The commander had started walking with his new secretary in tow whose name he didn't know.
"Let's go..." He trailed off.
"Yes. I am called Atago, Shikikan. Second ship of the Takao-class heavy cruisers."
"Who is the first? Are you the last of them?"
As they were walking and talking, a bombastic and loud voice called out in passing, "Hey, Shikikan!", and got a wave from the man in return.
"My younger sister, Takao. Yes, there are only two Takao-class heavy cruisers."
He raised an eyebrow and glanced at her as they were starting to walk by the sea.
"Despite being the older one, she's the younger sister and you're the older one? How does that work?"
Atago smiled and said, "I think that's a story best suited to another day, commander." When we know each other better was left unspoken but understood all the same.
The commander returned a polite smile.
"Alright. I'll be in your care." He shook her hand.
"Likewise." She looked pleased. Her smile seemed to radiate, which made for a beautiful sight with therising sun in the background. He idly wondered how much of the beauty came from the sun and how much came from her smile, and promptly banished the thought.
He was going to live up to the expectations placed on him from the higher-ups; from the world.
He could never afford to be like his friend who had betrayed their expectations for his own convenience and preferences. He wasn't that type of person, although he sometimes wished he were.
But this didn't seem to be one of those times. So far, he had been nothing but welcomed, warmly.
It looked like this wouldn't be such a difficult assignment, although he would've indeed preferred risking his life somewhere else.
The man idly wondered as they strolled around the base.
He wondered about the new naval base he has been employed in which he might as well get used to calling home from now on.
A sigh of longing was given for the beautiful place that seemed to be begging him to call it his home. But it was too distant, too foreign - too new - for him to call it his home.
Homes meant attachment and attachment meant memories. He wasn't sure how many good ones he had. Just memories.
Much time would have to pass before he would be able to call this place his home.
The new commander wasn't like the old one, indeed. He seemed quite amiable, having freely and voluntarily given the time and attention to at least greet her and introduce himself personally, although he had already done so publicly just now, too.
She cheered a little bit mentally when he did that. Hooray for getting along, she cheered in her head.
It was a courtesy. A sign of care. Atago appreciated those. She gave them herself, after all.
He even continued being polite as they kept on strolling around the base. She hadn't known where they were going or what he was doing at first, but it became obvious soon enough.
They had reached a plaza of sorts, with several buildings surrounding a circular-shaped park divided horizontally and vertically at its centers like a pie sliced in four. At the center there was a fountain with a golden anchor on it.
He approached and eyed it up and down. Though unprompted, Atago began explaining.
"This is the Medallion Fountain, where all our medals are stored for display."
"Is that so. I see. Where are the medals though?"
"Here."
Atago beckoned him to the other side of the fountain, revealing a control panel at the edge of the fountain, opposite where he was looking just before, which was why he wasn't able to see it.
It was in a rectangular shape, about as wide as one would expect two fully grown human torsos to be if put next to each other.
"We use this interface to select which medals are on display and which aren't."
She walked over and used the panel to demonstrate. She could feel the commander's gaze over her shoulder.
A tap lit up the screen to reveal rows and rows of medallions not just limited to bronze, silver, and gold, but also platinum, copper, and other metals that shone with different hues, and categorized into tabs at the left side of the screen.
She tapped a gold medal and a dialogue box appeared which said "Miss Azur Lane20XX" with options to show or open the said medal.
Atago could feel the commander's confusion from behind her and clarified.
"Anyone can open and show whichever medals they want, but it takes a password that only the Commander knows to actually place and remove them."
"What's the password?"
"You don't know?"
"No."
She turned her face away from him to hide her snicker, though his eyes seemed to follow it all the more. He could only see her cheek from that angle though.
Not telling his successor the password was very becoming of the ex-commander.
The now commander seemed to know when to let things go, which was another point in his favor.
He stopped burning his eyes on her cheek, sighed, and scratched his head.
His body posture communicated annoyance by the way his feet shifted.
