, she easily drew everyone's attention when they used their faces to ask the unspoken question about the meaning behind her words. An unspoken question which she soon answered, lowering her hand and gazing directly into the eyes of the other Shipgirls. "From what I've heard, there's been rumours of our convoys being attacked by unknown assailants across the pacific. These attacks have no pattern to them, and what's stranger is that our Subs have identified the ruined remains of several of these attacked convoys, to which they reported that there weren't any signs of crews stealing supplies. That's all that we were able to uncover so far. The only reason why there's so little intel is that usually, these attacks leave no survivors to recount their tales, and any recorded footage had been long since destroyed."

Fusou nodded her head sadly, looking out into the distance with a far off look in her eyes. "While we were in port getting our ships fixed, I tried to keep up with our current affairs, and there has been indeed a surge of those cases. This is the 10th one this week from what I've heard, but there may have been more..." she added distantly, letting a small breeze pass through her hair.

The atmosphere surrounding them intensified after that acknowledgement while a worried Yamashiro confirmed her sister's words, as well as intensified everyone's worries. "I heard the same. But I also heard that the Iron Blood have also been suffering the same... stuff. Some of their convoys which have been guarded by their Shipgirls also got smashed. Similar circumstances to ours, I think... Do they have some of our bad luck, nee sama?" She questioned her elder sister.

Said elder sister shook her head negatively. "I do not think so, imouto. If anything, losing so many of their convoys and battles against these foes has to be eating at their pride at the very least. These attacks have been causing several delays to both our operations, hence why the declaration of war hasn't happened yet. It would have happened much sooner had it not been for these incidents, though saying that I heard that the Azur Lane forces are facing similar issues, am those rumours confirmed Takao Sama?" she asked, directing her gaze to the said Shipgirl.

"I'd say so. Our spies have noted that they were having shipment troubles too, both the Royal Navy and Eagle Union. Though the former seems to be taking more of an active role in this compared to the latter though." Takao replied, glancing off to the side while becoming locked in thought.

The Iron Blood had already split off from the Azur Lane to found the Crimson Axis due to believing in adopting Siren Technology to fight back against them, something Azur Lane disagreed with. They had already started fighting against the Royal Navy with the majority of their engagements being fought in the Atlantic, but the emergence of these unknown assailants must have affected them as much as it's affecting the other factions, and who knows what was happening to the smaller ones.

That was what she believed anyways.

Off to the side, Atago heaved a heavy sigh as she proceeded to the edge of the ship's deck railing, leaning her back against it while resting her elbows atop it in a leisurely manner. "It's so vexing... having to fight one another when the true enemy is at our literal doorstep..." she whined, looking sadly up at the skies... she'd rather not look at the oceans right now as she'd likely want to check to see if her sisters lay there as Wisdom Cubes, something she wasn't sure she could handle at the moment. "Even with all these problems erupting within our territories, people are still clamouring for war..."

"Ryuujou, any updates on your search?"

After wishing to end the doom and gloom in favour of completing their objective here, Takao promptly requested an update from the resident Carrier, said Pinkett quickly supplying a response to her. "Y-Yes, um, several of my planes have indeed found various Cubes scattered throughout the ocean, their coordinates have been locked in so we can retrieve them. It does seem like they were those of the Fleet stationed here beforehand, shall I have my planes retrieve them?" she questioned, trying not to let the lump in her throat hinder her short report. Members of the Sakura Empire valued competency and statue, not blubbering idiocy, hence why those who showed anything other than such things were... not regarded very highly.

Nonetheless, her words did add an air of depression to the atmosphere around them as this reality sunk into their minds, that they had once again been too late to save their comrades from certain death. Their superiors back home were not going to like this once the report was filed in, and Takao would likely be bearing the full brunt of it as the leader of this excavation.

"...Ah!"

Just then, Ryuujou's eyes brightened when she noticed something which she soon relayed to the rest of the group. "This just in, my planes have identified the cubes of all our fallen comrades, save for one! Heroine Yuubari's Cubes are not among the fallen! There could be a chance she managed to escape whatever had done this!" she reported, energetically saluting Takao.

Hearing this caused Takao and the others to perk up as well, hope blossoming within their chests in that they could still save at least one life. Heck, they even hoped she could explain what the hell had attacked the fleet like this. "You sure?" Fusou questioned, voicing the opinion on everyone's minds especially Takao's.

