Enterprise took into account the Japanese carrier's changed attitude and narrowed eyes.
The name brought back some bad memories. Yet, here her sister was, chatting to their greatest enemy without care. No, wait.
Former enemy. She knew she did want to become friends. Yet the chances of that possibility were becoming slimmer with all the memories that resurfaced, but it's not like the American had her fair shares of haunting memories.
"Zuikaku." she said as she put back on her hat and stood up. "Please wait a moment." Enterprise said before Zuikaku could respond.
"Eh? What are you doing?"
"You wanted to duel, correct?"
"Yeah, but…" She struggled to find the right words.
"You don't have to force yourself. It doesn't have to be today." Her sister said in her place. "You should rest, after all, you've been traveling almost all week."
"It's fine, Shoukaku. I don't feel tired. I haven't had a battle in a while, it's a good warm-up." she said in her emotionless tone. "But I will ask, how will this practice battle work?"
"A-A simple one versus one. Let's go till one of us can't go one anymore." Zuikaku explained.
"I look forward to it. I expect you not to hold back, and so will I."
Zuikaku took a quick glance at the clock. "If you don't mind, we'll have lunch. After that, the duel starts at 1200. Come to the shore with your rigging." She was starting to get fired up.
"Understood. Best of luck." With that, she left their room and closed the door behind her.
Into The Abyss - Chapter III
"Since when did you become so close to her? It's only been like a couple of hours." Zuikaku asked as she looked at her sister, who was still sitting and drinking tea.
"What? We're close?" Shoukaku looked at her sister, who in return gave her a "really?" look.
"You address her pretty friendly and you guys were chatting without a care before I came in."
"No, no. You got it wrong, we're not close. We were just chatting to pass the time because I invited her for tea."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry for interrupting you guys." Zuikaku said and felt genuinely guilty. It seemed like her sister was enjoying the American's company. "Also, what's up with her?! She reminds me of Kaga and that pisses me off. I wonder if she's just as prideful. I'll show her in our mock battle." she scoffed.
"She's like Kaga?"
Zuikaku responded. "She gives off the stoic and serious vibe. She also is the pride of the US navy."
"Well, you could be further off."
"What do you mean by that?"
"For starters, she is not that serious, I suppose she teases more than anything. She's also very kind and cares about others a lot."
"The way you speak of her, how can you not say you guys aren't already close?"
"E-Eh?! No, no…."
Zuikaku switched the topic. "My fleet and I were sent home early. I can't help but think I messed up somehow or we're just not needed."
"Don't worry Zuikaku, I'm sure the Admiral had a reason for sending you girls back so early."
She shook her head and slapped both sides of her cheeks. "Come on Shoukaku-nee, let's go get some food." Zuikaku said with a confident smile.
Destroyer Dorms
"Fooooood." Laffey looked back at O'Bannon who hadn't moved from her position at all. She went over to her suitcase and pulled a jacket out of it. Laffey unzipped it and put it over the other destroyer. She stretched and headed out the door.
"Lunchtime~. I wonder where I should go." Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she looked through her notifications. She opened a text messaging app and pressed on Cleveland's name.
"Yo, Cleve~."
"What's up?"
"Not much, wanna get some grub with me?"
"Sure, where you at rn?"
All Laffey sent was an emoji of a person wrapped in a blanket.
"I heard there's a pretty good cafe, let's meet up there."
"Where dat?"
"Next to the sub dorms. Uh here."
Cleveland sent a digital picture of the base map.
"Thx."
"I'll pay."
Cleveland sent an emoji of an empty wallet with someone crying.
"Heh, could always count on you."
Laffey chuckled. Her phone vibrated once again, but she had already shoved it back in her pocket. She opened the door and left to meet up with Cleve.
"What happened to your money?"
Cleveland sent that message three minutes ago, it showed as delivered although not read yet. Classic Laffey. The cruiser sighed and pulled up her slipping jacket. She headed for the door.
"That cafe also serves alcohol. Perfect for Arizona to let loose…" Laffey mumbled. She had almost reached the intended place, running at full speed as always, now was pondering about anything that would come to mind. She quickly turned the corner and bumped into someone, the force of the impact knocking Laffey on her bottom.
"Oof."
The person she crashed into let out a quiet. "Hieee~. Are you alright?"