It was the first sign he'd shown of being anything but graceful. Atago grinned at the thought.
But it was quickly swept under the proverbial rug. His body posture normalized, he nodded at her, and she tapped the option to show the medal.
Said medal emerged from beneath the fountain on a pedestal, covered from the water by a glass box.
It was a novel way to present the medal, which glimmered from within the glass, resting softly on a velvet mat.
The Admiral made a small sound of admiration. Something like hoo, or haa. This also made Atago smile.
"Will that be all, Commander?"
He nodded.
"Yes. Let's go see the other buildings, then."
He turned to the direction of the sea and pointed at a humble, cottage-like building which had a roof facing towards them and a counter in the wall, like a hotdog stand.
It was by the beach.
"What's that?"
"That's the shop. It's manned by Akashi."
The tiny form snoozing off behind the counter raised her head, revealing green hair, ahoge, and cat ears.
She had a cat on her lap that was still snoozing off.
"So that's Akashi, huh."
Then she waved at them, and Atago waved back as they started walking towards her.
"Good morning, Akashi."
"Good morning, Atago." They nodded at each other.
Then Akashi turned her head and squinted her eyes to regard the newcomer.
"You're the new Commander. Welcome, Shikikan."
"Thanks for having me."
They stared at each other wordlessly for a few seconds, looking calm but not knowing what to say.
"What kinds of things do you sell?" Atago broke the ice.
"Hm? Don't you know that already?"
"No, for the Commander."
"Ah, right."
She nodded rapidly.
"Well, we sell all sorts of goods and wares, Commander. Gems, equipment, alternative outfits for any shipgirl that they'll be obliged to wear according to your orders, you name it."
"Ah, is that so. Thank you."
The commander nodded back, rapidly.
Akashi made a puzzled look but didn't pry any further.
That was to make you relate to me. Please have some more self-awareness.
"Well, then, we'll be continuing our tour. Thanks again." The Commander turned and started walking away.
"Yes. Goodbye."
"Byebye."
The pair faced back towards the fountain from Akashi's shop, which was nearest to the shoreline. Then they started exploring the plaza from left to right, in a clockwise order.
"What's that?" Pointed the Admiral to a large, metal building with a curved blue roof that had small birds eating on it.
"That's the cafeteria."
"I see. Why does it have birds on it?"
"Because birds go to high places."
Shikikan glanced beside him to Atago who noticed his eyes and nodded at him.
"Yeah," she said as if to confirm what she just said.
"That makes sense. Okay."
"Have you never seen birds before?"
"No, I just thought there'd be a more special reason for it."
"Hm? Like what?"
"Like maybe they'd be attracted to whatever was inside."
"Ah. Okay. Maybe they're also there so they can eat at the same building we do?"
"Is that so?"
"Yes, I suppose so."
Under Atago's resolute stare, Shikikan pointed to the next building to his right.
"What's that?"
It looked like a garage with a giant satellite on it, and it had the word CAT on a board attached to the roof.
"That's the Cat Lodge."
"What's it used for?"
"For cats."
"Why is it used for cats?"
Atago tilted her head.
"Because we have cats that need a Cat Lodge."
It was Shikikan's turn to tilt his head, albeit he did so way less than Atago, absently thinking that it'd look strange for a grown man to tilt his head as much as she did.
"Can't the cats stay in your homes?"
Atago shook her head. "They're battle cats. They're trained to help us in our naval battles."
"Ah. So they go to battle with you?"
A strange image appeared in the commander's head, of several cats galloping on water like horses that galloped on sea - maybe sea horses - with several warships at their back.
Atago knitted her eyebrows together, saw Shikikan's pensive expression, and giggled into her cuffed fist.
"Commander, we don't actually bring them to fight with us, you know."
"A-Ah, is that so?"
I had already thought that I was misunderstanding something though. Don't look at me like I'm an idiot.
She looked at him as if he were an idiot, with a grin on her face.