Ryuujou nodded as her planes started to return to her Ship, a bunch of them having small lights on their undersides. "H-Hai! My planes noticed there was a faint oil trail in the ocean that leads away from the battle zone! Odds are, Heroine Yuubari managed to evade these dastardly villains successfully!" she proclaimed, hopping from one foot to the other like a certain loli from a show about dragons being made into maids. "If we can follow that trail, we might be able to track her down!"

Those words were all that Takao needed. A fierce fire lit itself within her eyes that resembled a pair of bonfires, her furious resolve being rekindled at the thought of being able to find and rescue one of her comrades from peril. "All ships, make ready to embark! We're going to find Yuubari and bring her back to us!" She demanded while throwing her arm out, speaking with a zeal that had not been present since this mission had begun. As both a warrior and as a comrade, she refused to let another one of the Sakura Empire's faithful be lost out in the oceans, her honour would have been sullied otherwise.

"RYOKAI!"

At once, the rest of the Shipgirls retreated to their ships as they began making preparations to chase down Yuubari's trail, with Ryuujou recalling the last of her planes and storing the Wisdom Cubes within her ship. As for how that would affect her battle performance, there wouldn't be much of an issue since, unlike regular materials which would be destroyed once their Rigging was activated, hence why mass-produced ships had the role they did, Wisdom Cubes were able to be maintained within a Shipgirl's Rigging.

As the fleet prepared to set sail once again, Takao made to radio to Ryuujou for the coordinates that her planes had found the trail of oil at, but just before she could do so...

BZZT-BZZT!

Her eyes briefly widened when she began hearing a radio signal being transmitted through her comms, one that did NOT come from her team. 'Wha?! What the hell?!' She thought in shock, not having expected this. Instinctively she had realized that this did not come from any of her comrades and they were too far out from any Sakura Empire Naval Base for any communications from their superiors to reach them.

That left only one possibility and she did not like the implications.

Nonetheless, she let the message patch itself through only for her eyes to become wider than saucers when she heard it play.

(Scene Change)

This next trip through the ocean, seemed quite unlike their first one when they'd started their journey.

Before, there had been an air of anxiety and caution brought about by the participant's lack of knowledge about where they were going. It didn't help that both ships had been damaged badly back then despite still being able to defend themselves against Siren hunting fleets. One could compare their situation to two animals fleeing from predators hunting them in a passive-aggressive manner. On a more specific level, it could be like a wounded wolf trying to protect its remaining family members from invading forces while its territory was being overrun by enemies.

NOW, however...

'You know, I think this is the 10th time I've seen her patrol her ship like this... and that's just counting today.'

This thought travelled through one of Kosuke's minds as he surveyed a certain black-haired shipgirl who currently strolled at a brisk pace throughout her ship, having just walked back up to the main deck. Thing was, she had what he thought was the biggest grin on her face that he'd ever seen on her, a grin which showed her pearly white teeth whilst she had a bit of a spring in her step that almost got reflected with her ship's movements.

Strange as that was, but hey he wasn't going to complain.

'This is definitely unlike what I saw of her back in that naval base...' Kosuke thought, his form currently lying on top of his frontmost turret as if he were sunbathing with his arms behind his head like some makeshift pillow. Honestly, the current afternoon was a bit of a lovely one as it was accompanied by cloudless skies and a bright as fuck sun.

Seeing her so happy made a small smile form on his lips, her appearance reminding him somewhat of his bros back home whenever they celebrated something major like their graduation... something which made him wince inside.

Still, he didn't let this blind him to the understandable improvement to Yuubari's mood. Seeing it made a small warmth spread through his chest from his heart, not to mention that he had to admit that a happy Yuubari was a much better sight than an angry or sad one, though considering how much they'd gone through up till this point he would have to say he could understand her current state.

Just then an idea came to him, prompting the male to look back up to the clear skies above as he pulled one of his arms free. That done, he pocketed it inside his pants to pull out his phone, putting it to his ear after dialling in a comm request. Seconds later, he noticed out his peripheral vision how Yuuari briefly shuddered whilst her smile briefly widened somewhat, amplifying the warm feeling in his chest while he heard the sound of his comm call connecting. "You seem quite lively right now."

