Kaga was there. Her iconic side-tail, her traditional robe. Bow in hand, the Japanese carrier practiced the rearmament of her bombers. She simply stared as the fairies rearmed the planes.
"Too slow. Again."
Enterprise quietly approached the focused carrier, her footsteps making no noise. Her fairies reloaded the bombs once more.
Into The Abyss - Chapter IV
"That's better but still slow."
"Instead of two fairies to a plane, make it three. When the aircraft are launched, set up everything before they land so they are prepared."
Kaga jumped a bit when she heard the American, who was looking over her shoulder. "Try again with three. It might be better." Enterprise advised.
The stoic carrier looked back at her crew. "Once more." They hurriedly reloaded once again, this time, with three fairies to a plane. It showed some improvement.
"Thanks."
Kaga was about to leave but was stopped by Enterprise. "Can we talk?"
"About what?"
"I'm assuming you still hate me?"
"Of course. Now if we have nothing left to discuss, I'll be taking my leave."
"Wait." The American carrier grabbed her wrist. Kaga looked back at the girl, waiting for her to say something.
"Tell me why."
"You know why." Kaga coldly shot back.
"We can't afford to be uncooperative because of petty reasons."
"I'll follow the Admiral's orders. That doesn't mean I have to be content with it. I'll work with you for the sake of defeating the Abyssals. That's it."
Enterprise still didn't let go of her hand, which annoyed Kaga.
"Killing me won't change anything. Revenge, in the end, is futile."
"I know. However, just seeing you unleashes all those memories that I would rather forget. All our achievements and honors were thrown away and utterly crushed by our defeat. People remember us for the Battle of Midway and how badly we lost."
"People remember Pearl because of the attack. Normal people wouldn't care less about the name of a naval base, but it truly was a day that would live in infamy."
The ashen-haired woman looked at the other carrier dead in the eye. "You hold a grudge against me for sinking you, I know. You aren't the only one." She stared hard into the ground. "Do you expect others to hate you for what you did to the base?"
"I am well aware of what I've done."
"I know you were just following orders. We can't change the past." Enterprise's grip tightened. "Then tell me, have you seen what you've done to Pearl Harbor?"
"Of course. The Kido Butai were the ones who bombed the base."
"Why do you still hold an 80-year grudge?" Her grip didn't change, neither did her expression. The speech showed hints of frustration, but the short-haired carrier's tone didn't.
"I already told you, didn't I? Besides, I've been asleep at the bottom of the ocean for all those years. Of course I'm not happy to see you again."
After a short time, Enterprise looked at the floor again. There was some silence. Before Kaga broke it. "Can I leave now?"
"If you're busy today, can we talk tomorrow?"
"I don't see a point."
"One talk. I'll leave you alone." She clasped her hands together and held them up while looking at Kaga's eyes.
"Fine."
"Thanks." She shyly let out a small smile. "If you feel uncomfortable with just the two of us, you can bring your sister or a friend."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Do you have a phone or something I can contact you with—." Kaga saw the other stumble and wobble a bit. The American mumbled, "…shit." Enterprise grabbed her head with one of her hands.
"Er. What are you doing?" Then all of a sudden, she just fell forward, Kaga caught her before she fell to the ground.
"Hey, are you okay?" She shook her body to no avail. "The worse timing too. Akashi is on DnD."
Kaga thought about it. The carrier in her arms probably just passed out, nothing life-threatening. She couldn't just leave her like this, looks like Kaga had to let the American rest in her bed because she didn't know which room Enterprise was staying at.
Now, what was going to be the method of transportation. If she dragged her, it would look like she was trying to dispose of her. Carrying her over the shoulder could also be kind of suspicious. Under the arm, not sure if her arm could withstand the other's weight.
"I'm overthinking this." Kaga unconsciously picked Enterprise up bridal style because it was the easiest. She sighed and hoped no one saw her.
Of course, she jinxed herself. On her way to her room, she came across the Crane sisters in the hallway.
"Kaga? What happened to Enterprise?"
Zuikaku rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you killed her because of your personal grudges."
"No, I didn't." she stated plainly. "She just fainted, I'm not sure why. Do you know where her room is?"
"Oh. Yeah, her room is across from mine, 106. If you want, I can take her back."
Kaga wordlessly handed Enterprise to Shoukaku.
