AN: Hey all, it's me again. Just making a short little announcement here by saying I don't own anything. Also, looking at the idol stuff coming up next year is making me scream internally. Also, this chapter was meant to be longer but sickness and lack of creativity with this has made me cut it short.


Another day, another day of keeping on top of paperwork but at a more efficient rate. Said efficiency was enhanced with the Admiral having multiple shipgirls handling the paperwork. He really needed to thank High Command for the upgrade that allowed him such a luxury. His stress levels had reduced significantly in the past week and his sleep schedule working in his favor. However, all these gifts came with a curse; more free time for the various shipgirls to take from him.

Currently, he was laying on his newly installed sofa while enjoying a little music. The paperwork was mostly complete so a break was in order or a headache would happen. Sighing in content, Shikikan closed his eyes to drift into sleep.

"Ufufu, resting on the job without Akagi to snuggle you?~"

The Admiral didn't respond but he really wanted to give a groan of annoyance. Then again, what could he do to the kitsune that wouldn't leave his side no matter how nicely or how direct he told her not to. She was one very persistent shipgirl and he just couldn't figure out why it always had to be him. Not even when he planned the Battle of Midway with Martin to destroy her, Kaga, Hiryu and Souryu. Akagi had this strange obsession for him, and only him,.

With his eyes closed, he didn't spot where Akagi was until he felt his head lifted up before resting on something soft. No doubt it had to be her lap that was mostly covered up with her red skirt and dark stockings. Yet, something felt different about the touch, like she was wearing something different today. The Admiral almost opened his eyes but he was afraid that he would just get an eyeful of her breasts.

"Admiral!" the door suddenly slammed open with the voice of a very panicked Souryu; must be the Sakura Empire's turn to handle secretary work, "We're broke."

The officer almost had a blood vessel pop at those news. Dammit! He swore that he upgraded the marketplace so they would have a much easier time making money. How did they run out so quickly within a week of getting their renovated base.

Oh wait…

"High Command isn't going to pay for it?" he asked in a calm tone, reigning in his frustration before it got loose

"Not exactly. They paid for your office only but the rest is on the base to pay off," the lesser Sakura carrier answered as she ruffled through some paperwork, "We are short thirty thousand to pay off the construction."

This got Shikikan to open his eyes and rise off of Akagi's lap, much to her dismay, before rubbing his temples, "So we're in debt now?"

Souryu was silent, but she nodded, "Yes sir, but there is a solution."

Oh thank the lord Souryu had a plan, "Lay it on me."

He felt Akagi's hands on his shoulders before she began to knead her knuckles into his shoulder blades slowly. The feeling already relaxing the tense area and making the officer lose some of his stress right then and there. If there was one thing he couldn't deny Akagi, she knew how to calm him down if he lost a screw. A rare occasion but once he lost it, he really lost it.

Souryu was silent the entire time, adjusting her glasses until she spoke, "From my research, the mainlands have a large market for music. One particular type could easily make us the funds necessary for the payment and allow us to store savings for emergencies."

"That type of music being?" Shikikan raised a brow

"Idols...The market for idols is quite large…"

There was a stunned silence following that declaration with the Admiral staring at the floor. Souryu looked to Akagi to see if she said something wrong or the stress was getting to their officer. The kitsune was too busy having her way to really give a straight answer, smiling like a schoolgirl having kissed her crush.

"Not this shit again…" was all they heard from Shikikan


Shikikan was now standing in the middle of town overseeing the construction of the idol competition. He really didn't want to do this, but they needed the money very badly. Thank goodness the Manjus worked around the clock without complaints or demands for compensation. Those little chicks could build something in a day what would normally take a week. They maintained all the ships around the island and somehow kept things orderly.

Now came the fun part, organizing said idol competition and airing it for all the world to see. No doubt teenagers or their mothers would watch this in a heartbeat but apparently men liked this stuff too. Why? It was just a bunch of cute girls dressing up in s-...Oh wait.