{Indeed I am. I will give credit where credit is due, those Eagle Union Engineers are fine workers. They have managed to repair pretty much all of the damage my ship has sustained even the stuff I had to deal with before meeting with you.}

Hearing that brought a wider smile than the one before onto Kosuke's lips, a feeling of relief washing over him inside. That sounded like there weren't any hidden 'surprises' inside the vessel after that repair job the Eagle Union did, he figured. Something which he felt quite appreciative for honestly as it proved to him that at least those on the ground weren't like the higher-ups who just sit at their desks most of the damn time like they wanted to be out of touch with the rest of reality. "So, you think you'll be able to form your Rigging in the next battle?"

{It should be possible, my ship is functioning much better than before and is responding to my commands quicker. I will say this, commanding my ship this way shouldn't have been as hard as it was. It was like playing a competitive game with a low-quality internet connection, so much lag for even the simplest of things nearly drove me up the wall across our battles. Now, it's responding near-instantly so my Rigging should be accessible to me.}

In any other circumstances, perhaps someone would have related to Yuubari's woes about having lagging issues. But this was Kosuke who was a bit of a boomer and mostly played PS2 games like Warship Gunner, so he couldn't offer much there. Although he did play world of warships, he usually preferred playing it on like 30FPS and that never really gave him that much of a bother with internet connection. Though he got the feeling he probably shouldn't mention that to Yuubari or he would get some weird looks from her. "Wanna see if you can? Honestly wanna see what your Rigging looks like," he questioned into his Phone.

On her Vessel, Yuubari pondered on the request she had received from her unofficial bodyguard, weighing in the pros and cons for allowing what amounted to a civilian see her Rigging. She honestly felt that there was something off with the story Kosuke had concocted for Captain Morgan, the way he worded things felt way too general to her and his subtle body movements hinted to her that he didn't feel satisfied with what he was saying. On another note, she didn't get the feeling he was necessarily lying either which further complicated that issue which rendered her unable to discuss it with him.

Plus, back then she'd been so prioritized with the revelations that the Captain had made that she didn't get the whole thing anyway.

Back to the current dilemma, Yuubari didn't see that much of an issue with letting Kosuke see her Rigging. She wasn't nearly as prudish about such things compared to her human superiors, heck the Destroyers didn't have any such bones in their bodies while the rest of them saw their rigging as another weapon: something to be proud of of of, and a life-saving comrade on the battlefield. Essentially, they would see showcasing their Rigging as a source of pride and not something to be prudish about akin to the warriors of their ancient history.

Though on the Destroyers' ends, that was likely due to them being like children.

This view wasn't shared by the majority of her home nation, however. Ever since their first induction into the ranks there had been strict, stifling regulations that were set by the Sakura Empire about Shipgirl-related matters, she had briefly heard that there had been a whole political debate about such a thing until it got quashed by the human Emperor himself. As such, only those who were involved with the Military were given the classification levels required for knowledge of them let alone interaction permission with the Shipgirls.

Permission got granted only after one was to graduate from the various military training academies throughout the Sakura Empire, and to further complicate things how much one could know/do with Shipgirls depending on which Academy one graduated from. She didn't want to even THINK about the complications and processes used in granting the title of Shikkan to a military officer, that stuff sounded even MORE restrictive to her.

The Sakura Empire was on the more end of this spectrum Yuubari found out, something she readily agreed with. By that, she meant that each faction had different levels of restrictions on such knowledge though, with the least restrictive ones being probably the Eagle Union and Royal Navy since she heard that some of their ranks operated in social media albeit via aliases. The Sakura Empire and Iron Blood did not have such lax restrictions though, due to the divide between the classes throughout their society.

Now, as for Kosuke...

As he was technically a civilian at the moment, she would be breaking numerous regulations by showing him her Rigging, but on the other hand, she could at least argue that his case wasn't a normal one either. He had already seen more of her and her kind most human civilians would ever get to in their entire lifetime, so it likely wouldn't make much difference if he saw her Rigging or not. Not to mention that a Shipgirl's Rigging was her most effective weapon to combat Sirens, so not using it just because of some dumb regulations was directly contradicting their life's purpose.

{Very well, I will show you.}

In the end, she decided to just go for it for that reason and also perhaps she could help her country out in the long term if things played out well. To that end, Yuubari stood on her ship's bow while closing her eyes, preparing the sequence inside her mind to start the process of activating her Rigging. She had to take her time though since this would be the first time she formed it in at least a couple of weeks.

