Author's Note: So, first off, I wanna apologize for being a poor author. I never intended to slow down to a monthly update, and that's been the case for the past two chapters. However, I'm going to try and step it up to, at the very least, a bi-weekly update. At the story's current pace, and how many ideas I've had for the story, it would take a few years to finish the story on a monthly update schedule. I want to avoid this at all costs. With that said, on a bi-weekly update schedule, it'd still take a long time for me to finish this story.
Secondly, I want to be able to communicate with you guys better so you aren't left wondering what's going on. As far as I'm aware, there's nothing on the fan fiction site that will allow me to make an announcement or anything to my followers, so I'll be opening a twitter account that you should feel free to follow along with my story. I'll include my twitter name at the bottom of every chapter, and a direct link will stay on my profile.
twitter: WixomFanFics - With this I'll post updates (chapter progress/what im doing) ask questions to you guys, and overall improve the amount of information you get pertaining to the story. Hopefully plenty of you use the reply button to give me your thoughts as well!
With that out of the way, please enjoy reading Chapter 8.
An alarm clock rang obnoxiously on the top of a dresser in the midst of a dark room. It was nearly pitch black, but a figure stirred on the floor slowly. Shigure rolled over to face the alarm clock with heavy eyes. She mustered her strength for a few moments, allowing the clock to barrage her ear drums. With a sigh, she heaved the sheets off of her, walked over to her dresser and turned the alarm clock off. She rubbed her eyes groggily, and took a moment to wake up. She stared into the dark reflection in the mirror over her dresser. Her eyes well adjusted to the darkness, she could see well enough to know she looked exactly how she felt - Tired.
There was knock on the door. Without giving her a chance to respond, Sendai walked into the room. She was already wearing a fresh uniform and was ready to go, even though it was two hours until they were supposed to leave. "Good morning, Shigure!" She said loudly.
She perked up the best she could. "Oh, good morning, Sendai." She said in a simple tone. Despite going to bed a few hours earlier in anticipation of the mission, she felt like she hadn't slept at all.
"Are you ready to go?" Sendai asked excitedly with a wide smile as she leaned through the open door.
Shigure opened the top dresser drawer. "I need to shower and such, but I'll be ready in time." She said as she started digging through the drawer, withdrawing fresh clothing.
"Here's a tip from the pro. Don't turn any lights on so you retain your night vision. It'll make it much easier to navigate at night." Sendai said with a small chuckle.
Shigure just looked at Sendai with her weary eyes, her arms clutching a bundle of clothing. She closed the dresser drawer. "Okay, I'll try it." She said calmly.
"I'm gonna go wake Maikaze up, see you soon!" Sendai said eagerly, closing the door behind her.
It was 0200 and Sendai was already parading through the building like it was the middle of the day. Shigure let out a yawn as she walked to her bathroom with her fresh clothes in hand. She habitually reached for the light switch, but stopped herself just as she was about to flick it. Even though her eyes were adequately adjusted to the dark, she couldn't see very well. She managed to find a place to set her clothes, open the shower curtain and turn the water on. She was mostly feeling her way about, with little assistance from her eyes, but she was managing to move along faster than she expected.
The alarm clock in Maikaze's room blared as loudly as it could. She rolled over, and groaned. Maikaze pulled the covers over her head in disgust. "Just five more minutes." She said, pleading with the alarm clock that woke her. Maikaze gave up, and stood from her futon. She walked over to the alarm clock and shut it off. She squinted to see the time in the dark room. It read 0207. Maikaze stared at it for a few seconds. 'I could've swore I set it for 0230.' She thought to herself.
Just as she finished that thought, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her firmly, locking Maikaze's arms in place. She felt a jolt of electricity burn through her, as her senses and reflexes kicked in. She immediately tried to pry free and scream. "So-" She began to shout, but a hand immediately shushed her. She tried to wriggle her way out of the grip that bound her, but to no avail. Maikaze continued to struggle and shout through the hand over her mouth.
"Good morning, Maikaze." A familiar voice said just behind her. Maikaze ceased her struggle as she realized who it was. "I would've expected you of all people to be a morning person." Sendai said with a laugh. Maikaze tried to break free, but Sendai wasn't letting go yet. "You should keep your hair down all the time, it looks nice on you." Sendai remarked.
Maikaze was growing increasingly annoyed with Sendai. She struggled some more, indicating she wanted Sendai to let go. "Shhh, relax." Sendai said quietly. After a few seconds of silence, Sendai finally let go.
"What the hell was that for?" Maikaze asked in an aggressive tone. She shifted away from Sendai to face her, she could barely see Sendai in the darkness of the room.
"To scare you." Sendai said with a wide smile on her face.
Maikaze sighed heavily. "Seriously? And why did you set my alarm back?" She asked.
"Daimlon told me it was my responsibility to make sure everyone was ready to go, so that's what I'm doing." Sendai explained, crossing her arms like she was proud of herself.
"There are better ways of doing that, idiot." Maikaze spat, her face turning red.
Sendai seemed to ponder the thought for only a moment. "No, this seems to have worked just fine." Sendai said cheerfully.