"She's surprisingly not as heavy as I thought." mumbled the carrier.
"Wait, Shoukaku-nee. Let me help." Zuikaku took one of the American's arms and put it over her shoulder.
"If you insist, but I can handle it." said Shoukaku as she did the same.
They walked back to their room, even though they just left. The sisters faced Enterprise's room door and realized that it was locked. "Zuikaku, can you look for her key?"
"Yeah, wait." With her free hand, she lightly patted Enterprise's pockets for the key. She was about to reach over to the ones on Shoukaku's side, although something hidden behind her cape caught her attention. Detaching its scrap, it fell to the floor with a clank.
"What is that?" Shoukaku looked down to take a better look.
"Looks like a katana case." Zuikaku said as bent down to pick it up. "I don't feel a key in her pockets."
"What?"
"Don't tell me that idiot locked her key in her own room."
"It can't be helped, she can rest on my bed. Also, we can check if she's sick or anything."
They went inside their room and put her down on Shoukaku's bed, technically futon.
Zuikaku studied the blade. "Is that why she was closing the distance?" That idea wasn't farfetched.
"Mhfm…" she grunted and felt someone lightly caressing her hair. Slowly opened her eyes, found herself laying on Hiei's thighs.
"E-EH?"
"Ah, you're awake."
Laffey speedily got up and was acting like a mess. Her normally smug attitude was now frantic and embarrassed. "H-How long was I out?"
"Er…three hours…?"
"What?!"
"I'm sorry, did you want me to wake you?"
"Nooo! My last chance at the limited event…!" Laffey shouted at the sky, "Curse you gods of laziness!"
"I don't understand…?"
"It's something from my favorite game. I could teach you how to play sometime."
"I-Is that so?"
Were they friends now? Laffey was pretty sure strangers wouldn't give each other lap pillows. "Do you guys still use email for conversing?"
"We use this text messaging app."
"You use it too? Gimme your code." She laid on Hiei's thighs on her belly and pulled out her phone. "Here's mine." She put her phone up to the battleship's face. "Lookie, look."
Hiei pulled out her phone and scanned the code.
Laffey felt her phone ring and looked at its most recent notification. "Ah. I have to go back to my dorm now. Bye-bye."
"See you later…" Hiei waved at Laffey and she waved back. She watched as the destroyer's back became smaller and smaller. "Wait did I just make a friend?"
Destroyer Dorms
"Tadaima~."
"Weeb." O'Bannon called from the floor with a controller in her hands.
"Rude."
"I'm sorryyy. I got a gift for you." She held her controller up to Laffey. The lazy destroyer sat on the floor next to her. She looked at the television screen and nearly punched it to see if it was real or not.
"You got that limited outfit for 'lil ol' me…?" Laffey looked at O'Bannon teary-eyed.
The destroyer in question cracked a toothy smile and scratched the back of her head. "Hehe."
The younger destroyer hugged the smiling girl. "O'Bannonnn." she dragged out the other's name. "This is why you're my second best friend."
"Hey that hurts y'know. It would've been better just to leave that part out."
"My number one is Laffey, there's no changing that."
"Is it because she's your predecessor? Or was it because she drew your favorite characters?"
She looked away, refusing to meet her "second-best" friend's eyes. "Maybe. But hey! I'm not all about materialistic things." She put her index fingers together and twirled them. "I like her cause she's been able to put up with me."
"Yeah, kind of weird how close you two have gotten. Despite starting out like enemies from the same nation."
"Heh-heh."
Flashback
"Hey! Watch where 'yer going." The younger and eager destroyer said as she bumped into a slouched figure that had similarities to an older destroyer.
Laffey (DD-459) just continued walking with a word. Which pissed off the other Laffey (DD-724). The younger walked right up to her and held her by her collar.
"Who do you think you are that you can just ignore me as if I'm invisible?"
The lazy destroyer still didn't respond to her grumbling.
A new voice was thrown into the fray. "Hey, Laffey! There you are!" came from a sort-of-tall blonde who had a visor tilted to her left. The Sumner-class didn't recognize her.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Cleveland! Thanks for finding my friend."
"Er. No problem…? But how'd 'ya know my name?"
The cruiser looked at her with a confused expression and asked, "What do you mean?"
"You called out Laffey when you ran up to us."
"Oh, yeah. That's her name."