At that moment, her eyes shot open wide with her pupils becoming slit, the girl bending her legs and jumping straight into the air. "Hah!"

On Kosuke's end...

SHINE!

The male had to wince while covering his eyes when the whole of the [Yuubari] began to glow with this bluish-white light, one which got fiercer and fiercer by the second. Internally, he even swore he could hear the outcry of thousands of sailors roaring across a massive battlefield before these things vanished which allowed him to uncover his eyes... which resulted in him witnessing the whole vessel suddenly split into many pieces.

'Holy hell...This looks just like the anime's depiction of it!' Kosuke internally and loudly exclaimed, his eyes smaller than dots at the sight present before him. What's more, was upon closer inspection he saw that those 'pieces' were smaller versions of the Wisdom Cubes which further supported his previous opinion of this process.

These 'cubes' then formed smaller groups with one another unlike before when they were all one big group, and once they were formed these groups proceeded to descend downwards towards Yuubari who seemed to beat her jump's apex. These groups touched various parts of her body and reformed into various shapes before solidifying themselves, revealing them to be pieces of machinery after a bit of a sparkle fest.

To someone who had been playing Azur Lane casually like him, Kosuke took a moment to recognize the familiar shape of Yuubari's Rigging. The girl's rigging took the form of several different pieces, two of which were simply armoured pieces over her calves for protection. On her right side was a construct akin to her superstructure, mostly consisting of her Smokestacks and forward bridges which likely housed a lot of her systems. Not only that but it was connected to a Torpedo Launcher which had a handheld joystick in her right hand. As for her left hand, it grasped what looked like some sort of gun made from two of her turrets, the rear one being double-barrelled and the front one being single-barrelled. Over her biceps were some clasps which served as small AA platforms, some single-barrelled AA Gun emplacements raised to the skies above her.

'So... this is Yuubari's Rigging in the flesh huh...?'

It was one thing to see it in a 2D format on some phone screen, and on that front, it didn't look all that impressive. However, seeing it all up close presented itself as a completely different experience which made Kosuke wonder what Keigo would have given to see this. Unlike Kosuke, Keigo had much more of a weeb-like love for the way each Shipgirl looked back when they were all together, such thoughts forming a nostalgic smile on his lips. He could SO imagine him fanboying over this.

The process was complete, Yuubari finally started her rapid descent down towards the ocean surface beneath her. Contrary to her high descent speed, however, she landed somewhat gently atop the ocean surface with the grace of a dancer starting with the tip of her right foot followed by the left... this lasted a couple of seconds before she burst forth into a sliding motion though, the Shipgirl almost skating across the waters up ahead of him.

After making the significant distance between them, Yuubari tilted herself to the side and turned, performing a U-turn to start dashing around the entire warship. The male atop its turret had to keep turning his head from one side to the other so his eyes could keep up despite the threat of getting whiplash from the fast motions. 'Holy shit, the anime and game didn't do how fast these girls go any justice...!' The male thought to himself while trying to keep his jaw from dropping open as a result of the shock and awe that coursed through his system.

Whether or not she was faster than a Warship would have to be seen though.

Eventually, Yuubari flipped back up into the air with her Rigging vanishing in a bright flash. This flash briefly blinded the male, but he still managed to catch a glimpse of the various small groups of cubes reform into that original large one which then shot towards the ocean, reforming into her Vessel. 'Strange, wonder why she just didn't board my ship with her Rigging active...' the male idly wondered to himself but decided to not question it for now.

Landing atop his Ship's turret in front of the said male, Yuubari stood upright after rising from her kneeling position and flicked some hair out of her face. Even as she tried to reorganize it after the hair had gotten messy from the recent bout of movement, the smile on her lips betrayed zero annoyance and instead presented 100% jubilation. "Ahhhh... that was WAY more refreshing than I'd expected it to be..." she remarked happily, a faint giggle escaping her lips.

"I'll say, you looked like you were having a blast out there," Kosuke remarked, smirking at her while leaning on his right foot. Perhaps she was infectious, but Yuubari's chipper mood had its effect on him too, his spirits seemingly being uplifted just from being near the cheerful shipgirl. The fact that she had pulled a risky move by landing atop his turret potentially causing an accident didn't completely register within his mind at the moment.

