School?
The sun shone brightly on another clear day at the Naval base. A stark contrast to yesterday's grim weapon tests. Little Emile was still reeling from the massive stress of having to deal with both the weapon tests and Essex's report on the Suez situation. He had just received the photo but debated on sending it to High Command in fear of breaching his standby orders. He instead bet the hope that his handler, Kesselring, would give him some advice on what to do with the information. Afterall, he did just finish indulging with one of her latest indulgences, maybe she could throw him a bone. Emile packaged the photograph along with the test documents. He could only hope for a good word from her.
Emile let out a tired sigh in his empty office. Everyone was bust attending to their own matters for the day, even Taihou had things to do that didn't involve her Commander. Emile could only wonder what kind of perturbed things the phoenix was up to. Atago and Takao were sharpening their skills at the Sakura dojo. Queen Elizabeth said she had to take care of some royal duties but was probably preparing for another tea party. Emile's suspicious were confirmed when he saw Warspite hauling multiple boxes filled with teabags into the Royal dormitories earlier this morning. Emile let out a small laugh at the Royal Navy consistently reinforcing their stereotype. As humorous as that was, he still felt a little lonely today.
He sighed again before slumping in his seat before pulling out the last paper of the day. It was from the supply and logistics folder which is by far one of the largest piles of homework that needed to be done. A navy couldn't function if it didn't receive food, fuel, and ammunition. Well, in the case of kansen, that also included clothing, makeup, recreation, and school supplies. All very expensive but all worth it if it meant having a force of superhuman warships to battle an eldritch invader.
Emile glanced at the details of the paper as he hummed a little tune to entertain himself. He was a little excited at the prospect of finishing today's paperwork early that he almost rushed to scribble on the document. He noticed it was a receipt but then took a double take as he read the document again, this time thoroughly.
"Strategic order placed for ten thousand…lemons?" Emile repeated the words on the receipt. He wondered who word place an order for ten thousand lemons? On the same tab for the Naval Base's funds no less.
Emile rubbed his temples in minor frustration, "Where the hell is Maddy?"
Said sister in question was nowhere to be found at all today. Emile had searched all around the main building throughout the early morning but couldn't find a trace of that maniac. At least she didn't flake out on the paperwork seeing as Emile had already found a finish stack when he got back to his office. Emile wondered if she was the one who ordered the lemons? Also, how did she have the energy to finish her paperwork so early? He should probably look over them later. Right now he had to deal with the lemons.
Emile sighed one more time before writing his approval on the paper and placed it on the finished pile. It didn't matter anyway, it appeared someone on the base really wants those lemons. Whether for good or for ill, he couldn't disappoint whoever it was.
With work finished, the Commander got up from his chair and gave himself a few stretches. He needed to take a break from all the intrigue and excitement that had plague him the past couple of days. He adjusted his uniform as he thought about where he would spend the rest of his free time today. The base was filled with colorful personalities, he could probably find something interesting. All he had to do was pick a location.
Emile hummed in contemplation, wondering which place would give him a nice relaxing adventure.
"Hmmm, perhaps it's time for me to pay the base's academy a visit?" Emile decided for exiting the door with renewed energy.
Javelin was feeling very, very energetic today.
The Royal Navy destroyer skipped and bounced down the halls of her dormitory with gleeful energy. She was excited for another day at the academy which meant another day of spending time with her most treasured friends. Ever since Azur Lane had united again, Javelin made a quick move to befriend the former Crimson Axis destroyers, Z23 and Ayanami. Needless to say, it took some time for them to get along with their former enemies, but Javelin persisted. And her efforts were rewarded as the four destroyers from four nations became inseparable. They even gave a special nickname to Z23, or Nimi, as they felt calling her by a number felt a little cold. Javelin giggled as she remembered how red Nimi's face turned when they began to casually call her by her new name.