The Sumner Laffey handed the other Laffey, who had fallen asleep on her shoulder, over to Cleveland. "Who are you, if you mind?"
"I'm Laffey, DD-724. The ship that would not die."
"Ohhh, so that's why. Heh, sorry about that."
"No worries—."
The Benson Laffey lunged onto her from the cruiser's arms.
"Mm…?" The sleepy destroyer slowly opened her eyes.
"Sorry about that, Allen-Laff. Come on Laffey."
Despite the destroyer and cruiser's talk, Benson Laffey didn't let go of her Allen-counterpart. "Let's be friends~."
"That's nice and all, but don't think 'ya can get off me?"
"You smell like…"
"Like?"
"Closet gamer.~"
"Eh?"
Cleveland had to practically pry her off the bandaged girl.
Sumner Laffey was just aimlessly wandering around the base. Minding her own business, until she was tackled to the ground by a small blur.
"What's your problem?"
"I know you read Kyouki.~"
"E-Eh?"
"So you're a 'go read the manga' type?"
"I mean to be fair, the anime hasn't even been released."
"Hey hey, which did you prefer? The manga or light novel."
"So far, the manga has better action scenes but the LN has more build-up and emotion."
She pushed the older off of her and stood back up. The Benson Laffey was riding on the other Laffey's back with her arms around her neck and feet dragged on the floor. The younger was just trying to get to the mess hall.
"What games do you play?"
Cleveland spotted the two destroyers and was about to approach them but decided against it. "Well, what do you know." she said as she watched the two. "Laff is a weird one, I hope she'll be fine."
"Boo!"
The younger Laffey quietly screamed.
"Heh heh~."
The Allen Laffey shyly asked, "What do you want?"
"I want to hang out."
"Erm, I'm busy today. So maybe another time…?"
"Celestial Event?"
"How did you know? You play?"
"Yes, that's why we should hang outttt."
She hesitantly said, "Fine…"
The newer Laffey heard the sound of knocking on her room door. She stood up and opened it to find herself two-inches away from her namesake's face.
"Er, hi."
Her successor had a laptop under her arm. "Let's do the Core Event together.~ It's too harddd." She dragged out her sentence.
After some time, she finally agreed. "Alright, fine. Come in." She sighed and moved away from the door, not even questioning how she found her room in the first place.
Present Moment
"Well, I do have a talent of smelling out closet degenerates."
"What the heck?! It sounded like you stalked her 'till she was forced to become your friend."
"She opened up to me though."
"It sounds more like she was babysitting you. Isn't she like two years younger than you?"
Laffey put a hand to her chest proudly. "Aren't I such a great senpai?"
"I don't know what that means because I'm a normie, but no, I don't think you are."
"Mean~."
O'Bannon started to drink a bottle of water. Laffey's phone vibrated. She picked it up and looked at the most recent notifications. "Ooh. Seems like I got a date coming up now."
The other destroyer in the room spat out her drink in surprise.
Enterprise woke up to something cold on her forehead and the feeling of an unfamiliar bed under her. She felt someone undoing her tie, and tried to sit up but hit her head on something instead, sending her back to her laying position.
"Itai…"
She peeked her eyes open. "Shoukaku…?"
"Ah, Enterprise! You're awake."
"What are you doing?" the carrier said weakly.
"Oh. O-Oh." She looked back down at her and realized what she was implying. Her face quickly became red. "I-I was checking your injuries! I'm sorry for not asking!"
The two carriers' faces were mere inches away from each other. Shoukaku had her hands at Enterprise's sides to be able to stay upright without falling on top of her. Her left knee was between the other carrier's legs. The other leg was on the right side of the American's right leg.
"…So what exactly happened?"
"Kaga said you passed out and handed you to us. We couldn't get into your room so we just let you rest in my bed for now."
"Hey Shoukaku-nee, I forgot Akashi is busy today so—." Zuikaku just looked at the two with a disbelief expression. She too started turning red.
"W-Wait! I was j-just checking her injuries!"
The younger sister just looked to the side and covered her mouth, still blushing. "I k-know…people can get the wrong idea, you know?" It didn't help that Shoukaku looked like she was pinning Enterprise down.
The twin-tailed carrier calmed herself. Turning, composed, she asked the foreign carrier. "So how do you feel?"
"Good enough."