The Admiral mentally facepalmed with how simple human beings were. No wonder the Sirens made a mockery of them until humanity finally had a pair of balls to take the fight. Of course, that meant making previously existing ships get a human form and personality which often led to the debate whether or not the shipgirls were human. If someone were to ask Shikikan, he could absolutely confirm the shipgirls were human and not some mechanoid looking human. It was still hard to take in for the average person.

Nevertheless, it was time to figure out how to set this competition up. Should the base have an all out battle between groups and decide on a winner at the end? Should they base it off the worldwide reception? If the Admiral needed the cash this badly, he would have to have the mob run this one. If that was the case, then he was basically piggybacking off of whatever happens.

"Herr Admiral~. I knew you wouldn't cheat on me~," he felt someone wrap their hands around his waist before hugging him tightly

Yep, it was Roon. He shouldn't be surprised that it was her considering he made that promise to her other day. The Admiral relaxed when he thought of that day, knowing what the cruiser was going through right now. At least she had him to help her through it all, that was a fact. The only problem was her chest was pressing up against his back, and that was not a very appropriate thing to see.

"Nice to see you again, Roon. Do you mind?" Shikikan said with as polite of a tone as he could

Thankfully that got Roon off of his back, literally. Turning towards her, he rose a brow when he noticed all her rigging was activated, "Uh...There aren't any enemies. You can deactivate your rigging now."

Roon only giggled before that signature yandere look appeared again, "Oh, there are plenty of enemies. Every girl is an enemy to my beloved…"

"Hold on, say what now?" the officer gave blank stare as the Ironblood shipgirl continued her ramble

"...If they dare lay a finger on you, I'll pulverize them with these 203MM cannons you assigned to me…"

"Okay...should I stop her now or continue to hear her ramble?" Shikikan wondered while continuing to observe

As Shikikan just watched with a blank look, Roon's face progressively got flushed with her acting like a schoolgirl but talking like a serial killer. Even her mechanized dragonesque cannon gave the girl a confused look. He then turned back to the Manjus working on the stage. Everything was going to plan so far until he noticed one thing.

One red haired problem who was hooking up all the musical equipment to test for herself. Her attire being heavily inspired by idol singers with a white shirt adorned with a black vest coupled with a red tie. She wore fingerless gloves and held a unique microphone in one of her hands. She wasn't as tall as the other light cruisers of her type, but she wasn't that short either.

"San Diego, what are you doing?"

The shipgirl turned around with a cheeky smile on her face while holding the microphone near her lips, "Don't you know? I'm numbah wan~"

She struck a pose in front of the Admiral which he reacted with a blank look. Roon had stopped her rambling to turn her cannons upon the cruiser with malicious intent. San Diego lost her bubbly expression and proceeded to hide behind a group of Manju who were equally as scared.

"Shall I rid of her, Herr Admiral?" Roon's dragonesque main gun was open with a round ready to fire upon his approval

Instead, he put a hand on her shoulder, forcing the Ironblood to disarm her shot, "We can't do that when I'm supposed to run an idol competition."

Roon gave a huff of annoyance while Sandy gave a sigh of relief, giving her thanks to Shikikan before Roon got a chance to try again. Looking at his plans, he needed to see how many shipgirls were going to participate. Especially if there was going to be groups, which is a given considering this genre of music, competing rather than individuals.

Shikikan took a deep breath, "I think I'm just going to leave the sign ups wide open for anyone. I doubt the global audience will have any problems with so many girls singing."

"Will you be charming us with your own voice~? Everyone heard about your little dance number during the storm," the Ironblood shipgirl questioned, twirling a lock of her hair with one of her fingers as she looked at the officer with an expectant smile

The man chuckled at such a stupid notion. Him singing? The last time that happened was when he barely got out of Azur Lane Naval Academy with a lot more happiness and a lot less stress. That singing was either meant to joke with his fellow graduates, many of whom he hadn't spoken in years, or pass the time as best he could. He wondered what they were up to, if they hadn't been killed in combat already. Then again, he did remember he joined his fellow admirals in some karaoke at a bar reserved for the navy.

No shipgirls, just a bunch of men sharing drinks and catching up. Shikikan really wanted to do one of those if he wasn't worrying about being broke.