"Whatever, just get out of my room." Maikaze was done with Sendai for now. She marched over to her door, opened it, and pointed toward the hallway.
Sendai chuckled. She started walking over to Maikaze. "Okay, but if I come back and find you sleeping." Sendai said. With a smile, Sendai leaned in, holding her face just inches from Maikaze's. "I'll do much worse than just scare you." Sendai said in a calm, implicative tone. With that, she strolled out of Maikaze's room.
With a grimace, Maikaze shut the door behind her. Her heart was finally starting to calm down from the scare. She fruitlessly wiped away what frustration she could. 'It's way too early in the morning for this.' She thought to herself.
Sluggishly, she set herself in motion to get ready. She grabbed fresh clothes and got ready for her shower, but only after she locked her door.
Though Maikaze was still slightly upset even after her shower, the three of them departed at their scheduled time toward the aircraft launch point under the cover of darkness with Marie guiding them.
"Today's the day, right?" Asashio asked, looking directly at Daimlon as she sat in the secretary's seat.
Daimlon was skimming over a sheet of paper in front of him. "Yeah. That's right." He said after a short delay.
"So fill me in. What have you done to make sure I'm safe?" Asashio asked sternly.
Daimlon let the sheet of paper fall to his desk as he leaned back in his chair, looking over at Asashio. "Well... I've told Yuu to stay submerged under the water and hide. She'll be in direct radio contact with me the whole time. All I have to do is press a button, tell her to subdue Jintsuu, and she'll do it. I'm also loading Jintsuu with Armor-Piercing shells. Since you have paper thin armor, the likelihood of the shell leaving your body without detonating is reasonably high. Even if the shell does detonate, it won't do as much damage as a standard shell." Daimlon explained calmly.
Asashio just looked at him for a few seconds with a smirk, pleased by his answer. "You're right, my armor isn't thick enough to trigger the shell's firing mechanism. However, the shells could pass through my body and then hit the base, where they'd be more likely to detonate." She reasoned.
"And? Everything on this base can be replaced. You can't be." Daimlon said as he flung his chair around to face the computer.
Asashio's eyes fell to the desk in front of her for a few seconds, then back to Daimlon. "I know. I was just raising a point." Asashio said calmly.
She looked over to his monitor to find him anxiously awaiting information from the scouting mission that had departed some four hours ago.
"Worried?" She asked, brushing the wisps of hair lingering over her face to the side.
"Not so much worried as I am anxious. The sooner we get the information the sooner we can begin planning." Daimlon stated as he turned away from his computer.
Asashio just looked down at the empty desk in front of her for a few moments as she tried to find the right words. "...We're not ready for this, you know. We're too few with too small an armament to take down a base." Asashio said, a little nervous of what his response might be.
"That's why we're gathering information. Information is everything in warfare, we can identify weak points and, with enough information, even plan an optimal time of day to attack where they'll be at their weakest." Daimlon said, picking up the papers in front of him again. He had more to say, but wasn't able to speak them soon enough.
"That's not the point. The point is we're too weak to do this effectively. Even if we succeed, casualties are almost guaranteed." Asashio said, raising her voice slightly.
Daimlon shifted his gaze from the papers in his hand and over to Asashio. "You don't know that, and neither do I until the intel lands on my desk. If it's truly too dangerous then I'll wait, but we can't wait forever." He said.
"We should at least wait until we have twelve people to commit to an attack. Right now we only have seven, including myself." Asashio stated, crossing her arms.
Daimlon allowed a few seconds of silence to expire. "Don't worry Asashio. I didn't spend four years at the academy for nothing." He said simply, returning to the papers in front of him.
"..I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to doubt you, sir." Asashio said, adjusting herself to sit properly.
"Relax, it's perfectly understandable that you're a little nervous about it. This will be everyone's first fight, spare two individuals, and we're attacking a base on top of it, but safety is my top priority. However, we're in a war, people are going to get hurt eventually regardless of what happens. I could make the best tactical decision available and people can still die... Be ready when it happens." Daimlon said heavily, pressing home the seriousness of what he had just said.
Asashio could feel her stomach drop slightly. Her gaze lowered to the desk again. "I know." She said in low, simple tone. Though she was tough as nails, she knew it was going to hurt.
Daimlon returned to his papers, and began writing on them with his pen. "Now, back to the evasion test tomorrow, how fast do you think the torpedoes should be?" He asked. With that, they continued working on the next test until Regina gave them the ready signal for the unit cohesion test.
Out in the middle of the open ocean, the group of three idled in the water as they continued to wait.
"Oh, man, this is taking forever!" Sendai said, grumbling in pain.
They were sitting, gathered in a small circle as they waited. "It should be back soon, right?" Maikaze asked. Her mood had improved dramatically from that morning.
"Yes. I hope so, or I might die." Sendai said sarcastically. "I think he picked the hottest day of the month for this." She rest her head in her hand, giving the world a glum look.
"I don't think he did it intentionally." Shigure said softly. Shigure managed to pick herself up after her shower, but she still felt a little sluggish.