The younger Shoukaku-class pointed to the case that laid against the wall. "If you were looking for your sword, it's right there. How long have you had that anyway? It looks like it has seen as much battle as you."
She didn't answer right away. "I got it last year. I never used it."
"Really? What a strange design for a new blade…"
"I'll tell you more about it later. What time is it?"
"1700. We should go get some dinner."
Shoukaku stood up and next to Zuikaku. "Oh, wait." Enterprise got up as well. Shoukaku handed back her tie. "S-Sorry about that."
"All is good. I'll be taking my leave now."
"You're not going to join us for dinner?" the greyish-green-haired carrier inquired.
"I have plans, sorry. We can go some other time."
The white short-haired girl took her sword case and left out the door, closing it behind her.
"I guess it's just you and me, Shoukaku-nee."
The Next Morning
Arizona woke up, strangely for once not by Washington and South Dakota. The two were still cuddling in the same bed the older battleship had left them the past day.
"All available personnel, please report to the docks immediately. You will be briefed once you are there."
Quickly getting ready, Arizona headed to see what was the big fuss about.
Once she got there, she saw less than a handful of shipgirls gathered there. A woman with a black hat was standing next to the secretary she met yesterday, battleship Nagato.
"Ah, Arizona. Good morning."
"Morning. So what's happening here?"
The other woman she didn't recognize spoke up. "Hello, Arizona. Nice to meet you, I'm the Admiral of this base."
"Nice to meet you." The battleship said back.
"Alright, I'll explain again." Nagato said to all the assembled Kanmusu. "There's an American force that sent out a distress call a few minutes ago. We're sending a fleet to aid them. They'll be kept here for a short while until they can get back on their feet. We've pinned their distress call to be at the Marshall Islands."
Excluding the Admiral and Nagato, the girls that were there were Arizona, Enterprise, Kaga, Fubuki, Sendai, and Mutsuki.
"We'll be leaving right now, let's get your riggings on."
"Aw, man! No night battle!"
The Admiral looked at the fleet. She put her hand on Arizona's shoulder. "Okay. You look reliable, like Nagato! You're the flagship of this sortie, good luck all!"
Arizona sweatdropped. It would take some time to get used to this Admiral.
"Thank god Laffey wasn't here." Arizona muttered as she looked at the concerning fog and noticeable almost black smoke.
Fubuki looked at her. "Why is that?"
"She would be endlessly asking 'Are we there yet?', most of us would go insane."
The two carriers at the back were silent, focused on their own things.
"E…is…tha…ou?"
"I've made radio contact." Enterprise announced to the fleet. They turned their attention to her, waiting for information.
"Yeah, it's me. Where are you?"
"250…iles…northwest…Wake Island."
She turned to the only battleship in the fleet. "The person on the other side says they're around 400 kilometers northwest from Wake Island."
"Abyssal fleet ahead. Three battleships, two mild damage Ta-classes, one heavy Ru-class. Two Na-classes."
Arizona sprang into action. "Destroyers up front! Get your torpedoes ready! Sendai, if you can keep up with them and have torps, join them. Kaga, have they spotted us?"
"Not yet, they are focused on something else. Most likely the force that sent the call. Though it's hard to see through all this smoke."
"In that case, you three. What are your ranges for torps?"
Mutsuki replied. "22 km effectively, 40.4 km max!"
"Type 93s?"
"Yes ma'am." Fubuki said.
The battleship turned back to the carriers. "Do any of you know how far they are from us?"
"I believe around 25 miles or 40 kilometers." Enterprise returned. Kaga nodded in agreement.
"Okay," She turned back to the other surface ships. "You three, I want you to torpedo snipe."
They were all silent until a united, "What?!" erupted from the three.
"They won't see it coming if they're focused on the other task force. You can either release them now or if you wanted, you can get closer."
Fubuki and Mutsuki looked at each other. Sendai was thinking about it.
"If you want to get closer, come with me. My torpedoes have a max range of 15 km." Arizona stated.
"You have torpedoes?!" the destroyers yelled in unison.
"Did you think these were for show or something?" she asked as Arizona pointed to her torpedo tubes attached to her legs.
"We didn't even notice them."
"Carriers, don't do anything yet. Sendai, Fubuki, Mutsuki, are you guys going to launch now or get closer?"
"I'll give it a shot." Sendai answered. The other two looked at each other then responded.
"We'll do our best!"