"Not really in the mood to make an embarrassment out of myself,"

He proceeded back to the office when his stomach happened to grumble. Today was going to be long so might as well get some food down there before his body gave him some consequences.

Upon arriving at said office building, Shikikan found the place entirely deserted with paperwork completed. He breathed a nice breath of fresh air to know he didn't have paperwork to worry about. Just a dumb idol competition to raise the funds to pay High Command for their cheap manuever. He opened the door to his personal quarters with his 'dedicated' bodyguard rushing into the room right away.

"Do not worry, meine geliebte. I will make you something~," Roon insisted, walking to the Admiral's small kitchen to get an idea of what to make

He raised a brow at the insistence, not totally against the idea but a little wary of her intentions, "I can make myself something. I appreciate your generosity, Roon, but do you even know how to cook?"

His words seemed to have landed an armor-piercing round into the shipgirl's moral. Her excitement turned into sadness right away as she stared at a cabinet full of ingredients. Shikikan should have known that Roon was unable to cook due to her nature. She knew roughly how food was made but never actually cooked it herself. Stepping behind her, he rested one of his hands on her shoulder for comfort.

"I'm sure Belfast wouldn't mind teaching you but I think I can give you a crash course,"

Roon's eyes sparkled at the idea before the Admiral began his little lesson. What should have been no more than a half hour of preparation turned into hours of explanation and demonstration. At times, he had to physically demonstrate by grabbing her arms or her hands so she could get the idea. Of course, Roon ended up blushing madly with a lovestruck look on her face or an embarrassed look. Thankfully, they at least made themselves a steak lunch/dinner that wasn't horrible, but it wasn't the greatest.

"Herr Admiral?" Roon looked up from her plate of food to find the officer taking his time with his meal

"Hm?" he looked up with a peaked interest

Roon's face grew rosy in color while looking away shyly, "Thank you,"

"Anytime," Shikikan smiled before resuming their lunch


It was nighttime when the Admiral found himself back to a completed musical stage with all sorts of equipment meant for a performance. He had dressed into his new uniform for his rank, finding it much more appealing to wear than his previous one. Roon had a few errands to run but she would join him later on. Hopefully her 'errands' weren't terrifying the rest of the shipgirls into submission so she could have him to herself. The only shipgirls that would brush off her intimidation were some of the battleships.

He then noticed a wide assortment of cameras facing the stage connected to a series of computers with Long Island manning them. Of course she would be the one shipgirl to handle all the technology, thanks to her being an introvert gamer. At one point, Shikikan swore she hung out with Ayanami at one point but it was out of the blue. At least she wouldn't be bothered by the large crowd of shipgirls that were coming.

"Everything going well?" he asked Long Island as he took a seat to watch the US Light Carrier work her magic

She didn't respond, typing away at the keyboard for several minutes before pressing the enter key. All the cameras had a red light glow to signal their readiness to record the entire event, "Just making sure it's all good."

A few more keys pressed made the stage light up brightly while the surrounding area darkened. It looked like something straight out of the TV had been built onto their little island. The Admiral really hoped they could break even with this or make extra for future endeavors. The computer screen was showing multiple windows of multiple angles from the cameras' point of view. Long Island even went as far as to set up a live stream of sorts, which the Admiral knew very little about how to work it.

"Now it's all good," Long Island said with a small smile on her face

"Thanks for the help, Long Island. I really owe you for helping me out with all this. High Command never taught me how to work with all this new technology," the Admiral admitted, feeling like an old man despite his age in the mid-twenties

"You can repay that by letting me have the week off," the short light carrier replied instantly

Shikikan just nodded when he noticed a large amount of the shipgirls began to converge on their position. Some looked to be a part of the idol competition while the others were dressed normally and took their seats. Thank goodness he didn't have to do the announcing or put up a score for each individual act. All he had to do was just observe and pray that the global audience would donate enough money to break even.