"Summer's ending soon, it should cool off in a month or two." Maikaze stated.
Sendai just leaned back and let herself fall back into the water. After her body reached a few inches into the water, her natural buoyancy kept her afloat as if she were on solid ground. The water felt cool against her back, and she immediately wished she could dive deeper.
"I just hope our winters aren't too cold." Maikaze said, her face resting in her palm.
"Personally, I'd rather be too cold than too hot." Sendai stated, still gazing at the clouds rolling overhead.
"I agree. You can always put an extra blanket on." Shigure said softly, taking a peek around them.
Maikaze was about to express her own opinion, but was distracted by a noise. The drone of an aircraft engine off in the distance. Everyone immediately perked up. "It's finally here." Sendai said with a relieved smile as she sat up, water dripping off her hair onto her shoulders.
"I don't see it." Maikaze said, anxiously scanning the sky.
"It's over there, behind the cloud." Sendai stated, pointing up at a cloud.
The aircraft came within view, breaking through the clouds on it's descent.
"How did you know it was behind the cloud?" Maikaze asked, giving Sendai a puzzled look.
Sendai just crossed her arms with a smile. "Aircraft are linked telepathically to their owner, so I always know exactly where it is." She said pridefully.
The aircraft touched down on the water, smoothly gliding over to them as it slowed down, parking right next to Sendai. She eagerly picked it up, and closed her eyes as it began transmitting data directly to her mind. Pictures flashed in her head, with notes containing extra information and observations. The two Destroyers anxiously watched as Sendai smiled from ear to ear.
"Hehe.." Sendai chuckled slightly. "Oh he is just going to love this!" She said excitedly.
Asashio stood in the dark Staging Area by herself, the outside light from the open wall slightly illuminating the large room. Her heart beat heavily as she stepped closer and closer to the docks. She quietly made her way down the steps, and began to put her gear on with the assistance of a couple fairies. She couldn't stop thinking about it.
"I've already discussed the terms of the test with Jintsuu. There will be one firing course to navigate through as a team. It's up to her to optimize your paths and find a time efficient way to knock down as many targets as possible. She was told that her final score would be identical to the lowest scoring of the two, inducing her to split the work load evenly. However, since you aren't going to hit anything, she's destined for a zero." Daimlon said to her.
Though it already pained her even thinking about it, she knew that it was for the better. She took a deep breath as she stood on the water, and steeled herself for what she was about to do. She calmly set off toward the opening. She made her way out to the starting point, where Yuu was undoubtedly waiting beneath the surface. Jintsuu wasn't there yet.
Apparently Yuu didn't even question why she was being asked to hide, or even subdue Jintsuu upon request. According to Daimlon, she agreed to do it without hesitation or question. Asashio thought it was kind of strange, and wondered why Yuu would be so willing to do something like that so readily. She wasn't sure if she could trust someone like that.
Then it hit Asashio. She was the same way. Asashio agreed to do this from the beginning without hesitation as well. 'No. I'm doing this because he asked me to do it, and no other reason. She has to have some kind of ulterior motive. She is from Germany, after all.' Asashio thought to herself. Whenever she thought about Yuu, she always got slightly angry.
Conveniently, the small amount of anger that arose quelled any guilt that still clung to her. She took her place in front of the course, and began patiently waiting for Jintsuu to make her arrival.
Asashio sat idle in the middle of the harbor, Daimlon watching from up in his tower, until Jintsuu finally made her way out of the Staging Area. She nervously made her way over to Asashio until they were standing side by side. She didn't say anything initially, and sat there looking at the course in front of them. No doubt determining where each of them would go.
Using a loudspeaker, Daimlon projected his voice out to them. "You have five minutes to run this course. I'll give you sixty seconds to instruct Asashio on what to do, but once the sixty seconds are up, your time will begin. Understood?" He said.
Jintsuu turned around and gave him a thumbs up. With that, Jintsuu turned to Asashio. "Alright, are you ready?" She asked.
Asashio didn't budge, and just continued looking at the course. Awkwardly, Jintsuu brushed her silence aside and told her what she wanted her to do. "Okay, so to start off with, you'll sweep wide to the left and then converge on the center..." She explained diligently. Asashio listened closely without saying a word for the entire sixty seconds.
"...Are you.. Listening at all?.. Hello?" Jintsuu asked, unsure if she was being ignored or not.
"Yes, I am." Asashio stated.
Jintsuu smiled weakly. "Good. Let's do this." She said encouragingly.
Jintsuu took her starting position, and Daimlon's voice echoed through the air once more. "Your test will begin in five."
Asashio cleared the lump in her throat.
"Four." Jintsuu took her ready stance to the right of Asashio.
"Three." Asashio could feel the determination radiating off Jintsuu next to her.
"Two." Asashio silenced her mind, and prepared herself.
"One. Begin!" Daimlon shouted. With that, Jintsuu rushed off toward the targets, Asashio staying perfectly still. Jintsuu didn't even notice at first, and began moving within range of the targets.
She swept to the right, and released her first shots at the first target. With her second shot, she nailed the target and moved on. When she knocked down her second target, the lack of a second set of gunfire broke her concentration.