If anything, he had faith in his Drillship's armour and protection systems.

Just then, he got an idea when he overlooked her vessel that now sailed beside them as nothing had ever happened. "By the way, now that you have your Rigging again you planning to ditch remote piloting your vessel?" he questioned, curiously while getting to his feet and walking up to her so they stood side by side atop his ship's turret, overlooking the [Yuubari].

At this, Sakura Empire Shipgirl briefly paused her reverie to ponder the question he had asked her, the girl leaning on her left leg while placing an index finger on her chin and a hand on her elbow. "Hmmm... probably, a Shipgirl's Rigging is meant to be their primary weapon against the Sirens. Standard Warships got obliterated a lot during the early stages of the Siren Invasion and it was only because of our Rigging that made it possible for the factions to reach the current stalemate." She replied although Yuubari did sound rather unsure as to how much she believed those words she had uttered.

Something which Kosuke noticed and decided to capitalize on, flicking a hand to the side. "Well, if you want my opinion I'd say a mix of the two combat styles could be quite effective. Both forms have their pros and cons when it comes to battle, your Rigging can help you dodge attacks easier due to you being smaller and more nimble than your Vessel self. But what happens when it's inaccessible like in this instance? More standard ship combat is still a viable secondary option for Shipgirls it would seem, so neglecting it wouldn't do anyone any good in the long term. Just some food for thought."

As much as Yuubari wanted to argue that Shipgirls could generally equip their Rigging quite quickly to counter such actions, she remembered how her vessel had gotten as damaged as it had in the first place which caused her to bite her tongue. As strong as Shipgirls and their Rigging were, some weaknesses could be capitalized if necessary. If the Sirens were to make use of these weaknesses to Shipgirls, such as that their ships couldn't form Rigging if they were damaged enough, then the few gains humanity had recovered from the invaders could be lost quite quickly.

It didn't help that should a Shipgirl's rigging be too damaged to function it'd automatically convert itself back to its Vessel form unable to be turned back. She'd found this out the hard way.

But then another thought occurred to her when Yuubari cast her gaze across the [Proto Satan], or to be more specific the various weapons on its main deck. "Since we're talking about Rigging... can you do the same with your vessel?" she questioned, causing Kosuke to blink in surprise.

"Huh?"

"I mean, you pilot this vessel remotely like us Shipgirls, something that a human would need an entire crew to accomplish. If you can do so, then isn't it possible for you to have your Rigging?" What she was asking pretty much went against the whole narrative that Rigging was unique to Shipgirls and in any other circumstance Yuubari would call herself crazy for asking it of someone.

However, Kosuke was again a unique case she hadn't seen before, let alone his Vessel's unknown full potential. The vessel alone wasn't showcasing what it could do completely she suspected as according to her trained eyes, she had seen how damaged it had been. This made her believe that if Kosuke COULD form Rigging from it somehow, the reason why he hadn't could have been the same as her and her kind. Excess damage preventing the process from occurring, kind of like a machine being too damaged to function properly without extensive repairs.

But if that was the case then why didn't he or Captain Morgan allow the Eagle Union to help repair the Ship alongside hers? Her inner sceptic believed Kosuke was hiding things, but that wasn't anything new to her by now since she'd become aware that there were many things Kosuke refused to explain, or if he did he didn't give straight answers. That whole talk with Captain Morgan told her as such.

On the other hand, it made sense for him to be so since a Ship like this could gain a lot of attention from all kinds of people. She had seen very well that its capabilities against Sirens was significant, at least against mass production models but again the ship's full capabilities weren't known to her much to her inner researcher's chagrin.

Maybe there was even a small part of her excitement for the possibility of a guy with Rigging too, mostly from a scientific standpoint though.

Unfortunately, after a brief snort, Kosuke had to douse those hopes like a hose being used on flames. "Sadly, no I can't use any Rigging Yuubari," he replied while shaking his head negatively. "I can only pilot the [Proto Satan] and nothing more."

Kosuke wasn't lying on that one, he truly didn't think he could form any Rigging using his Drillship as a medium. He knew this because one time during the initial weeks of isolation (maybe he could name them for convenience sake... food for thought later, he guessed), he had tried to do that through any means he could think of. However, nothing he had tried ended up forming any Rigging on his person much to his chagrin, meaning that he would have to stick with piloting the [Proto Satan] the Warship Gunner way.