"That's the spirit." Arizona smiled. "Kaga, get ready to begin a strike with torpedo bombers when those three get their torps launched. E, get your Dauntlesses up to support Kaga and give 'em hell."
"Affirmative." Kaga said as she organized her arrows.
"Wilco." Enterprise stated, still focusing on the radio transmission for any new info.
There was a period of silence. The three tasked with torpedo sniping were in complete focus. Sendai decided she was going to make the first move. Slowing down, she aimed. The cruiser launched the torpedoes and quickly retreated back, not to be spotted.
The two destroyers launched together, mimicking the cruiser's movements and precision. Hastily getting back into formation, they all had finished their launch.
"Kaga, now!"
Right on command, the Japanese carrier sent out her B5N Kates, escorted by Zeros. Enterprise followed in suit and sent out her dive-bombers as well as some fighters.
"Seems like this is overkill." Sendai mumbled. "We could've stretched it out a little longer for a night battle!"
"Just leave me…"
"No never!" the destroyer shouted, still attempting to pull the carrier up.
Another carrier came up behind them and supported the damaged carrier, pulling her back up to her feet. "Hammann, focus on defense. Especially enemy submarines."
"I'll make sure no one gets through!" The small destroyer had her anti-air crew at full alert and depth charges ready, watching her radar.
"You two should be retreating. You'll sink because of me…"
"It can't be helped. We aren't leaving an important carrier behind just for the sake of survival. We all came here knowing what might happen. It's not your fault, none of us realized this was a trap. Not only that, but we're separated from the rest of the fleet. Almost all of us are pretty damaged. They'll catch up to us sooner or later if we left you."
"Essex…" The older let out a small chuckle, despite their situation. "You sounded really cool, I wonder what she'll think if she heard you."
The said carrier looked away and blushed slightly. "Besides, she'll kill me if she found out I left you to sink. The bigger problem would be how she'd take it."
"Multiple contacts of enemy forces approaching us! We have to speed up." the destroyer called out.
"That's why I said leave me behind. I'm slowing you all down, I can't go any faster."
The carrier sighed, before giving an order to Hammann. "Help Yorktown repair and get her boilers at max again. I'll switch out with you and defend you all. The main priority is escaping!"
She looked down at her fairy crew. They were fatigued, hurt, and low on bombs. However, they all shared one thing, their desire to live. Despite how tired they were, they definitely wouldn't allow their home carrier to sink.
The Abyssal fleet emerged from the smog, their unearthly eyes glowing, visible through the light fog.
"Do your worst!"
"At least there aren't any carriers." Essex thought. She was about to send out all her available planes, but torpedoes that seemingly came out of nowhere struck the battleships, sinking Ru-class and heavily damaging the Ta-classes.
Fortunately for her, Japanese torpedo bombers swept in and sank the last battleships. The destroyers were no match to the familiar dive-bombers that came in. They would soon join their battleship comrades.
Their disappearance only caused the fog to increase. An unidentified figure started to get closer to the three. Essex held up her M1 Garand.
3…2…1!
The carrier shot a test bullet at the person, the sound of the bullet colliding with something metal caught her off-guard. The bullet ricocheted and pierced one of her twin-tails, the band holding it up broke.
The unknown person emerged from the fog, which revealed it was actually Enterprise.
"Eh? Big E?"
"Essex?"
The younger carrier lowered her guard in her presence, not all the way. "Hammann, Yorktown! We have backup!"
Enterprise turned her attention to the two people behind Essex. Hammann was struggling but still keeping her sister-ship afloat. However, Yorktown was unconscious.
"Enterprise! What are you looking at?" Arizona shouted behind her. The battleship finally caught sight of the other carriers and the destroyer.
"Arizona?" Essex called out.
"Essex?"
The rest of the rescue fleet was behind Arizona. Essex glided over to the damaged destroyer and took the carrier off of her, which the destroyer looked confused until she saw another Kanmusu.
"Where is the rest of your fleet?" inquired Arizona.
"Some of them needed to retreat due to life-threatening damages. During that, we were separated by fog. Even if they were here, not sure it could much because of the state that they were in." Essex replied.
"Alright girls, mission complete!"
The vanguard units enthusiastically cheered. The carriers didn't change.
The three were put into the baths. Yorktown would need around two days to finish repairing. Hammann needed one hour while Essex needed twelve hours.