Jintsuu turned around to see Asashio standing there, her head down to hide her eyes behind her bangs. "What are you doing!?" Jintsuu shouted, genuinely concerned something was wrong with her.
Asashio swept her feelings aside, and assumed a stone cold face. Without a response, Jintsuu rushed over to find out what was wrong. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Jintsuu asked.
"I'm fine." Asashio's cold voice briefly filled the air.
"Then what's wrong?" Jintsuu asked her, speaking quickly to save precious time.
"Nothing." Asashio responded.
"Then come on, let's go." Jintsuu said eagerly.
Asashio looked up, and glared at Jintsuu. "I'm not going to do that." She explained coldly.
Jintsuu was beginning to realize what was really going on. "Why not?" She asked after a short pause.
"Because I'm not going to follow you anywhere." Asashio said, her face still made of stone.
Jintsuu could feel her stomach twist into knots. "What? Are you serious?" She asked.
Asashio didn't respond to her. "Why not!?" Jintsuu asked, almost in a shout.
Asashio closed the distance between their faces, and looked Jintsuu directly in the eye "Don't raise your voice to me." Asashio said as sternly as she could.
Jintsuu didn't have time to be intimidated by Asashio this time around. "Why won't you follow!? Explain that much to me!" Jintsuu exclaimed.
Asashio just stared her down for a few seconds. "Because you're unworthy of my respect." She stated.
Jintsuu couldn't believe it. It was already happening. "Since when?" She asked. "We got along fine up until now, why now when I need you most?"
"Since we first met, I had you pegged as a liability. You're a danger to us all, we can't have someone like that with our limited numbers and experience. I figure doing this will get you a few extra months of training." Asashio explained, not budging from her position just inches from Jintsuu.
Tears began to well up in Jintsuu's eyes. "Asashio, please. I could be scrapped if I do too poorly. Please help me out just this once." She begged. Her heart was slowly tearing into two pieces.
No response was heard for a couple seconds. "That's a shame. Good luck with that." Asashio said, finally creating some distance between the two and breaking eye contact.
Jintsuu could feel herself boiling over. "No!" She shouted. "I refuse to be scrapped like a piece of junk. You're helping me whether you like it or not." Jintsuu said, a firm scowl across her face.
"Yeah? I'd like to see you make me." Asashio dared.
Jintsuu raised her weapon, pointing it at Asashio. Asashio seemed relatively unfazed by it. "For too long people like you have shoved my face into the dirt. It ends today." Jintsuu said.
Asashio gave her an annoyed sigh. "Put it away, we both know you're too soft to do something like that. Even if you weren't, it might take you a few shots to hit me from this distance." She said as she stared down the barrel of Jintsuu's gun.
Up in his tower, Daimlon watched on as Jintsuu pointed her barrel in Asashio's direction, who stood only three meters from her. He glanced over at the radio to cue Yuu, then back to the two girls in front of him. He could hear the conversation between the two on a separate radio since he had Asashio fix herself with a microphone.
"What are you doing? Tell Yuu to stop her already." Regina said, floating over his left shoulder.
Daimlon gave it a few moments. "No. I'm interested to see what happens." He said. A firm scowl across his face, he continued watching intently.
Nonna gave him a slight groan. "Ugh... I better go tell the repair bay to fill up a couple tubs." She said, completely unenthused. She immediately shoved off in that direction.
"Well.. You act like you were gonna do something, go ahead. Prove my point that you're nothing but a threat to us all." Asashio stated, keeping her cool while trying to defuse the situation.
"I'm only a threat to you right now. Go clear the course. Now." Jintsuu said sternly.
"I told you, I don't respect you. I won't." Asashio said, crossing her arms firmly.
Jintsuu could feel the hurricane of emotions swirling about inside her. She had enough bullshit for once, and was finally putting her foot down, but she still couldn't get Asashio to budge. Then, she made a connection.
Jintsuu smiled wryly at Asashio. "You don't respect me, huh? I know you respect him, though, given how much time you spend together." She raised her other arm, and aimed the gun directly at the tower. "Move even a muscle to stop me, and I'll shoot." She said.
Jintsuu just crossed a line in Asashio's mind. Before, Asashio was doing this because it was her Admiral's orders, but now she might have to do something more to protect that same Admiral. Something she might come to regret. "You're worse than I expected, dragging him into this. He's the only one trying to help you. I don't care what you do to me, but put the other one down." Asashio said, as she cautiously trawled forward to try and close some distance.
"Then do what I told you." Jintsuu responded as she trawled backward to keep the distance. She had no intention of pulling either trigger, and only needed to use the situation long enough to get Asashio moving.
There was a long pause. "Fine. I'll do it." Asashio said as she looked down at the water, defeated.
The moment the words left her mouth, Daimlon's voice filled the air. "Your time has expired, the test is over for today. Everyone return to the Staging Area." Daimlon said.
They both turned to the tower in a sense of disbelief that it had already been five minutes. Asashio realized Jintsuu was distracted by Daimlon as well, and moved in.