While mildly annoying, Kosuke wasn't too bothered about such limitations to his fighting potential. This was due to him having more experience controlling a Ship in games than doing what Yuubari did. He never really played anything that could give him experience in such a way like that one 'complicated' AL game called Crosswave. Also, he bet that once [Proto Satan] eventually found a way to be completely repaired the rest of its systems would make up for this shortcoming anyways, the Warship WAS designed to be as versatile as possible after all.

Nevertheless, his situation wasn't ideal considering the scale of the enemy he and Yuubari had to fight against, but he just felt glad that he could take to the field himself at all. If he had a choice, then he'd rather die as a Ship Captain on the front lines than in the middle of some cushy office chair. He never was one to lead from the back where it was 'safe', he'd rather follow the customs of ancient Sparta by 'getting stuck in as it were.

Internally, he had to admit that between the two of them Yuubari would be the more effective combatant against the Sirens than himself since she had more advantages on open water than him, but that just came with her being originally a Warship. Plus there were many things about Shipgirls that Kosuke wasn't sure about due to them being a relatively new concept for him, so maybe they held more advantages than he could have ever expected.

'Speaking of battles and capabilities, now that we're on the sea again we should probably get THIS sorted...' the male thought when a thought struck him, a hand clasping his chin while he placed the other on his hip. "Oh yeah, while we're talking here I gotta ask you: where we going and how long do you think the journey ahead of us will be? All I know is that I'm escorting you back to Sakura Empire Territory but little else than that." In hindsight, perhaps he should have asked her that when he had agreed to this job but things back then had been complicated enough already, so maybe it could have been asked back at the Eagle Union Naval Base they had been at previously.

It was fortunate then, that Yuubari had already gotten an answer for him by the time he had asked this, almost like she had anticipated such a question leaving his lips. "We will be headed to a small Naval Base deep within Sakura Empire territory. Because of its position, I would say we have a few weeks' worths of travel yet."

"Huh, I see..." Kosuke mused, trailing off afterwards.

So they would be headed deep into the territory of a faction based on Imperial Japan were they? Such thoughts sent uncomfortable chills down Kosuke's spine as thoughts about what he would be seeing filled his mind. The trepidation about what he could see, what secrets and sights would be made clear to him, both excited and unnerved him for a variety of reasons although the thought that he wouldn't be experiencing them alone did present itself as a silver lining.

However, another fact also proved rather calming despite it supposed to be unnerving. That was the fact that he wasn't aware of the complete history of both the Sakura Empire and Imperial Japan, and instead just knew bits and pieces. Therefore, he didn't know if there would be the same kinds of naval bases as the one that built the [Yuubari].

Nonetheless, these were thoughts best reserved for the future while on their journey. Kosuke currently had to worry only about two things: potential Siren attacks and forming combat strategies based around Yuubari's regaining of her Rigging. He'd have to talk to her about those at some point, they'd been working together fine so far but these changes could potentially cause their strategies to be negatively impacted.

While Kosuke pondered on their future together, not in that way for any horny pervs out there, Yuubari had similar thoughts of her own about their future. Thoughts which she decided to bring to his attention while she and he were still talking. "That reminds me when we get to the Sakura Empire... what will you do then?" she questioned him slowly, causing him to arch a brow in curiosity.

The way she phrased those words with the tone she used... Yuubari seemed to have a great interest in his actions once they reached the Sakura Empire. Speaking of which, what WOULD he do once he finished his escort job? That was something that had been on the back of Kosuke's mind since they had saved the merchant fleet if he were honest, so he had plenty of time to conclude with an answer to such a thing in case someone were to ask him. "Well, I'd say I have a long journey ahead of me. Probably going to try and search for answers as to why I can control [Proto Satan] the way I can, take out a bunch of Sirens along the way, just generally being a neutral party to the various factions. None of their problems is typically my concern..." he replied after a couple of moments of deliberating.

The fact was, Kosuke was someone who didn't come from this world so he had no obligation to get involved with any of the factions' politics. Though he might just put a sock in the Sirens mouths as it were since they've been harassing him while he didn't even know what had been going on earlier. He had his issues to sort out, issues which he didn't think would be prioritized very highly by other factions shortly given what he knew of the game's fragmented storyline.