Laffey looked up at the person she crashed into, next to them was another tall woman. "Who are you?"
"I'm the name ship of the Kongou class! Born in England and raised in Japan, I'm Kongou!" The battleship next to her said and struck a pose. The one she bumped into disappeared and reappeared behind Kongou.
"Second ship of the Kongou class! I won't lose to love or war! I'm Hiei!" She too struck a pose.
The destroyer's eyes widened, her throat tightened. She struggled to breathe. Hiei noticed Laffey was acting stranger than before. "Hey, are you okay?"
The destroyer was speaking so quietly that the battleship didn't hear much of what she said. "…D-Don't."
"What was that? I didn't catch it."
"Don't look down on me." She said it so low that Hiei could barely hear it while Kongou didn't.
"Hey, Laffey!" Cleveland spotted her and started running towards her. Laffey didn't notice Cleveland, she was still focused on Hiei. The battleship held out her hand and got a bit closer to Laffey. That only scared her even more. She shifted her body in the opposite direction and hastily ran away, she didn't know where she was going, her legs just took her.
"E-Eh?" Hiei was confused and stunned. Cleveland approached them, also confused.
"Uh, what happened?"
They turned to the cruiser. "Erm, I'm not sure myself." Hiei responded.
"I'm Cleveland, lead of my class! What about you?"
"I'm the name ship of the Kongou class! Born in England and raised in Japan, I'm Kongou!" She struck a pose.
"Second ship of the Kongou class! I won't lose to love or war! I'm Hiei!" She also struck a pose. "Who was that destroyer? She's seemed so afraid of me."
Cleveland put a hand on her chin. "You're Hiei right?"
She nodded.
"The destroyer you met was Laffey, the one you met at Guadalcanal."
"Oh."
This was also new for Cleveland too. "I've never seen her like this though. She isn't trapped in the past, I don't know why she acted like that."
Kongou, who had been silent the entire encounter, finally spoke up. "Good luck! Go get her tiger!"
"Eh? Onee-sama?"
Kongou patted her on the back and pushed her forward. "You should go check up on her! If she has a problem with you, it's better to face it head-on."
Hiei took a quick breath and then started to run in the direction Laffey went in.
Cleveland shouted. "Best of luck!"
"I can't…run any further…" Laffey stopped running and bent over, putting her hands on her knees. "Huff…huff."
She paused and tried to slow down her breathing. "Where…huff…am I?" The girl looked around her and recognized nothing. Laffey tried to keep running but fell to her side on the floor. In the process, she rolled off the concrete and off the ledge into the sand. Laff sort of just laid there with her arms and legs outstretched on the beach.
Whatever she was thinking about was cut off by the sound of her growling stomach. "Oh yeah…Clevie was paying."
More minutes passed with Laffy just laying there on the shore with her eyes closed. However, she started to hear footsteps coming closer and closer. She slowly opened her eyes and was met with Hiei's face.
"Eek-!"
Laffey almost sprang up from her laying position to dash off again, but she couldn't. The moment she tried, she was pushed back down again by Hiei. "Don't run away! Huff…I finally caught up with you, I'm not letting you go that easily. Let me…huff…talk to you for a bit."
"A-About what?"
"…Erm. I went to check if you were okay. Sorry for scaring you."
"Could you let me go? I won't run."
Hiei removed her hands from Laffey and the destroyer got up into a sitting position. When she did, there was an awkward silence.
"Sorry…"
She looked over at the shorter girl, confused. "For what?"
"I don't know why I reacted like that. Fear took my mind and my legs too."
"It's not your fault, I'm too, still bothered by the past from time to time."
"You came out of nowhere. Just like back then…"
The atmosphere was thrown off course by the younger's stomach. "Oh yeah…I was on my way to lunch."
The taller girl looked at her. "Sorry for interrupting. I believe your friend came when you left as well."
"My friend? Did she have a visor?" Laffey inquired.
"Yeah, she just arrived and called your name when you started to run off."
"Oh…I see now."
You really decided that you had to be a baby huh? She felt bad for the cruiser because she ran off.
"Strangely she didn't come after you too. I guess she wanted us to have a moment to clear things up."
Laffey put her knees up and hugged them with her arms. "I'm always like this. I put up a lazy and apathetic front, that's how everyone sees me. Yet, in reality, all I am is a scared tin-can who is nothing but a burden."