Sadly, he couldn't let his irritation show, nor could he defend himself, or else he might have risked looking defensive and even offensive.
"Yes. I don't think that would even be humane. Of all the animals to fight in battle, why would we train cats? We could have lions, or bears, or giraffes."
She listed them on her hand, but something struck the commander's attention.
"Why giraffes?"
Atago's lips curved even more.
"I think their height might make them good sniping perches if they're trained well, or..."
He waited patiently for her to get the words out.
"What was it called? The thing old ships use for lookout?"
"Crow's nests?"
"Yeah, yeah! Crow's nests! Thank you!"
"They might shake a lot though, especially on a ship."
"That's why I said 'I think'."
Now the Commander nodded.
"That makes sense. You're right."
Atago beamed a little bit at the praise.
"Anyway, what were we talking about… Ah, yes. If you don't bring them to battles-"
Atago's lips curved at the idea.
"-how do they help?"
"The cats help by moral support."
So she says as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Ah, yes. Why didn't I think of that?
"Moral support?"
"Moral support." She nodded sagely.
The Commander was massaging his forehead in his mind's eye.
"Is that a fact? Are you sure they actually, concretely help? Significantly?"
If Atago was affronted at the idea she was wrong, she didn't show it.
"Yes. In fact, if you look inside, we even have the statistics to back it up."
"The statistics?"
"Yes, Commander, the statistics."
She knitted her eyebrows as if a little irritated. The commander felt a bit guilty.
But he didn't apologize. He felt that'd make things too awkward.
It was okay because she'd probably be back to normal by the time she said another word.
In the meantime, they made their way to the building.
"I'd like to see these statistics for myself, Atago."
"Then come and see them."
Her face was turned away, but the commander could see her cheeks puffed.
"Okay. I will."
When they entered through the huge, attic-like wooden doors to the Cat Lodge, the commander wasn't surprised to see it overrun with cats.
There were also many shipgirls who were playing with them.
A small one with bunny ears sleeping with them stood out.
Some seemed too absorb in the cats to notice that their new commander had entered the building, and some waved at the pair who had just entered the room.
Looks more like a cat cafe than whatever military facility this is supposed to be. He sighed in his mind.
Then he scanned the room and saw some papers neatly stacked on a table. He was surprised to see them filled with numbers and tables in an office-like fashion unfitting for its environment.
It was even printed in Times New Roman.
"Please go ahead and read them."
"Yes."
Upon reading, the papers were filled with text that seemed to detail the specification of each cat.
At the top they had the term Meowfficer: followed by the name of the cat, then the skill, rank, and stat bonuses, which were in percentage format.
Meowfficer? Really?
He put the papers down with a sigh.
Atago was subtle about what she was feeling, but her closed eyes and content smile drove the feeling of smug into the Shikikan's mind.
"Alright, thanks for accompanying me here."
"Ah. No problem."
Her smile widened just a bit more.
The Commander almost felt like smiling himself.
One could say what they wanted to, but Atago was a graceful and refined woman. She wouldn't gloat, and she could hide her emotions well.
The fact that her ears perked up or fluffed down depending on her mood had nothing to do with that.
The commander was also quite good at hiding what he was feeling.
But she was formidable in the art of reading people, courtesy of having three younger siblings.
So she didn't miss the way his eyes widened marginally, or how his lips dropped imperceptibly.
Nor did she miss how his eyes narrowed while he was handling the papers; he was probably trying to scan for something to disprove her even when she was all but proven.
But the truth always comes out, and he ended up thanking her for her time, guidance, and consideration.
That'd show him to doubt me, Atago definitely didn't think since that would be a gloating thought.
Not that she minded giving any of those, not at all.
Even if it weren't her siblings, if there were someone who needed her help, she wouldn't turn them down.
She was a cool and reliable big sister-type woman.
And he was able to humble himself and accept her guidance like a good boy.
He wasn't a bad person in general as far as she could see so far.
Approachable, patient, with a soft but strong demeanor; she was quite impressed with his quality of character.