His attention was taken away when he saw a brief amount of smoke cover up the stage. He could make out a single silhouette within the smoke as it flowed towards the audience. Some of the shipgirls covered themselves when they felt the smoke have a cold touch. The smoke began to dissipate when the sounds of metal clanging were heard with a violin playing something low. To be honest, the clangs of the metal sound like a ship was being constructed based off the sound. Then the sounds of humming were heard, one female voice but accompanied by the sounds around it.

"Cold, the air and water flowing. Hard, the land we call our home. Push, to keep the dark from coming. Feel the weight of what we owe~"

The voice was beautiful in its own right and with the smoke dispersing, the audience got to see that it was Avrora. The only Russian based ship to ever come to the base. Her accent wasn't as noticeable as she sang. She had picked a good way to enter considering where she hailed from. Russia's tundras and freezing winters were not very likable to the average foreigner.

"This, the song of sons and daughters. Hide, the heart of who we are. Making peace to build our future, strong united, working till we fall~"

The Admiral wasn't well versed in Avrora's homeland, but he heard reports that they had a bloody civil war at one point that brought the nation to chaos. Revolutionaries had won out and their new form of government didn't seem much better than their first. Avrora's song seemed to perfectly give an image of what her people go through on a daily basis. Every day just working endlessly for no benefit for themselves but to hopefully build a life for their future generations.

"And we all lift, and we're all adrift. Together, together. Through the cold mist, 'til we're lifeless. Together, together~"

The music played for a few more seconds before fading out slowly with just the clanging metal being heard in the background. Shikikan looked towards the monitor to see that there were a lot of people watching the performance all over the world but money was hardly acquired. The audience gave a cheer, clapping for their sister in arms as she made her way off stage for the next performer.

Not surprisingly, a very excited San Diego jumped on stage with her signature wink. However, the music didn't play as there were suddenly more bodies heading up on stage. Those bodies being multiple copies of San Diego which left the Admiral flabbergasted

"Who let all those San Diegos join?!" he exclaimed in shock as the stage was filled with nothing but the red headed shipgirl

Long Island gave him a blank stare which only made the Admiral facepalm with how stupid he made the rules. He should have converted all those San Diegos into scrap or enhancing the other girls instead of letting them sit around doing nothing. Wait...there was a better idea.

Anyway, the horde of San Diegos performed their signature song where all the lights were flashing every single color imaginable. At one point, Shikikan felt like he went blind after he got struck by several of the lights and the chat seemed to go wild.

"It appears we just raised half our amount," Long Island noted as she saw their donations instantly rose as the song progressed

"Wait? Really?!"

The light carrier gave a nod before all the San Diegos ran off stage leaving a stunned crowd in their wake. It wasn't everyday you saw such a mass of the same shipgirl somehow in existence. The curtain fell down to hide the next performer with the lights turning back to normal.

It went like this for the past hour with performer after performer. The notable ones had to be Lexington and Saratoga thanks to their prior experience in being idols. They no doubt were direct competition to San Diego since they all inspired to be stand alone idols after the war. Although, if the Admiral was honest, he couldn't deny that the little Sakura Destroyer girls were probably the best due to their cuteness factor disguising all their mistakes in their song. That, and a very happy Ark Royal brought her own recording device to capture the moment.

Taking a look at how they were doing with raising the funds, Long Island noticed they had at least hit their goal to break even with the renovation costs. Now, it would be a good thing to hit higher since the extra funds could go into better equipment or constructing new shipgirls. He didn't have all of them, just a good majority of the currently created girls that lived.

"So, who's next on the list?" Shikikan finally broke away from his thoughts before turning to Long Island

"Hm? Oh, just some group called Polaris. Quite catchy, reminds me of a exotic weapon in a looter shooter I play from time to ti-" Long Island answered before she began to begin talking an endless information dump

"What the hell is she even talking about?"

The curtain came up with five shipgirls on stage in a different attire that confused the Admiral at first. It took a moment for him to recognize the faces on stage which caused him to become even more confused. On stage was Hipper, Akagi, Cleveland, Sheffield, and the new girl Gascogne. When did they ever form a band? More importantly, why was Gascogne given a microphone considering her monotone voice that she displayed.