"Here, you can have this." She held out a packaged yakisoba pan.
She nodded. "Thanks."
The brown-haired girl opened the package and took a bite. "Keeping a firm grip of your emotions…is really hard. I don't know how people like Enterprise do it. They can just let go of the past like that, it's really incredible."
The battleship could agree with that statement. Such a deep and true couple of words, coming from a girl who wore a look of absolute fear on her face a few minutes ago. "For someone who's bound by the past, you sure could make a conversation with me perfectly fine."
When she looked back at Laffey who looked like she wanted to say something in protest but didn't. She closed her eyes.
"It's easier to share your troubles with a complete stranger rather than a close friend."
"Well said."
"Not my quote, but they are in fact true words."
There was another silence, although the mood was calmer and with less tension. They merely sat there and enjoyed the wind.
"You got into a fight already?!"
The carrier in question just nodded.
"Who is it?"
Enterprise looked back at the battleship. "Zuikaku."
Arizona's eyes narrowed when she mentioned her name. "I kind of expected you to get into fights but already? The first day! It's only been two hours for Christ's sake!" She let out a sigh. The forecast today showed to be a high chance of sighs in the clear skies.
"It's not as bad as Wash and SoDak's battles." Was Enterprise's attempt to reassure her friend. "I'm not sure how the Japanese Admiral will take it though."
"I've heard she ran off somewhere."
They entered the battleship kitchen on the first floor. "Is this allowed?"
"They never said it's not allowed. I mean it's just a common area, not strictly for battleships." The battleship opened a drawer and reached in for a griddle. "You up for burgers or something light?" The older asked. She found it and took it out.
"Your call." She answered. "I wonder if they have any MREs…" she mumbled.
"Oh hell no. You aren't eating the junk over here." Arizona opened one of the fridges and skimmed through its contents.
"Yes ma'am. Anything I can do to help?"
"I'm going to cook up some steak. How's a steak salad with rice sound?"
"I don't remember I've tried yours yet. It's usually Oklahoma's and West Virginia's."
That statement made Arizona smirk smugly. "They'll make you not even consider eating those rations."
"We have until 1200. I think she wants me to be there before or exactly by then."
Opening the cabinets, Enterprise took out two plates and a pan. She put them down next to the cooktop.
"Here." The ashen-haired girl passed the red-haired girl some ingredients.
"Thanks."
The sound of a sizzling pan and the smell of fresh beef traveled through the battleship building. The carrier had finished plating the salad and rice. She put the plates next to the griddle and glanced at the clock.
"1215."
Arizona let the steak set before cutting it into smaller pieces. When it finished setting, she cut them and placed them onto the plates.
They sat down and ate.
"Are you going to watch?"
"Eh. Why not?"
They continued in silence.
The carrier and battleship duo arrived on the shore fifteen minutes before the agreed time. They found Laffey and Hiei sitting next to each other in silence with relaxed expressions. Laffey was sleeping and Hiei looked into the ocean distance.
The Japanese battleship noticed the two and waved. Arizona in turn put her finger on her lip and smiled. On cue, Laffey started to lean onto Hiei's shoulder. She started to squirm uncomfortably but didn't want to wake the small destroyer.
Following the atmosphere, the American battleship sat next to Hiei and just relaxed. Enterprise was inspecting her planes.
About five minutes later, the Crane sisters arrived. The energetic of the two spoke out. "Eh? Hiei? What are you doing here or are you here to watch?"
"Watch what?" Hiei was confused about what she meant and why they were there in the first place.
"Well, Enterprise and I…" She gestured towards the American carrier. …are going to have a mock battle."
"You're Enterprise?" Hiei said with hints of fear in her tone.
She nodded. The battleship shifted uncomfortably. The American sitting next to her introduced herself. "I'm Arizona. Nice to meet you. If you get along with Laffey that well, I think you'll be fine with everyone else."
The other battleship flinched and peeked over to the destroyer resting on her. "Er, no! We're not like that…uh. She j-just needed some rest!"
Suddenly, an idea came to her mind. Arizona looked over at Zuikaku, who had her back facing her. The carrier was faced towards Shoukaku and Enterprise.
"What's the time limit?"
Zuikaku closed her eyes and thought about it. "Are you fine with twenty-five minutes?"