The purple haired destroyer rounded the corner and leaped through the doors leading out the dormitory. Her faced beamed as she witnessed the beauty of the Royal Navy courtyard. The gentle rays of sunlight illuminated the greenery, making the flowers bloom their beautiful colors. Javelin slowly strolled down the walkway while taking in the lush scenery. She interpreted such a blessed sight as a sign that today was going to be wonderful.
She made her way to the courtyard entrance of the academy, a magnificent fountain with a golden anchor at the center overlooking the greenery. Javelin put her hand to her forehead as she searched for her friends. Laffey was usually somewhere around and most likely passed out. Her eyes widened as she found her friend sleeping on a bench. However, her heart filled with excitement as she also spotted someone else trying to wake up the sleepy bunny.
"Commander!" Javelin called out as she ran towards Emile with her hands waving wildly in the air.
"Huh, Javelin?" Emile was suddenly tackled into a big hug by the destroyer. He struggled slightly as he found his head once again being buried between someone's breasts. He could hear Javelin giggling happily as she swung his smaller body around before finally letting go. Laffey continued to snore in the background.
Emile took a moment to adjust his cap before greeting the overly excited destroyer, "Good morning miss Javelin, glad to see you're in good mood."
"Hehee. I'm in an even better mood now that you're here." Javelin giggled, "I haven't seen you much since you arrived. Busy?"
Emile had to rub his head in agreement, "It's been an interesting couple of days." Emile's mind drifted to the various shenanigans from both the shipgirls and suspicious orders from his higher up.
"Yeah… it's been a busy. I decided to take a little break and inspect the campus," Emile explained to a sparkly eyed Javelin.
"Oh, I would love to show you around but ummm…" Javelin peaked at the time on the school's clock tower, "Yes, we still have time. Come on, I'll show you around."
"Woah!" Emile squeaked as Javelin took his hand as she rushed to give him a quick tour of the campus facilities. The destroyer was very excited to finally spend some time with her Commander and show him the place where many shipgirls receive their education. Plus, she wanted to know a little more about their unique Commander. She thought that he would be a little taller and less like an adorable little brother. She found him absolutely adorable, his attempts at maturity only making her fawn. Oh, she was getting excited again, she wanted to know so much about him that she didn't notice Emile trying to tell her something.
"Wait, what about your friend!" Javelin stopped in her tracks as Emile reminded her.
"Huh? My… oh no, Laffey!" Javelin zoomed past her Commander causing him to spin a bit. The destroyer ran up to her sleeping friend who had her head laid over the bench rest.
"Poko…poko…poko" Laffey muttered sleepily as Javelin poked her cheek.
"Come on Laffey the Commander is right here," Javelin tried to rouse her friend from her usual sleepy daze.
"Is she okay? Maybe she drank too much…" Emile chimed with concern as he spotted the usual bottle of oxy-cola that Laffey loved drinking, "…alcohol?"
Javelin waved her hands in denial, "Oh no it nothing like that Commander! Laffey is always a little like this." Javelin once again tried to wake up her friend, this time she decided to give the sleepy bunny a firm shake of the shoulders.
"Wake up Laffey!" Javelin shook her friend by the shoulders causing her head to flail widely. Emile couldn't help but chuckle at the hilarious scene. However, to the Royal destroyer's relief, her friend began to awaken.
Laffey rubbed her eyes before opening them to the sight of her best friend and cute Commander, "Good morning."
Javelin giggled, "Good morning to you too Laffey."
"It's wonderful to see you up. Morning Laffey," Emile greeted as well.
Laffey's eyes began to come too once she realized that her Commander was there. She slowly stood up and walked towards Emile before giving him a hug. Laffey's head slumped down over his startled shoulders. Javelin gasped in surprise and giddy at her friend's bold move.
"Again?!Oh… okay," Emile decided to acknowledge his subordinate and hugged her back. Javelin gave an awe at how well Laffey was already getting along with their Commander.
Emile managed to break the hug and wanted to get back on track. He turned to Javelin and asked, "So about that tour?"