And he's definitely a step up from the previous one.
Atago winced at how harsh that thought sounded and apologized to the previous commander in his heart. She didn't hate him, but she didn't particularly like him either, and she felt that many other shipgirls felt more… strongly towards him than she did.
Not that it makes it okay to hate him when he hadn't done anything wrong to her particularly, of course.
Point in case, the new commander was impressive, and the future was looking up for them.
After exploring the cat lodge or cat cafe as some girls had taken to calling it, she continued the tour of the base grounds at his calling.
The next building was opposite Akashi's shop, facing to the plaza and thereby to the sea.
"What's this? It looks like a school."
It does, she supposed.
Or maybe a mansion. It was three stories tall and made of scarlet bricks, including the roof floor which was a darker red brick, with three stories of windows to match.
The many windows gave the impression of having many rooms, which in turn gave the impression of being a school or a mansion.
On another level, the many windows gave the impression that there wouldn't be a single defensible position within the building, which made her feel uneasy.
Anyway, back to the present.
"Yes. That's because it is, Commander."
"Ah, is that so. I suppose you could do with a few extra classes."
Atago gave him a funny look.
"What's that supposed to mean," she scraped out in her sweet, graceful voice, wearing a sweet and graceful smile.
The commander, probably having realized the implication, raised his eyebrows but shook his head and laughed.
"I wasn't implying anything. Anyone could do with some more learning, not you in particular. Sorry if it made it seem that way."
Now she felt a bit guilty at seemingly having escalated the situation.
"Ah. I'm sorry as well." She felt that the floor was very interesting so she stared at it as she said her piece.
The Commander laughed a bit more and said that it was okay.
Atago idly noted that nobody else in the fleet or anyone she had met for that matter would literally laugh things off.
Her ears twitched.
Indeed, there was something about that laugh.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on details, but the time to give the Shikikan a tour.
Atago feigned coughing into her fists to try to dispel the awkward silence.
"Anyway, you could call this a school, but it's really called the Lecture Hall. It's used to hold lectures to help the girls learn and process their experiences more efficiently, allowing them to grow stronger."
"Ah, I see."
He held his waist and looked up at the lecture hall.
Then his eyebrows raised a bit as he excused himself and inched back from the building.
She followed him and then followed his eyes which turned out to be looking through a window.
Souryuu was lecturing a class of destroyers and Hiryuu.
"That's Souryuu. She's usually the one who holds the lectures."
He nodded.
"The bunny girl with white hair is Hiryuu. She usually joins Souryuu's lectures because she's a delinquent."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Not exactly.
Atago's lips curved into a smile half made of playful malice and half made of pleasure.
She leaned a little bit closer and hushed her voice enough to make them seem like they were casually talking but not enough to make them heard.
"Although if you ask me, I think she's just making a show of being a delinquent so she can join the lectures and get to spend more time with her sister."
Atago loved how cute her navy-mates could be at times.
She giggled.
The commander's lips curved.
"Hm. Is that so?"
"Yes, yes."
"Why? Can they not just say they want to spend time with each other outright?"
"They could, but it's embarrassing. So they go through extra steps to hide it. That's what I think, anyway."
"Is that so? Interesting, interesting."
The commander looked down and scratched his head a bit.
"Shall we continue?"
"Yes."
Antics of cute navy ship girls aside, it was time to continue their tour through the base.
"What's that?"
Ah, right. The tour.
He was pointing to a light blue building with a darker blue roof.
The fact that the roof was a darker shade of the building was something it had in common with the lecture hall just next to it.
As for shape, it curved out of the plaza like a circle's edges and was filled with arches, like the Greek Parthenon.
"That's the tactical hall. For tactical training."
The tactical hall was a mostly open building held together by many, many pillars, which allowed for lots of flexibility in terms of tactical scenario building.
It was about as long and wide as a large basketball court.
One could stimulate having to hide behind cover, having to shoot from a relatively long distance, etc.
