Chapter 6

Fubuki sat on the cliff where the shrine was looking down at sea, a feeling of fear and shame clouded her thoughts. "What did I do," she thought, "why did I say that to Ooi, why did I talk to her as if she was an enemy, what was that strange feeling?"

"You never felt anger before," Exatior asked, surprising Fubuki.

"Anger," Fubuki said, "I never would've guessed that I'd ever bring myself to be angry with anyone," she continued in a slight mutter.

"There you are Fubuki," she heard Mutsuki call out, quickly turning around to see her friends heading toward her, a slight feeling of relief at the slight.

"Oh hey girls," Fubuki said, not moving from where she was sitting.

"We were looking everywhere for you, after you took off after yelling Ooi we got worried about you," Mutsuki said, she and Yuudachi sat down surrounding Fubuki.

"You doing ok poi," Yuudachi asked.

"Yeah," Fubuki answered blankly, "I'm sorry for what happened back there, I don't know what came over me," the thought of what she had said caused her to hang her head further down in shame.

"Fubuki," Mutsuki said, placing her hand on Fubuki's shoulder, "if something is bothering you, you know you can tell us right, we're your friends and I'm sure we could help you with what's going on." Mutsuki's words seemed so true and heartfelt that Fubuki couldn't help but look into her eyes and smile.

"Don't forget me," Yuudachi chimed in.

"Thanks, girls," Fubuki said. She was glad she had such caring and supportive friends here in the naval district, "I promise you, girls I'll do everything I can to protect you even if you may not know of it," she swore in her head.

"You know my offer is still on the table," Exatior said.

"The sunset is beautiful up here," Yuudachi remarked.

"Yeah," Mutsuki said letting out a relaxing sigh, "but we should be heading back now,"

As they got up, they said a prayer to Kisaragi at the shrine and headed back to the naval district. "So you heard my promise didn't you Exatior?" Fubuki said in her head, she was honestly surprised that she didn't think of this method of communication with Exatior sooner.

"Of course I did," Exatior replied.

"Fine, I'll accept your offer, what do I have to do," Fubuki asked.

"First you have to meet with me but I'm not gonna make finding the location easy to find," Exatior answered.

"What, how am I supposed to meet you if you won't tell me where," Fubuki asked, annoyed that Exatior wanted to try and play hard to get with her.

"Oh I'll tell you for sure, but you have to figure it out," Exatior responded in a somewhat taunting manner. "The place where you'll take your next step will be the place where you took your first from some time ago, where you first saw your beloved in all her prime and glory, where you stumbled into the sea and the fires of war, the place where you began your journey up till now."

"Oh great, a riddle," Fubuki remarked, "a long and complicated riddle."

"Oh, and one more thing," Exatior added, "no outside help on this."

As the three of them arrived back at the naval district, Mutsuki turned and headed back to her dorm as Yuudachi and Fubuki continued to carrier group one's dorm. Fubuki was still trying to figure out the riddle before she noticed three figures ahead of them, two of them were tall while the other seemed average. As they drew closer, Fubuki realized that it was Nagato, Akagi, and Ooi, talking amongst themselves. Fubuki, remembering the incident earlier in the day, became fearful, thinking that she might be punished or that Akagi might view her negatively. As she frantically looked around for an escape route Ooi spotted her, staring at her until Akagi and Nagato noticed as well. The way Ooi stared at her, so blankly and void of any emotion couldn't help but remind Fubuki of something but she couldn't remember what.

"Secretary Ship Nagato, Akagi, and Ooi, what's going on," Yuudachi asked, slightly scowling when saying Ooi's name.

"If there isn't anything else you need to say Ooi, then you may go," Nagato told Ooi.

"No ma'am," Ooi said, bowing before leaving.

"Yuudachi," Nagato said.

"Yes, ma'am," Yuudachi responded, snapping to attention.

"I'd like to talk to you alone," Nagato said, motioning Yuudachi to follow her where she was going.

As Fubuki looked at them walking away, she began to worry about what Nagato wanted to ask Yuudachi, or if she might have to "talk" with Mutsuki too.

"Fubuki," Akagi called, snapping Fubuki back to reality, a look of concern on her face as their eyes met. "Can I talk to you," Akagi asked, walking closer to where Fubuki was standing?

"Sure, what do you want to talk about," Fubuki asked in return?

"About you," Akagi said, "what's going on with you, I've noticed you've been acting strangely after operation MI, you didn't go on your morning run like you usually do, you're always looking down, even when you're with your friends or even with me right now, and I heard that you snapped at Ooi and Kitakami today, Fubuki, you know you can trust me right, I'm getting worried about you and I'm sure your friends are too, please just tell us what's going on or how you're feeling, give us a chance to help you," Akagi finished.

Fubuki sighed, "Akagi, I...I don't know what's going in with me either, I don't know if it's from me or something else, but it feels like some kind of darkness is leaking into my mind, it wasn't bad at first, but now I feel as if there's this dark haze that follows me, clouding my thoughts and emotions, now I feel like as if anything I don't like no matter how small or trivial it may be could irritate me as much as the abyssals do, when I saw you, Ooi, and Nagato talking, at first I felt a consuming panic take over me but it soon turned into anger and rage, just like that time, I don't know how to get rid of this feeling or at least control it or not let it get worse, I...I," tears started to form in her eyes, "I don't know what to do anymore," Fubuki fell to her knees, bursting into tears.

Akagi knelt down so that her face was at eye level with Fubuki and placed both hands on her shoulders, causing Fubuki to look up at her. "Fubuki, it's going to be okay," she said embracing Fubuki, "we all know this isn't who you are, and we're all here for you," Akagi released the embrace but kept her hands on Fubuki's shoulders, "but I think if this gets worse I'm gonna have to ask Nagato if you could go see a specialist."

"Meaning that unless you act soon, you're gonna end up in a mental institution and unable to help anyone," Exatior warned, though Fubuki wasn't paying attention.

While Fubuki was being comforted by Akagi, Fubuki was reminded of when the admiral gave her a pep talk after her first battle, that was when she remembered Ooi's stare, it almost looked similar to the stare the abyssal island princess gave her during her first battle at base PH. That was when Exatior's riddle came back to her, "The place where you'll take your next step will be the place where you took your first from some time ago, where you first saw your beloved in all her prime and glory, where you stumbled into the sea and the fires of war, the place where you began your journey up till now." The riddle was referring to the attack on the abyssal fleet and their base there called PH, it had been some time since she had participated in that battle, it was where she saw Akagi fight for the first time and her admiration and later love of her started, and it was the very first battle she was a part of and how poorly she performed there hence the "stumbled into the sea and the fires of war" line came from. That must be where Exatior wanted her to go to meet with him about his offer to her.