Without hesitation, she kicked the arm aimed at the tower with her left leg, throwing it off aim. At the same time, she used her left hand to push the cannon aimed at her away, and then pivoted her heel to bring the back of her leg to bear on Jintsuu. She wrapped her leg around Jintsuu's neck at the knee. Asashio pivoted her hip, and followed it all the way through, forcing Jintsuu to fall. Asashio inevitably fell with her, and the two made a large splash as they crashed into the surface. Asashio was barely able to maintain a grip on Jintsuu's neck with her leg, but managed to lock her arms down. She securely pinned Jintsuu to the surface in the most awkward position she had ever been in, but it worked.
"Are you finished!?" Asashio asked demandingly.
Jintsuu was struggling to breathe as Asashio clenched her throat. With no answer, Asashio began forcibly disarming Jintsuu by tearing Jintsuu's guns off of her and tossing them into the water. Once Jintsuu was no threat to anyone, Asashio released her.
Jintsuu desperately gasped for air for a few seconds. Before Jintsuu could say anything to her, Asashio departed, leaving her alone in the middle of the harbor. Jintsuu just sat there for a few minutes, thinking about what she had done.
[Roughly fifteen minutes later]
After bringing Jintsuu and Yuu in from the harbor, Daimlon went back to his office immediately. He instantly called for Asashio to see him.
Asashio had a seat in front of his desk, her clothes still slightly damp from the encounter with Jintsuu.
"You know you took that a little overboard, right?" Daimlon said sternly as he stared at girl before him.
Asashio glanced down for a few seconds before returning to look him in the eye. "Yes, sir." She said.
"The objective was to see how she'd react, and get more insight into her personality, not make her feel inadequate. You handled that perfectly, save for the part where you repeatedly insulted her." Daimlon lectured. He propped his leg up onto his knee as he finished.
"I know, but I felt it necessary to tell her the truth. I had to list reasons for my disrespect, so why not go with the cold, hard truth?" Asashio reasoned as she sat up straight in her seat.
Daimlon sighed. He couldn't argue with her because ultimately, she wasn't wrong. "You know she's going to hate you for a long time for this, right?" He said.
"...I did it because I... I do care about her. If my actions cause her to wake up and improve, she could hate me for the rest of our days for all I care." Asashio stated, looking at him with stoic eyes.
Daimlon just smirked at her. "Didn't I say something eerily similar at one point or another?." He asked.
"I try to take notes." She said softly.
"..Regardless, you did well. I only wanted to make sure you knew you were a bit too harsh on her. Just try to make amends at some point, okay? We can't have infighting be a problem this early on." Daimlon said, leaning back in his chair.
Asashio stood from her seat and gave him a sharp salute. "Understood, sir. I apologize for complicating things for you." She said, dropping her salute as she finished.
Daimlon sat up in his seat. "Asashio, there's no need to apologize. Though you were a bit.. blunt. You gained us a sliver of insight, which is what we needed." He said calmly.
"You're talking about when she pulled the gun on me, right? She said something about people like me shoving her face in the dirt." Asashio said, seeking clarification.
"That's right. It's a small clue, but fairly significant." Daimlon said. "Anyway, your small lecture is over. You're dismissed, Asashio. Good work." He stood from his seat and gave her a sharp salute.
Asashio immediately returned it. "Thank you, Commander." Asashio said. They both dropped their salutes, and Asashio headed for the door.
"Oh, by the way." Daimlon stated, stopping Asashio just before her hand touched the handle. Asashio turned to face him. "That was a damn clean take down. Remind me not to make you angry." He said, offering her a half smile.
Asashio gave him a warm smile. "There's nothing you could do to make me angry, Commander." She said. With that, she opened the door, and walked out.
Now it was time for the much bigger lecture - Jintsuu's. As much as he didn't want to do it, he knew he had to. He paged Regina. Regina promptly appeared in the room. "Are you ready for Jintsuu?" She asked.
"Yeah. Go ahead and send her in." Daimlon said.
"Do you want me to have someone hover just outside the door... Just in case she-" Regina began to ask, before being cut off.
"No, It'll be fine." He said.
Regina just looked at him for a second or two. "Of course. I'll send her in right away." She said, adjusting her glasses. She dissipated in her white smoke.
A couple minutes passed before the doorknob turned. No knock or anything, she just waltzed right in. It struck Daimlon as rather uncharacteristic of her. She also wore an empty look in her eyes.
She wordlessly walked over and had a seat in front of Daimlon, avoiding eye contact by staring at the floor.
"Alright, Jintsuu... Take it away from the top, why would you threaten to shoot a teammate in a team exercise?" Daimlon asked calmly.
"She was uncooperative, so I did what I felt was necessary to get her to listen." She explained in a simple tone.
This wasn't Jintsuu he was talking to. She wasn't stumbling over her own words, and she was too calm. This was someone else. "So you'd kill your own people to enforce your orders?" He asked.
"Yes." She said simply.
Daimlon just sighed. "That's not leadership at all, Jintsuu. We're not Russian." He said. He was about to say more, but didn't have a chance to.