Alternatively, the space could be used for ships to read books; mainly tactical manuals.
That was the intended purpose, but many of the girls would come and read other books, like fiction novels in the place because of the open atmosphere and the company of their fellows.
The commander seemed to be scratching his head at that particular detail, for the building had a few shipgirls scattered about, reading.
"Why are there so many people reading here?"
"Because they enjoy the atmosphere and the company of their fellows."
Shikikan scratched his head awkwardly.
"But wouldn't a library be better for that?"
Hm.
She had never stopped to consider that point.
The commander was still looking at her, expectantly.
"Eh, we have one, don't we?"
"Do you?"
His lips didn't curve, but they looked like they wanted to.
She supposed that was just appropriate considering she was supposed to be the tour guide.
She scratched her head..
"Yeah, sorry about that. How silly of me." Her face and ears faced the ground.
"Um… If it's a library, we do have a lot of spaces that can substitute for that."
He nodded to show that he was listening.
"For example, the lecture hall has lots of rooms that can be used for anything, including reading."
Then he knitted his brows together.
"But that's not a library."
She scratched her head awkwardly.
"Well, yeah, but it could do instead of one. In the first place, why would there be a library in a military base?"
He nodded in comprehension.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry, I forgot about that."
He once again knitted his eyebrows together and looked pensive, like he was thinking of saying something but thought better of it. He just had to cup his chin to complete the thinking look.
Atago didn't know what he could've been thinking about.
"Well, shall we continue?" She chimed in when the commander didn't seem to be taking the initiative to do so.
"Alright. Let's go."
The second-to-last building in the plaza area was directly right from the fountain if you faced it from the shoreline.
Like the lecture hall, it was three stories tall. It also had a warm, brown shade to it that reminded Atago of the earth.
It was mostly cubical and had a flat, grey roof.
More notable than that, though, was the fact that it was littered with huge boxes that each looked about as tall as one of the floors in the building.
"This is the Munitions building," Atago gestured towards it for the commander beside her.
"For Ammunition," she expounded when he didn't answer at first.
"Ah, is that so. Thanks."
He seemed to be studying the boxes, so she should explain them first.
"The boxes contain gear for the shipgirls to equip in battle. The quality of the gear is represented by a number, from tiers one to five."
He turned to her and made eye contact to show that he was listening. She noticed that his eyes were hazel, and were starting to seem a little tired by the way his eyelids were imperceptibly lower than before.
She turned and started pointing to the different boxes.
"Then they're colored respectively to their number. Tier one is colored pink, two is blue, three is purple, four is orange, and five is red. That is all."
She turned to him.
"I would tell you to try to consider the stats of each piece of gear and try to gauge their compatibility with each ship girl, but there's really no need to be so precise."
Atago scratched her cheek and turned to her left, as if looking for what she was about to say.
"It's generally just a matter of putting better gear on us." Eye contact back to him.
"Well, many of us don't feel that we need better gear to boost us anyway since we're not usually commissioned for anything difficult."
Shikikan, who was listening, nodded.
"Thanks for so much information, and noted."
She let herself smile a bit.
It always feels good to teach people new things.
The commander looked away.
Then he looked to his immediate surroundings.
It was sunset, so the base was painted in exotic colors of orange and red while many shipgirls passed by them. Some even greeted him, since it didn't look like he was doing anything at the moment.
In general, the base almost always had members of the navy lollygagging. The amount of people outside just happened to be increasing around now, since the sun was no longer out to torch them if they went outside.
Finally, he pointed to the last building in the tour; the last building immediately near the plaza.
It was a large building, wider than any other building in the vicinity.
If the tactical class was as wide as a basketball court, this building was as wide as 1.5 basketball courts.
Its length was nothing to scoff at either; about half as long as it was wide.
The height was four stories tall, each story being about eight feet tall.
It had outdoor rings around each floor, and stairs to go up to or down from them without having to enter any of the floors.