"Yeah."
The dreadnought battleship lightly tapped the younger Japanese carrier's shoulder. In response, she turned her head to meet her. "Hey, Zuikaku right?"
"Yeah, that's me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're Arizona correct?"
She nodded. "Hey, why don't you have a punishment game? Whoever loses the mock battle has to do what the winner says."
The two white-haired carriers were chatting and going over the rules again. "E-Eh?" Zuikaku stammered.
"Why not? It's fun. Don't worry about E not agreeing, I've got that covered. You in?"
Zuikaku let out a breath. "I'll do it…" she finally said.
"Great! Have fun." Arizona plopped back onto the sand next to Hiei.
Enterprise looked at Zuikaku and asked. "You ready? We should get in position."
"Ready to win this!" She said with a great amount of confidence.
"Are you both connected to the radio transmission line?" the long white-haired carrier inquired.
They both made a sound of confirmation. Putting on their equipment, they set out for the seas.
When the two carriers got into position, they both radioed in that they were ready to begin.
"Ready…go!" As soon as Shoukaku gave the affirmative to begin, the two carriers began to make their moves. From their positions, they couldn't see each other.
"Search and destroy. Alright! Let's do this!" Zuikaku conducted a 180-degree search in the direction she was facing. When she sent her scout planes off, she decided to sail further out at sea.
After some time of no sightings, she got a one just at the end of her scout plane's range. It was possible Enterprise had spotted her aircraft. However, her anti-air guns weren't going off, no fighters littered the air, nor was she looking in the same direction as the airplanes.
Zuikaku stealthily pulled away and started to head back to her location. She planned to launch an escorted strike with almost all available aircraft, seeing as she got a clear idea of Enterprise's position. She kept most of her A6M Zero fighter planes with her just in case of an enemy ambush and some of her Aichi D3A Vals and Nakajima B5N Kates.
The launching process went smoothly with no major problems. Her pilots were coordinated and kept in formation. As the Japanese carrier finished launching her airstrike, the scout planes came in at the right time and were successfully recovered.
Now, her main objective was getting her squadrons to Enterprise and bombing her to oblivion, well not literally. Her sister might have her head on a stick for that.
Her airplanes flew over the intended location but found nothing. "Maybe she did spot those planes." She thought about it and came to the conclusion that only two options were plausible. Either she could keep going and try to find the carrier with the attack squads, or she could make them return for now and send out her scouts once more.
After some more time, Zuikaku sent her squadrons to scout the north. After that, she planned for them to loop back to where she was. Out of the very right corner of her fairies' eyes, she spotted the ship she had been looking for.
It was Enterprise, although it seemed like she was heading towards Zuikaku's general direction. The Japanese carrier questioned that choice. She was already in the American's striking range, there was no need for her to come closer. Unless the carrier really didn't detect her yet.
Her squadrons came closer to strike at her. Then, Enterprise put her arm in the air, which had a double-barrel shotgun in her hand. She aimed it directly at Zuikaku's aircraft and shot it. The bullet pierced through their formations and threw them off.
Out came Grumman F6F Hellcat that had emerged from the bullet and rapidly made hard turns to surround the Japanese bombers on all sides.
At almost the same time, out of nowhere, she detected a large formation of aircraft heading towards her. Those were, without a doubt, Enterprise's bombers.
"What the?!"
"Do you like your present?" Enterprise had said into the radio. With her tone, Zuikaku couldn't tell if that was supposed to be a smug remark.
Quickly clearing her thoughts, she focused on sending fighters out. The Japanese navy back then didn't have the best anti-air guns. The captains relied more on evasive maneuvers than that, it was in the basic doctrine. That habit unexpectedly carried on over to their Kamusu.
Zeros instantly greeted the incoming bombers. "Dauntlesses…" she mumbled. Zuikaku trusted her fairy crew to do their jobs.
She didn't realize she had made a major mistake, which could've been fatal if this had been a real battle. Target fixation, all eyes were glued on to the dive bombers that seemingly came out of nowhere. While she did have some overhead cover, those above had their attention mainly on the Douglas SBD Dauntlesses.
Creeping behind her were Douglas TBF Avengers. Luckily for her, one of her fighters saw this and shared their discovery with Zuikaku. She swiftly turned around to check the claim, not before being hit with a torpedo.