Their outfits were similar to each other yet were unique in their own right. Especially with Akagi being shameless about how her chest was pronounced in her outfit. Oddly, her tails seemed to form a secondary skirt that reached almost to her feet instead of being their normal form. It honestly made her look appealing.

"Pervert," Long Island whispered as the Admiral found himself blushing profusely and bleeding through his nose

"Wha-? No! I'm not!" he denied immediately, wiping the blood away with a tissue

Long Island turned back to the monitor with a smirk on her face as the music began. The sight of girls in their Muse attire apparently was making the globe go wild with the coins racking up quickly. It looked like the numbers were accelerating faster than the eye could see. Whatever they were doing, it was clearly working a lot better than expected.

He felt something vibrate in his pocket before he pulled out his military work phone out. He walked away from the area to answer due to the music being too loud for him to hear who was on the other line.

"This is the Admiral speaking," he said simply

He heard the gruff voice of Martin on the other end, but this time he sounded a bit concerned, "Admiral, good thing you answered. We have a complication."

"Such as?" Shikikan's brows raised with both curiosity and dread

"You know I told you that there was no way for you to impregnate those girls, right?" Martin's tone became more concerned as he spoke

"Yes? Why?"

"That may not be entirely true. We were running some tests again and we found the Wisdom Cubes seem to choose when such a thing would happen. Although, it doesn't quite work like natural biology."

"Martin, I swear to whatever the hell you're going to, you have to be kidding me!" the Admiral growled with the news greatly troubling him

"Hey, don't kill the messenger. It's hard to say whether or not there is a pattern to this type of stuff. Wisdom Cubes are quite random so you could possibly get a girl pregnant at some point or not. Don't take my word on it though. Look at it this way, you can be the father of a new generation of shipg-" Martin's concern turned to optimism to try and alleviate the bombshell he dropped

Sadly, Shikikan was sweating bricks at this point, "Martin! We're at war still! I rather not have to deal with kids in a warzone!"

A nervous chuckled followed, "Ok, relax. Just keep yourself from going to far and you'll be fine. I'll see what I can do to find a sure solution. You got the resources, I'm sure you can figure something out."

The Admiral was silent while his thoughts tried to think of something. Considering a few shipgirls would definitely want to get into his pants, he needed a way to prevent the horrible. Wait...Akashi always has a way of figuring this stuff out.

"Martin, I think I'll be fine. Next time, call me when you don't have bad news," the officer sighed in relief

"Good to hear, I'll give you word if I got good news. Keep yourself safe, Admiral."

The connection was severed with Shikikan putting the device into his pocket. Looking back at the performance going on, he watched as the shipgirls, both performers and viewers, were enjoying themselves. As much as he was terrified at the prospect of having a kid in a situation like this, he was a bit happy to see all these girls enjoying themselves. Now, time to visit a little green haired repair ship to figure out his dilemma before he made the same mistake.

Arriving back at his room around midnight, the Admiral was taking off his attire to change into more comfortable clothes. He hadn't put on his lights since he was too sleepy and he didn't want to go through bright lights all over again. Akashi, by God's grace, seemed to have the perfect item in case something ever got too steamy in the boiler room. She had a steep price, but it would be a worthwhile investment.

What was that item? A modified Wisdom Cube small enough to fit in the officer's pockets for carrying purposes. How Akashi knew to program and modify said cube? No one truly knows with that girl.

"Shikikan~"

His nerves tensed up while he was removing his shirt. His pants were off and neatly put away along with his shoes being stored in a box. He was just left with his boxers and his socks. Turning slowly to the voice that beckoned him in the pure darkness, he saw a glint of red light in the direction of his bed. Said glint was the eyes of Akagi no doubt.

"You didn't stay for my performance…" she purposely sounded disappointed yet seductive, her fiery magic lighting up the room, "...now you must face judgement."

Shikikan didn't even want to ask what sort of plans she had for him. That was, until he noticed several cameras were in the room recording everything.

"You don't care if the others watch, do you? Hehehe,~"


So yeah, that happened. Let's see how this comes back to bite the Admiral in the ass.

Next Chapter: Croissants vs Pasta, I really don't know which sort of carbs is even better