Here and now, with the sun shining behind it, painted with sunset scarlet and orange, its homey doors and simple demeanor impressed upon Atago the idea of "Home".
She didn't realize when her eyes narrowed in love or when her mouth curved into delight.
"Those are the shipgirl dorms. Big enough to house all of us."
"All of you sleep in one building?"
"Yes. Usually, the different factions sleep at different floors, but sleepovers or people bringing over their friends to their floor isn't unheard of."
"Is that so. Sounds nice."
From her peripheral vision, she could see that the commander was also smiling at the big building.
"The view here is beautiful, isn't it."
"Yes," she said, as the setting sun dipped in the horizon and the sea looked more like a giant mirror than a body of water.
There was no home away from home.
That made it all the sweeter when there was someone to cherish it with you.
This was another example of why she couldn't really imagine this commander turning out to be a flop like the last one.
As long as he could appreciate the family they had here, he would be an excellent commander.
But in the meantime, it was her job to guide him to that point. He didn't really seem like he needed much guidance, though.
Suddenly, a head of dark-brown hair with ears like hers approached them, white-haired sister in tow. Atago thought to warn the newbie commander.
He seemed very at peace, looking into the horizon with a poker face. Just a nudge would do.
Then he nodded at her, no doubt having noticed the two incoming aircraft carriers herself.
"Hello, Atago!" She greeted her, bright and cheerful, with a smile so strong that her eyes were clamped shut.
Akagi was often bright and cheerful, but only when she wanted to be.
So as expected, she turned her head to the commander like a wrench slowly turning a screw and gave him a look.
Her eyes were about half-lidded, and despite being shorter than him she exuded an aura of looking down her nose at him.
"You must be the new commander, right?"
"Yes." He smiled at her.
If the Shikikan was intimidated or even surprised by Akagi's sudden vibe, he didn't show it.
"And you are?"
A good reply. Not too assertive but not submissive, with language casual enough to show off a bit of authority befitting of the highest ranked officer in the vicinity.
Then he smiled and extended his hand, much like he had done towards herself a few hours ago.
Akagi looked at the extended hand like a fish debating whether or not to catch the worm that was suspiciously attached to a metal hook that came from above the sea level - above anything she knew. She studied his face and his hand.
She dubiously took it and shook it.
"Akagi of the glorious 1st Carrier Division, the fleet known to have no equal."
The commander's smile seemed to turn a little strained. That was okay. That was a completely normal reaction to a scary line coming from a scary woman.
On the flipside, it would've been a bit more concerning had he had no reaction, and it would've been greatly troubling if he had a hostile reaction to her.
He withdrew his hand and scratched his head in a nervous gesture.
"Is that so. Sounds scary."
Akagi blinked at him, then defaulted back to her default expression of a wide, toothy grin.
"Oh dear, what am I doing? I shouldn't hold you two. Please take care of our dear Atago over here. We will likewise be in your care."
"Yes..." He gave a dry laugh as the two foxes turned tail(s) and left them be.
Kaga hadn't spoken at all during the affair. She probably wanted to know what the new Shikikan was like, as well.
She hoped that she had found him to their liking. They were going to have to get used to him, after all.
Please get along.
With that vein of thought, Atago tucked a loose strand of hair, turned her eyes to the man and said, "Hey, are you okay? You looked a bit nervous there."
And Shikikan, being the man he was, smiled, waved his hand, and gave a small laugh. "Yes, it's fine. Thanks for the concern."
That was good. Probably because it was reassuring - probably because he seemed so easy to get along with, so she'd be troubled if he was feeling troubled.
So she beamed at him and said, "You're welcome!"
They were going to have to get used to him, but that didn't seem like such a problem.
She extended her hand to the commander for another handshake, making sure to smile so as to appear welcoming.
He took her hand and shook it.
Then, to signify that she was now giving him more approval than she was giving him a few hours ago, she took his hand in hers, put it to her chest, met his eyes, and said:
"Please take care of us!"
"Uh, yes. Likewise."