"Damn it!" With her Zeros focused on the dive bombers, only a few could manage to go for the torpedo bombers. It looked like Zuikaku had to perform extreme maneuvers if she wanted to dodge them.
Getting only hit three times was impressive considering attacks were coming from two different sides as well as her fighters caught up at one side of the attack. Three torpedo hits and one dive bomb, the rest had been near misses. Most of the planes from the attack had left, it wasn't until a few seconds later they had all left.
"Zuikaku are you okay?!" Shoukaku had yelled into the radio. Of course she did, she had always been a worry heart.
"I'm fine and can still continue." Well, barely.
"Was that too much?" Enterprise had tried to sound concerned but it ended making her sound confused.
"Nothing that I can't handle. Let's keep going."
For now, no major hits on Enterprise. One dive bomb, however, made a steep dive. It was so steep that when they had tried to pull out after releasing its payload, it crashed into Enterprise's face. The pilot must've been used to committing kamikaze stunts.
The bomb did no damage to the carrier however, the same could not be said for the kamikaze. Her body was moved back by the impact and crashed into another pilot that was behind her.
"What happened?"
"I'm not too sure myself." Shoukaku didn't have the best view of the battle.
"Hey Enterprise! Are you still alive over there?"
…Silence.
"Enterprise?!"
"Shoukaku-nee, calm down. I think I know what happened. Her radio room was probably hit, that's why we can't reach her." Zuikaku sped up and headed to the carrier's last known position. "I'm getting closer to check on her, and also to finish this."
The familiar burning sensation. Something I haven't felt in a long time. I thought it would end with the war, but mistakes are mistakes. No matter how hard you try to fix it.
[It's been a while, hasn't it?]
A familiar feeling, an unfamiliar voice. It was a clear day, near cloudless skies. No fog polluted the ocean, yet out of nowhere, it had come.
"Who are you supposed to be? I didn't get hit hard enough to start hearing disembodied voices."
[Cold as always.]
"Do you want to show yourself? Or do I have to make you by force and blow us both up?"
The fog grew thicker, she could no longer see the shores of the beach. Enterprise turned around as she heard something glide closer to her.
[I think I'm good. It's warm here.]
"Ok."
[…]
"…"
The stranger just laughed. [You've changed.]
"You talk as if you know me. The last time I checked, I'm in the middle of a mock battle. So who are you really?"
[What ever happened to bombing the both of us to the world below?]
"I would, but I care for my crew. The fog shows you're scared."
[You really have changed.]
Enterprise tilted her head to the right and a shell flew past her, barely missing her. "Kind of cowardly, even for Abyssal standards is it not?"
[Oh-ho? So you knew?]
"Figured." She held out her gun to the north-west and shot.
[Oooh scary.]
There was a sound coming from behind her. The cold carrier turned and rushed forward, putting her gun to the head of the incoming person. It turns out that Zuikaku was there, and stopped dead in her tracks with her face frozen with a surprised expression on her face.
[I would love to play with you some more but I needed somewhere else. Ta-da!]
With that, the fog disappeared with the mysterious person. "Tch." Enterprise looked in the direction of the last heard sound from that thing.
"Who was that?" Zuikaku spoke up. She glanced at the other carrier. "Erm, could you take the gun off my head? Much appreciated."
"Apologies. I'm headed back to shore."
"Uh alright. What about our duel?"
That had slipped her mind. "Oh."
There was silence for some time. "Yeah, congrats Zuikaku on your win."
"Wait! We're ending it just like that? Wasn't Shoukaku going to decide the winner?"
"You got more damage on me." Those kamikazes really did something. "Also I'm the first to withdraw so you win by default."
Zuikaku didn't say anything. She quietly followed Enterprise back to shore. Her mind, however, couldn't keep quiet.
"I wanted to fight you again as rivals. I didn't care if I won or not…" She then remembered what the American battleship had told her before. "Wait, wait. You're actually going to go for it?! It could've been a joke! You're going to humiliate yourself!"
Enterprise said something that took her out of her thoughts but she didn't catch what she said. "Wait can you repeat that?"
"Can you radio in and tell your sister to tell her the match is over?"
She did as she was told and told Shoukaku they had finished. She glanced back at the quiet carrier in front of her. "Wait, Enterprise! You're bleeding badly!"
"I'm fine."