"Could've fooled me with how quick she was willing to put a knife in my back." She explained calmly, still refusing to look into his eyes.
"You were the leader for the mission, so it was up to you to get her to do what she normally wouldn't. That's what a leader does." He said.
Jintsuu gave a small chuckle. "Hah. It's so convenient. How you're defending her. You're probably dating, aren't you?" Jintsuu said, not moving a muscle.
"Don't worry, I've already given her an ear full, I never said she didn't do anything wrong. Worry about yourself." Daimlon said, dodging the loaded question.
Nothing was said for a few seconds. "I'm done worrying. It's all I've done for as long as I can remember, anyway." She remarked in a low tone.
Daimlon thought about what to say next for a moment or two. "Jintsuu, during the test, you said something about people always shoving your face in dirt. What did you mean by that?" He asked her, placing his leg on his knee.
"I guess your girlfriend shares everything with you." She said. She finally looked up at him, and looked him in the eye. "Do me a favor and stop trying to pry into my business." She said.
Daimlon decided it would be best if he ignored the 'girlfriend' statement entirely. He honestly felt like he was talking to Sendai instead with how crude she was. "Why should I? Is there something you're trying to hide?... I'm just trying to help you." He said as earnestly as he could.
"Can it, already. We both know you don't give a damn about me, so drop the act." She said, propping her head up against her fist.
The more this conversation continued, the more he felt like Jintsuu was possessed by someone else. Daimlon just gave a sigh before he continued. "Here's the thing, Jintsuu. I do care. I-" He said, being cut off.
"Why would you care about me? I'm useless, nothing but a liability. It's like caring about a broken tool. Don't feed me that crap." She said with a stoic face.
"Broken tools can be fixed. So can you." He said.
Jintsuu just chuckled. "I've heard that one before." She murmured.
Daimlon couldn't quite hear what she said. "I'm sorry?" He asked.
Jintsuu didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Just leave me alone, okay? No one's ever cared about me before, you don't have to pretend like you do." Jintsuu felt tears start to well up in her eyes, but she fought them back as hard as she could. She wasn't doing a very good job, though.
"For the last time, Jintsuu-" He said, before being cut off again.
"Shut up!" She shouted at the top of her lungs as she stood from her seat. "I'm tired of everyone claiming to care and then doing nothing! I'm tired of people saying they'll be there, then turning their back when I need them most! I'm tired of caring!" She shouted, her voice wavering as the tears began to flow. "I'm so sick of giving everything I have every day only to be told I'm useless, and that I'm a liability!" Her face quickly turned red. "I'm tired of everything I do backfiring!"
She stormed over to the door, as more tears rolled down her face. "Just do us both a favor and scrap me. I'm done." She said. Before Daimlon could have a chance to speak up, she ran out.
Daimlon just leaned back in his seat, slightly relieved. That was much closer to the reaction he expected from her, and felt far more like Jintsuu than the rest of their conversation. He was still concerned about her, but he decided to let her go for now. There was no way they'd be having any constructive conversations any time soon. He began taking notes on things she said during their short conversation he felt were important.
In the end, it was her final outburst that proved most insightful. An indication that people being unable to help her before weighs on her, indication that she's felt abandoned at least once, and overall indication of fatigue from worrying about her problem too much. With these new assumptions along with others gained throughout the tests, he was able to go back to his notes and further elaborate upon them.
He spent the next thirty minutes doing so, but came no closer to a solid conclusion. Again, simply not enough data that isn't an assumption. He was able to weed out a few more theories he had, but he still had too many unknowns. There was suddenly a knock on the door.
"Come in." He said, folding up his notes into his folder. Asashio walked through the door, wearing a fresh set of clothes. He pulled his notes back out when he saw it was Asashio.
"I heard Jintsuu didn't take it so well." Asashio said as she walked over to the Secretary's desk.
"Who told you that?" He asked.
"Jintsuu walked past me. The fact that she was red faced and had tears rolling down her cheeks kind of gave it away." She stated as she had a seat.
Daimlon wasn't sure where to start. "I felt like I wasn't talking to Jintsuu for most of the conversation. She was apathetic, dreary, and crude." Daimlon said.
Asashio adjusted herself in her seat. "So what happened?" Asashio asked.
Daimlon eagerly told her everything noteworthy that she said, but conveniently left out the parts where Jintsuu implied they were together.
"Sounds like it was a lot of self deprecation followed by a frustrated outburst. Not surprising if you consider how long she's probably been dealing with this." Asashio said.
"Agreed, but it doesn't make me worry any less." He said as he continued filling out his plethora of notes.
Asashio watched him fill out his notes for a couple seconds. "Still trying to make assumptions on what her problem might be?" She asked.
"Yeah, and while it's narrowing down, it's not narrow enough. I still haven't even determined if I should be tough on her or not. I've been playing a middle ground for so long, I might just stick with it." He said, openly presenting his own thoughts.
Asashio couldn't help but wonder herself if her tough love would actually help her as much as being gentle with her. A few moments passed as Asashio continued to think. "Daimlon. What did Jintsuu say in her final outburst again? Word for word." She asked.