"I see..." Yuubari mused, trailing off as she glanced to the side. Sitting down atop the turret and subtly gesturing for her companion to do the same of which Kosuke complied, Yuubari began to ponder his response. It wasn't something she didn't expect from him as she could understand where he was coming from, the fact of the matter was issued were surrounding him that needed to be resolved, to better paint the full picture of what had happened to him and how he could deal with it. Knowing how politics tended to be, she suspected he believed that his issues would be put on the backburner compared to the rest, and it wasn't hard to imagine why. What with the imminent war declaration on the Eagle Union by her homeland and all.

Regardless, Yuubari took a different approach to his situation and realized something: it sounded as if he didn't have any idea of which direction he could take on such a journey. He didn't seem sure where his next stop would be but she could guess one possible course of action for him and that was him visiting other factions to see if they know anything about his Vessel. From the tech she had seen on this place, she guessed he might visit the Iron Blood next which she... didn't know how to feel about. She knew well how the Iron Blood and Royal Navy were rowing against one another over their differing ideals and the latter's indoctrination of Siren Technology, which implied that they might have a bigger chance of knowing something about the [Proto Satan] she rationalized while patting the top of the turret with her hand.

But she didn't... she didn't feel like she wanted to part ways with Kosuke just yet. After all, her inner scientist wanted to figure out how his ship ticked and if she could reverse-engineer the technology somehow. Not to give to the Sakura Empire though, and something told her that Kosuke wouldn't appreciate something like that. Plus... when was the last time she had such a pleasant experience with a human-like him? Her kind may have their beliefs and ideals, but they weren't nearly as bad as the Shikkan and the powers that be.

These things, combined with the 'strike first' mentality that was going around these days, made Yuubari decide to try something out. "Then why not join us?"

"Huh?"

"Join the Sakura Navy, I mean. I could put a good word in, and we could use someone with your talents." Yuubari elaborated, already seeing the response he was building for her. However, before he could give that response to her Yuubari made one thing clear. "If I'm honest, I doubt that the other factions will know as much about your ship as you'd be hoping. I've never heard of anything like this in the Sakura Empire records, and the Iron Blood... well, they have other priorities. Plus, it sounds like you don't have a clear-cut goal for your next stop so if you join us and rank up achievements like children collecting toys, you could gain access to vast information and resource networks. Those things could put you on the right path, I'd say, not to mention there's also the benefit of having more hands to help you figure out the situation."

Kosuke stopped himself from protesting against such an idea once she had finished talking, mostly because she had made several good arguments. He had been looking at this most negatively, not trusting freaking imperial japan and fretting about every little thing that could go wrong with them. It wasn't hard to see WHY he was like that, but there had to be two sides to every coin which Yuubari had just now reminded him of.

Those concerns had been part of one side, and her points about resources, information and manpower were the other. Of course, Kosuke doubted he would be able to quickly raise the ranks since the Sakura Empire seemed similar to the UK in that it's mostly a class-based system, but wars can change things and there was going to be a war on the horizon.

It wasn't just the Sakura Empire either, it likely would be the same no matter what faction he made contact with, especially the more extreme sides. The Eagle Union's reception of him proved that the allied Nations weren't necessarily the shining beacons of hope they liked to paint themselves as back in his world. Everyone had their skeletons in the closet, it was just a matter of whose were uncovered the most.

Essentially, no matter what he would do regarding the other factions there was always going to be a degree of risk he needed to take even with the 'safest' nations. Thing was, there was one difference between the Sakura Empire and the other three Factions that Kosuke had failed to consider thus far:

Yuubari herself.

As someone who greatly valued his self-pride, Kosuke refused to hide away from the fact that he was slowly growing close to a friendship of sorts with her, a friendship born from trusting his life to her in countless battles against the Sirens. This had been something familiar to him since some of his bros back home he'd met and forged these bonds with in similar ways. Going through the tedious politics throughout the Sakura Empire and fighting off potential means to usurp control over [Proto Satan] from him would be a pain in the ass, but if he had someone to endure it with perhaps it would be a lot more bearable.

Still, Yuubari's words gave him a lot of things to ponder in the upcoming days and thus, he'd need time. However, he wanted to give her an answer to her question instead of leaving her hanging, hence why he said the following. "Hmmm... I'll have to think about this Yuubari. But know this, I'll be sticking with you till we get the job done, you have my word on that," he told her, giving her a firm gaze while staring straight into her eyes.