"I don't think someone whose face is almost completely covered in blood should be saying that."
"Things like that happen."
"They do, but not so often to the point of it being normal!"
They had reached shore and Shoukaku ran up to greet them. "Are you guys ok—. Gah! Enterprise!" She saw the carrier's condition and stared in shock. "We need to get you to the baths."
"I'm fine."
"Do you know how you look right now?"
"Yes, I am fine."
"She says this like it's a normal occurrence." Zuikaku interjected.
Arizona got up from her spot and walked over to the carrier group. "She's always like this. Okay, let me show you what to do when this happens." She calmly grabbed Enterprise's back collar and yanked it. The carrier made no attempts of resistance.
"I'll see you guys a bit later." Arizona said before she dragged the stubborn carrier away. She stopped and yelled, "Oh yeah, Zuikaku! Remember to tell Enty what I said earlier!"
"Hm? What does she mean?" Shoukaku turned to face Zuikaku, who had turned somewhat red.
"D-Don't worry about it. It's nothing!" Zuikaku turned away and unintentionally looked over at Hiei. Instead of leaning onto her shoulder, Laffey was now resting with her head on her lap while she lightly stroked her hair. The twin-tailed carrier whispered into her sister's ear. "Let's go. Let them have their moment."
Shoukaku followed her sister's eyes. "Ah. I see. Want to get a snack? Nothing beats a good meal after a battle."
"Sure." Zuikaku nodded in agreement.
"Take off your clothes."
Enterprise looked in the other direction and didn't say anything.
"Come on. I'm not a pervert or anything, nor your caretaker. Don't make me have to do it myself…" Arizona sighed, for how many times today? "I'm not Vestal or Yorkie."
"They didn't take off my clothes either."
"You get my point, take them off."
"I'm fine."
"You're too stubborn for your own good. You follow orders without a second thought, yet when someone shows concern for you, you get so stubborn."
"It's because I'm fine. I'll live." The carrier said in turn with her plain tone. Arizona stared at her with a face that said "come on now".
"…I can do it myself." Her head was bandaged up and the bleeding had stopped. The battleship had wanted to check for any other injuries.
"I guess that's better than not doing it at all. Do you need me to look away?"
"Yeah…" she had quietly said.
Arizona decided to playfully tease her longtime friend. "Oh? I didn't take you to be the shy type anymore."
"I didn't take you to be the perverted type either."
"Haha…" She finally looked away to respect the carrier's wish.
"Of course you know I'm pulling your leg."
"Yeah, but others that don't know you as well as I do, won't."
The dreadnought changed the subject. "Zuikaku is going to look for you later."
"Hm? For what?"
"If she remembers what I told her, she will probably ask you to do something."
"And what did you tell her to remember?"
"I told her the winner of the mock battle does whatever the loser says."
"Classic trope huh? You didn't bother to tell me?"
"You would've probably done what she said. Probably except for taking your clothes off."
"Touché."
Arizona impatiently asked, "You done?"
Enterprise nodded.
"Hey…do you still have nightmares about Pearl?"
"…"
"…"
"Let me ask, what about you?"
"I wasn't there during the attack. Of course I don't—."
"You don't need to lie. People will just worry more about you if you do."
She was silent. Organizing her thoughts, to make a response.
"I know it must've been a horrid sight to sail into that." The battleship said in reassurance. "I have nightmares about that one bomb. The one the murdered most of my crew in a matter of seconds." She looked down at the ground, reminiscing her last moments.
"I'm going."
"Huh? Enterprise?"
The carrier stood up and headed for the exit. "I remembered something I needed to do."
Enterprise was now wandering around the base looking for something or someone. She didn't think up any plan when she had gotten out. While it was an excuse to not answer Arizona's question, she did want to find them and talk to them a bit.
She realized that asking people if they had seen the person would be easier. However, most things are easier said than done. If she introduced herself, plenty would just run away or be too afraid to respond. The only place she had met them was at the carrier range. So she should check there, which was a stupid idea, but better than wandering around.
The carrier reached the first floor of the carrier dorms and went down the hall to the range. She opened the door and peeked inside. There was the person she was looking for, Kaga.
Completed: December 31, 2020
A/N: Happy New Year everyone. I hope it will be better than 2020, but I think it is just going to be worse. Also merry late Christmas.