Daimlon flipped over to a different sheet of his notes, and read what he had written down. "She said 'I'm tired of everyone claiming to care and then doing nothing. I'm tired of-'" He said, before being cut off.
"That's enough right there." She said, continuing to ponder inside her own mind.
"What is it? Do you have something?" Daimlon asked her.
Asashio gave him a weak smile. "Okay. Now remember several days ago, when it was just me and Jintsuu. We just got back from an expedition and we were discussing your notes while I was eating curry. Do you remember that day?" She asked him.
"Yeah, of course." He said.
"Alright, I remember asking you if it could be an abusive admiral that caused her initial spiral downward. You said something along the lines of 'It's unlikely, most Admirals I've met-'" She said until Daimlon took it away for her.
"Are about the nicest people you could meet. I remember that." Daimlon said, nodding at her.
"Now, if they're all so nice, and they all claim to care... I'd be willing to bet at least half of them tried being really nice with her. So we'll go with a split down the middle and say three tried doing it the nice way, while two tried doing it in the middle ground like you are now, which would make you the third. Follow me?" Asashio continued to explain.
Daimlon smiled as he realized where she was going with this. "Yeah." He said eagerly.
"So, theoretically, we'd be more likely to find success in doing something no one's done before instead of replicating one of the other failed approaches." Asashio explained professionally.
Daimlon was impressed by her deduction, and it did make a lot of sense. "Your reasoning is solid, but the problem is we're going off assumptions again." Daimlon argued.
"Assumptions are all we have, and I think that's all we're going to get. Plus, I was harsh with her just today and we made more progress today than we ever have." Asashio said.
"I don't know. After talking with her, I'm not so sure harsh was the right way to go." Daimlon said, leaning back in his chair a little.
"It may not seem like it at first, but it makes sense if you think about the big picture. She's probably crying her eyes out, wishing she was dead in her room right now, but tomorrow she could be more motivated than ever to prove us wrong." Asashio said, crossing her arms firmly.
A moment or two of silence passed as Daimlon thought about it. "Just the other day, Sendai told me that Jintsuu constantly seeks the approval of others. It would make sense that she'd want to earn your respect now that she knows she doesn't have it." Daimlon thought to himself aloud. He continued to think about it for a couple seconds. "Tell you what. I'm gonna wait and see how she handles this in the coming days. If it seems to have spurred something on in her, then obviously your harsh words got through to her, and you're right. In that case.." He said as he looked directly at Asashio. "Then I'll have to agree with you that maybe being harsh on someone this delicate just might be the key."
Asashio smiled at him, obviously slightly proud of her own contribution. "At least we're making progress." She said.
"What would I do without you?" He asked in the form of a statement as he immediately began scribbling on his notes again with increased fervor.
"You give me too much credit." Asashio said with a slight laugh. "You're the one collecting all this information. I just offered a different perspective."
Daimlon just glanced up at her. "You've offered much more than that, Asashio." Daimlon said before promptly returning to his notes.
Asashio looked over to the side of the room, a smirk still on her face. "Well. Not that much." Asashio said in a low tone.
"Would you shut up and take the compliment?" Daimlon said with a smile.
Asashio gave a solid laugh. "Okay, okay, thank you. I don't know what you'd do." She said, still smiling.
A few moments of silence fell.
"Say, Daimlon. I wanna ask you something." Asashio said.
"Mmm?" He groaned in response, still writing on his notes.
"I sit in this seat more often than not. Why don't you have a secretary?" Asashio asked.
"I don't need one right now." Daimlon began to explain as he looked up at her. "Once we have more going on than I alone can manage, I'll have one. I don't think I'll need one until we run at least a few fleets strong." He explained.
She nervously twiddled her fingers. "Do you have.. anyone in mind at the moment?" She asked.
"Yeah. The person sitting in the seat right now is pretty much my first choice at the moment. That could change, though." Daimlon said, still tending to his notes.
Asashio just smiled. She always wanted to try being Daimlon's official secretary, but she would have to wait and continue to show promise.
Suddenly, Regina appeared in the room.
Daimlon looked up to see who it was. "Daimlon, the scouting party has returned." She said.
"Good. Have Sendai report to me with all her data immediately. The other two can be dismissed to rearm at the Mess Hall." Daimlon said as he glanced at the clock, noticing it was almost lunch time.
Regina gave a solid salute. "Understood." She said, and with that she was gone.
"I guess this'll have to wait until later. We have bigger fish to fry at the moment" Daimlon said, packing his notes away. "I just need to be sure I don't forget anything." He thought to himself.
"Alright. Then I'll take my leave, Commander." Asashio said formally as she stood.
"Asashio, stay in the Secretary's seat. I want you to sit in from time to time so you can familiarize yourself. That way you're ready when I do need a secretary. Sound good?" Daimlon explained as he continued to prepare for the information he was about to receive.
Asashio couldn't hide the smirk that crept onto her face. "Of course." Asashio immediately took her seat again.
The two of them waited patiently for a knock on the door. The door knob began to turn, and suddenly sprung back into place. After a brief pause, there were a couple knocks.