Javelin perked up, "Right, right, the tour! Come Commander, let's go-" "This way… Commander…" Laffey suddenly took Emile's hand and lead in in the opposite direction of where Javelin wanted to go.
"Huh?! Wait Laffey, we have to go this way first!" Javelin called out to her friends who still happily continued to drag Emile around. The bunny picked up speed as she noticed her friend catching up with her.
Emile put on a small smile as he silently laughed at the small chase scene that he got himself involved in, "There goes my relaxation, Hehehe…heh"
"Wait Laffey!"
"-and this is our classroom," Javelin said to Emile as she held the door open for him and Laffey to enter.
A wave of nostalgia washed over the little Commander as he saw the layout of the classroom. It felt as though he just walked back into his old academy. The elevated wooden desks, the teacher's podium, the classic chalkboard, it was all familiar to the young admiral. Looks like he was back to school again. The only difference now were the students attending. Instead of fellow human cadets of various shapes, sizes, and backgrounds, here he saw destroyers of different shapes, colors, and backgrounds.
One of these said destroyers named Bailey immediately recognized him from his distinct uniform and called him out, "Hey is that the Commander?!"
"The Commander is here?" "Wow it really is him!" "Hey, Commander!" "Wow he's so small." "He's so cute, like a little brother." "What brings ya here?" "Got some tasty meat on ya?"
All at once, every destroyer in the room began to crowd around their Commander.
"Woah, hey now. Um…one at a time please," Emile pleaded to the crowd of destroyers that had beset upon him. The crowd's questions only intensify as they started to get a little bit handsy with their Commander out of curiosity. Emile was not feeling too comfortable about being swarmed by so many girls, again.
Javelin tried in vain to rescue her Commander but couldn't get past the outer perimeter of the crowd. Laffey dived headfirst into the swarm but was then spat back out. She took a sip of cola in defeat. Javelin prepared to dive in once again but then noticed a certain friend walk up to her.
"Ah, Hi Ayanami," Javelin greeted the Sakura destroyer with a bright smile.
"Good Morning Javelin, Laffey," Ayanami greeted back before looking towards the crowd, spotting a hand sticking up from the sea of destroyers, "I see that Commander came to pay us a visit."
"I was just giving him a little tour of our school," Javelin explained before panicking once again, "Oh no, we have to save him!"
"Don't worry, I'm on it," Ayanami assured her friend with a determined look on her face. Javelin smiled at her friend's commitment and cheered for her success.
Ayanami walked up to the crowd and took a deep breath, "Please let the Commander go."
…
Her plea fell on deaf ears as Emile was still consumed by the barrage of questions and comments coming from the crowd. The starter destroyer could hear the Commander yelp as Yuudachi gave his ear a little bite. Looks like they needed to act fast or else their Commander might be overwhelmed.
Ayanami huffed and put on her game face as she dove headfirst into the crowd but like Laffey she was spat back out. Laffey also made another rescue attempt but was met with the same result. Javelin made her attempt and managed to grab one of Emile's hands, but the crowd gradually made her grip slip. She tumbled backwards and was tossed with her back to the floor. She groaned in pain and defeat.
"Oh, it's no use. We're just going to have to wait for everyone to calm down," Javelin said in defeat.
Ayanami and Laffey were about to agree with their defeated friend when suddenly the classroom door opened. A loud voice rang from the doorframe.
"Order in the class, please!"
"Ah, Nimi!" Javelin exclaimed as her Ironblood friend entered the classroom with disappointed look on her face. Her presence caused the crowd of destroyers and Emile to look in Nimi's direction.
"Aww, and we were just getting to the good part," Vampire whined as she suggestively stroked Emile's chin with her finger. The Commander told her to cut it out as he wiggled his way out of the blood sucker's grasp.
"Thanks for the assistance Nimi," Emile thanked Z23 who blushed slightly at him using her nickname.
"It's no problem," Nimi assured him before raising her voice once again, "Now, Everyone Take Your Seats!"