Regarding the Shipgirl in question, Yuubari nodded her head in acceptance and understanding. "Very well," she replied, and she wasn't faking it. That response had been the one she'd predicted he'd say in the end so she wasn't too butt hurt about it, but it DID offer the opportunity to further convince him down the line through other means... means she would be satisfied with herself morally in attempting. Nothing underhanded, she'd never let herself live it down if that was the case, though the same couldn't be said for more manipulative members of her kind.

For now, she could be satisfied that she had opened up the possibility of staying with her in the Sakura Empire. She wasn't going to lie to herself, her inner scientist hoped he would accept such an offer in the future as studying his ship with all the tools she had at her disposal back in her workshop back home would be one of the more enjoyable projects she had undertaken as the Sakura Empire's research specialist. She felt so excited about it that the usual annoyance at possibly dealing with the extortionate prices that green-haired feline gave out didn't seem so daunting anymore.

She didn't find it strange that she had gone as far as she had to try and convince Kosuke to stay, nope not at all.

Thus, the duo once more continued on their journey back to the Sakura Empire... interestingly a lot closer both physically and mentally considering howYuubari never left his side atop that turret.

---

Chapter complete!

FINALLY! This one was a bitch to write for a long-ass time, but now it's complete!

Hey guys, welcome to the next ALWG Chapter, one that's not as big as the previous one but hopefully it's full of meat for you to sink your teeth into. I'd say it does, but then again I'm biased since I'm the author.

Anyways, the whole thing with the Eagle Union could have been better honestly, which was intentional since I wanted to showcase how all sides in this war have skeletons in their closet, it's just that some are hidden from prying eyes while others are exposed to the public. Nevertheless, it's a fact that the Eagle Union did indeed keep their word by helping fix Yuubari's ship so that she can now summon her Rigging again. What consequences and effects this may have in the future have yet to be seen though.

Is it just me or is Kosuke slowly becoming addicted to [Proto Satan]? I mean, he prefers his ship to lavish accommodations which can be seen as rather unusual. But if there are any former military people or anyone familiar with that stuff reading this could you confirm if you had such strong attachments to your vessels? I'm honestly curious. Still, at least that addiction doesn't blind him to the fact that there is still much he doesn't know about the warship, and heck there has been some foreshadowing about certain... aspects of it, I'll not say more there because of spoilers.

Also, that recent AL event with Shimakaze was... exhausting to say the least. While I like that it introduced Hakuryuu the way it did, as a F2P Player it drained practically ALL of my resources and only a few days ago did I get the UR ship. I'd been about to try buying cubes to reach the 200 cube mark when that had happened, saving my wallet's life. Now while finishing up my Agir PR research I'm probably going to be recovering my resources to build them back to their previous amounts. That'll take a while, I bet but at least I got all the ships in this event so once I start farming for Hakuryuu I have plenty of options.

Then there's that whole stuff with the Takao fleet as I call it, looks like the plot thickens with them especially on the differences to AL lore (which by the way a YouTuber made a multi hour-long video explaining it which I'll be watching RELIGIOUSLY to understand the whole chronological order everything goes. All for this story, of course, I take my writing seriously) that's been taking place. The fact that the SE has tried to halt its war plans against the Eagle Union thanks to these attacks and how the other factions have been having similar issues just widens the scope further.

The next thing is the stuff with Yuubari, and I'm not talking about her reaction to the unknown ship either. The fact that she is trying to get him to stay with her in the Sakura Empire even if it's for the pursuit of science is 'interesting'. Looks like our boi's slowly working his way to the shipgirl's being, which will likely have some... effects, I'd say. I probably didn't showcase it too well, but hopefully, once we reach the Sakura Empire this can be developed further. But let's be real here, humans who fight side by side together grow closer in ways normal civilians don't quite understand, such as what happened between these two. Nevertheless, she's dropped some good arguments that Kosuke will likely be taking into account during their journey, and for those who are getting tired of this journey already don't worry, we're closing in on the final stretch to those fluffy tails you weebs all love.

That's all from me anyway, now I'm heading off for some punishing: grey raven (a newer mobile game, actually a lot of fun. Reminds me of Honkai that I never played, but with cool male characters I main) and some AL to hopefully farm for the last of Soryuu META and Fusou META. Wish me luck and see you next chapter.

PEACE OUT!