Arizona gave the report to the Admiral and everyone else was free to do what they wanted. The mission had started at around 0600, and now it was 1000. Some were hungry for lunch, some were starving for breakfast.
Enterprise was about to head back to her room, but Kaga stopped her. At first, she was confused, then she remembered their agreement to have a chat.
"I didn't think this far ahead, anywhere you want to go in particular?"
"Mamiya's cafe I guess."
Kaga started walking and Enterprise followed her. A voice behind them made their movement come to a halt.
"Hey Kaga and Enterprise, right?" It was the two destroyers they were sent with earlier in the day.
"What is it?" Kaga said stoically.
"Are you two headed to Mamiya's too?"
This time Enterprise responded. "Yeah. Do you want to join us?"
"Is that okay?" asked Mutsuki.
The Yorktown-class carrier looked at Kaga, waiting on her answer if she was going to reject.
"Sure. Don't cause any trouble."
Fubuki and Mutsuki looked at each other and showed feelings of small delight. The four of them headed to the cafe together, the two destroyers a pace ahead of the carriers. They picked out a table and sat down. Kaga sat with Mutsuki while Enterprise sat with Fubuki across from them.
"What do you guys recommend?" the American had asked them.
"The takoyaki meal and the donburi is pretty good." the destroyer next to her said.
"There's also the green curry and sandwiches." Mutsuki said.
Kaga asked, "Are you all ready to order?"
The waiter came over and took their orders, they were making idle chatter while waiting for their meals.
"Enterprise, do you have a kohai?" Fubuki asked.
"What's that?"
"It's like someone you teach or like an underclassman that looks up to you."
"I have over 30, I believe."
"What?!"
Enterprise put a hand to her chin. "Most of them are Essex-class. American built a lot of carriers during the second half of the war."
Fubuki and Mutsuki's meals arrived and they started digging in. Enterprise turned her attention to Kaga, sitting directly across from her.
"Why are you so interested and trying to get me to like you?"
"I know you hate my guts and wouldn't even fathom being anything close to my friend, but that doesn't mean we can be rivals, does it not?"
"Hm? Rivals?"
"Instead of enemies, let's be rivals." She held out her hand. "You can still hate me all you want and take your anger on me, but at least we aren't killing each other."
Kaga looked at it. "Rivals…" Former enemies as rivals, former being a key-word. Kaga killed her friends, and in turn, Enterprise sought vengeance. Yes, it would save them from unnecessary conflict and still gives space for grudges.
"I accept, I won't lose to you or the Fifth Division." said Kaga as she shook the American's hand.
Right on time, their respective meals arrived and they ate in silence, focusing on their meals.
When they finished their meals, they split off to do their own thing. Enterprise was walking around the base, not really doing anything when she spotted the Crane sisters.
"Oh, hey Enterprise. Where were you this morning?"
"We had to do a short rescue operation. Turns out some of my folks got caught in a bad situation."
"Shoukaku-nee over here was worried something happened to you." Zuikaku chuckled.
"Z-Zuikaku!"
"Heh heh, sorry sis."
They heard a small sound get closer and louder. A girl with light Tangaroa hair and twin-tails slammed into Enterprise's back with great force, surprisingly, not knocking the older over.
"Hi E!"
"Nice to see you too." The carrier patted the girl's hair, whose head was rested on her right shoulder.
"Who's this?" Zuikaku asked.
"This is Essex."
The carrier whose name was called turned to face the Crane sisters.
"She's a part of the fleet we saved."
The greener-haired sister raised her guard slightly in mention of the younger carrier's name. "Nice to meet you, Essex. I'm Shoukaku and this is Zuikaku." said the white-haired Crane.
"Nice to meet you too, Shoukaku, Zuikaku."
Zuikaku looked at Essex's eyes, they didn't show signs of hatred so it might be a good sign. Enterprise turned to her. "Good job for holding out, Essex. I know it wasn't easy." she said as she patted her head.
Essex started to turn red but held herself back from saying anything.
"Also, thank you for protecting my sister."
"I-I didn't do that m-much. You saved us all as always."
"I appreciate you for protecting her. Although, I thought you had a twelve-hour repair time?"
"Eh?"
Completed: January 14, 2021
A/N: If anyone wanted to know, "Kyouki" is the name of an original story I'm writing.