With that the crowd dispersed, leaving a blinking Emile. He hummed in admiration of Z23's authority and control over the classroom. Maybe he would have achieved the same results if he didn't look like someone's lost kid in uniform. Oh well, no harm done. Emile walked over to the group of desks where Javelin, Laffey, and Ayanami sat. All of them were praising their Ironblood friend. Nimi tried to be humble about it but couldn't hide her small, prideful smile. Emile took this opportunity to find a seat close to the four. He felt a little safer around them.
"That was amazing, Nimi," Javelin praised, Laffey and Ayanami nodded their heads in agreement.
"It was nothing. I was just a little surprised that our Kommandant's presence would cause such a ruckus," Nimi said. She saw her Commander sitting on an empty chair behind them. He gave Nimi a thankful wave. She smiled before approaching him.
"I hope the class you're not offended by our class's behavior, Kommandant. They can get quite rowdy," said Nimi.
"Oh no offense taken. I'm just surprised I'm getting so much attention despite my… short stature," Emile wiggle nervously as he finished his sentence.
"That's because you're cute!" Javelin jumped into the conversation by squishing Emile's cheeks.
"Javelin please," Nimi whined to her friends who giggled cheekily.
"Sorry," Javelin responded and let her Commander's cheeks go.
Emile rubbed the soreness away before a wave of guilt washed over him. Here he was again, too weak to control he subordinates. He could've raised his voice to stop the crowd from swarming him, but he couldn't bear himself to do it. Plus, he was having a little panic attack from being mobbed by so many females. Maybe he should have stayed in his office and continued his administrative work.
"Are you alright Kommandant?" Nimi asked with concern as she noticed Emile's face turn gloomy. Her friends also took notice to this and made their concern known as well.
"Oh no, I'm fine. I'm just…just thinking about how I could have handled that situation better. I mean, you saw how helpless I was," Emile tried to explain himself, and tinge of guilt laced his words.
Nimi looked at both him and her friend Javelin who gave her a nod. Looks as though her Kommandant was doubting his abilities. While his social aspects were a little meek, she did notice the fruits of his administrative work. The base not falling apart, and fresh supplies were being ferried over at a consistent rate. She also respected how he didn't overstep into his subordinate's personal boundaries. Nimi was genuinely worried that their Commander was going to be a perverted brute. Luckily, she was proven wrong, Emile was as sweet as a pie. In fact, it looked like he needed to worry about his subordinates stepping into his boundaries as she had observed from miss Taihou's actions. Z23 wanted to admit it, his actions around the base were quite admirable and he never abused his authority to exploit any of the ships. So, it was perhaps time for him to know his presence was welcome.
"Don't doubt yourself so much Kommandant. The fact that you took the time out of your day to see the academy shows that you do care," Nimi assured Emile whose face began to brighten up just a bit, "If you continue to work hard then I'm sure you'll be able to stand on your own feet."
Z23 emphasized her confidence in her Commander by posing proudly. Javelin gave Emile's hair a playful ruffle to show her support. Laffey cheered her drink to the air while Ayanami gave him an encouraging thumbs up. Emile's smile finally came back to his face and he laughed at how silly he looked. How could he feel down when he had so many bright spirits surrounding him? He just needed to work on his social anxiety issues and then maybe he'll grow up to be strong and confident. Like his sister.
"Wow…umm thanks guys. All I wanted to do was see how your classes work," Emile said as he looked around the room. He quickly turned his head away with a blush as he saw Vampire flash her black panties at him. Nimi immediately went off.
"That is very inappropriate miss Vampire! You shouldn't perform such behavior in front of a superior officer!" Nimi ranted with a steaming, flustered expression. Everyone in the class laughed out loud at Vampire's antic and their Commander's cute reaction. Jeers and teasing comments erupted from the class.
"Aww, but Commander looked like he needed a bit of cheering up," Vampire teased as she lifted her dangerously short skirt once again.
Emile kept his eyes glued to the front of the classroom, ignoring Vampire's sweet temptations. Nimi marched towards Vampire to give her a stern lecturing. He laughed and shook his head. The whole thing taking him back to his experiences in the academy and even High School. Those were truly blessed times for him. However, he noticed the clock and realized that class was supposed to start about ten minutes ago.
He turned to ask Javelin, "Isn't one of the instructors supposed to come in right about now?"
"I don't know," Javelin shrugged in confusion as well, "I think Amazon was supposed to teach tactics today."
"Maybe she overslept…" Laffey gave her two cents.
"No, Amazon was assigned a commission by the Lieutenant yesterday. She shouldn't be…" Emile's eyes slowly widened in horror, "…oh no."
The whole class fell silent as the classroom doors slammed opened once again. A strange, metal guitar rift began to flood into the room. The whole class turned their entire attention to the unnatural darkness of the corridor. The guitar rift only seemed to intensify as they began to hear footsteps intermix within each rift. Every destroyer in the room shivered fearful anticipation. Vampire dropped her skirt, Gridley dropped her camera, Yuudachi and her fellow canines hid under the desks, Ayanami reached for her sword, Laffey dropped her drink, Javelin nervously sunk behind the desk, and a sweat drop fell from Z23's brow. Emile though, simply covered his face in embarrassment as he knew who and what was coming.
The music swelled further, further, and further. Further fueling the ever-growing tension in the room.
Then the chorus dropped.
"I am the storm that is Approaching."
With movements, footsteps and voice synced to the music, Maddy strolled into a stunned classroom.
"Provoking. Black Clouds in Isolation."
The Lieutenant flurried a chalkboard pointer in her hand before raising it up to the sky dramatically like a sword. Some destroyers snickered, some gasped, some cringe, most with very confused.
"I am reclaimer of my name."
Maddy brought down her pointer and struck a pose.
"Born in Flames."
Then another pose.
"I have been blessed."
And another before bring her head down.
"My family crest is a DEMON OF DEATH!" Maddy screamed the finality of the main chorus. Just like that the song sudden stopped as the Lieutenant found herself in front of the classroom. She smiled and waved to the class as if nothing happened.
"Nani?" Ayanami muttered, completely dumbfounded by what she had just witnessed.
"Greetings everyone. Amazon is out on commission today, so I'll be substituting." Maddy explained to the class. She looked around and found her brother peaking from between his arms. She gave him a wink.
With that Emile sunk deeply into the chair in embarrassment and regret. Nimi slowly walked to the desk next to her Kommandant and did the same. She had an even cloudier expression within her eyes as her mouth twisted into a frown. Javelin cried out in worry to both of them while Laffey just took a long, hard, swig of her drink.
Class was in session.
"Nyah~, what the hell is this?" Akashi mewled as she looked over her shipping receipts.
Several manjuu workers were operating a shipping crane behind their feline employer. The shipping dock was as lively as ever now thanks to the Commander's efforts. Now Akashi can make some new profits for the week. She just needed to check the official supply orders coming in. One of said orders confused the cat.
Suddenly, a crash resounded as they dropped their cargo. Akashi hissed in surprise before turning around to scold her workers. The little birds tweeted in apology before focusing back on their task. These crates full of lemons weren't going to move themselves.
"Who would order this many lemons? Nya" Akashi scratched her head before her ears perked up. She looked over the dock's ramparts and saw that something was in the water, bubbles were forming as if something was rising. Akashi backed away slowly, gingerly as the bubbles got more intense. She was about to make a break for a security button but then a figure broke the water's surface and pounced on the poor cat.
"Surprise!" Albacore screamed as her wet body collided with Akashi, pulling her to the ground.
"NYYaa-eecckkk" Akashi choked as Albacore's arm wrapped around her neck. The cat struggled further when the submarine drew her into a power hug.
"Didja get the lemons?" The submarine casually asked.