"Come in." Daimlon said in a slightly raised voice. Sendai walked through with a folder in her hand.
"See? I knocked this time." Sendai said, proud of herself.
"You almost didn't, though." Daimlon said.
"But I did, and that's all that counts." Sendai said as she marched over to Daimlon's desk, slamming the folder down on his empty desk.
Daimlon looked over at Asashio and motioned for her to come over to his desk with his finger. She immediately stood and hovered over the desk, ready to take notes on how Daimlon wanted to receive his intel.
"Anyway, you're gonna be thrilled at what we found!" Sendai said excitedly. She opened the folder, revealing a stack of large polaroids from her aircraft.
Daimlon picked up the first picture, which was of the entrance to the Abyssal Harbor. Other than two small defense guns, it was barren. "What am I looking at, exactly?" Daimlon asked her.
Sendai took the liberty of borrowing one of Daimlon's pens. She hovered it over the waters just outside the entrance. "Do you see it?" She asked.
"See what?" He asked.
"Exactly, there's no naval mines at the entrance, and my aircraft didn't pick up any in the surrounding waters, either. It's only defended by two single barrel 120mm cannons. There are other cannons sprinkled throughout the base, but they shouldn't be too much of an issue." Sendai explained eagerly.
She restlessly flipped over to the next picture, which was of the base itself. "Alright, do you see any landing strips? Because I sure don't." Sendai said.
Daimlon scanned the picture diligently. "I don't see anything that could be an airstrip. But I think I see a couple fuel tanks over here." He said, pointing over to the left side of the base.
"There's a munitions depot just below it, too." Asashio said.
"Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Their supplies are right next to each other, we set the munitions depot up, the fuel depot goes up too." Sendai said.
"Are you serious? What kind of base design is this? Like they're not even trying." Daimlon said in disbelief.
"Look at how little surface area there is, everything is crammed together. The island is too small for a base any bigger than this." Sendai said.
"They probably didn't plan on turning this into a full scale base, but ended up doing so anyway." Asashio said, thinking aloud.
"Agreed, definitely must have been nothing more than a pit stop for their ships in the area to refuel and rearm.. Now what about the ships they have running defense?" Daimlon asked.
Sendai eagerly flipped through the set of polaroids, each containing a unique set of ships running their patrols. Almost every single ship was a Destroyer, with the occasional Light Cruiser. "Their defenses are surprisingly light. I guess most of them are too busy on attack sorties. They're overconfident." Sendai explained with a smile on her face.
Daimlon was kind of surprised at how into this Sendai was getting, but he liked it that she had already deciphered everything for him. He expected to have to sift through everything himself. "That's some good work, Sendai. This should be a piece of cake." Daimlon said.
"Wait, we're not done yet. This is the part you're going to love." Sendai said. She quickly flipped over to the last polaroid, which depicted the entirety of their harbor, ports and all. "See it?" She asked.
Daimlon took a look. The black shapes in the water, which Daimlon assumed were enemy ships, were parked right next to each other in neat rows while they were at port. "They even lined themselves up for us?" Daimlon smiled in disbelief. The entire base was a ticking time bomb.
"Well, yeah. But look over here." Sendai said, pointing to the opposite side of the occupied port.
Daimlon leaned in to get a closer look. There was definitely something there, but he couldn't make it out. It was more of a grey in the black and white picture, making it hard to get a read on its details. "What is it?" He asked.
Sendai just chuckled at him with a huge grin on her face. "Hehe... It's a Battleship!" She said excitedly.
Daimlon just stared at it for a few moments more. "You're kidding me, right?" Daimlon asked.
"I.. I'm afraid it is a Battleship." Asashio said, confirming it.
"Well... One Battleship shouldn't be too much of an issue. We'll just have to sink it in a surprise attack." Daimlon said.
There were a few moments of silence. "What? There is only one Battleship, right?" Daimlon asked.
"Relax. There's only one. As long as we sink it early in the fight, we'll be fine." Sendai said, fighting the urge to mislead him to believe there were actually ten.
"Okay. I can deal with it. You give some and you take some, right? Plus we should have some heavier guns on the way soon." Daimlon said confidently.
"Why's that?" Asashio asked.
Daimlon sat back down in his seat. "Before the end of the day, I'm going to dump all of our resources into one construction, and hopefully get a Heavy Cruiser or a Battleship of our own." He explained.
"I personally can't wait to get an Aircraft Carrier of some sort." Asashio said.
"Agreed. Their flexibility is unrivaled." Daimlon stated.
"Uh, I'm gonna go eat now." Sendai said in a dull tone. Just as she finished speaking, her stomach growled violently.
"Alright, Sendai, quit twisting my arm. Go ahead and rearm. Good job today." Daimlon joked.
"Don't have to tell me twice. See ya!" Sendai said as she bolted for the door.
"One more thing, Sendai." Daimlon said, stopping her. Sendai just turned around to look at him. "Jintsuu had a rough day. Make sure she's doing alright, okay?" Daimlon said.
"What happened?" Sendai asked, taking a step away from the door.
"I'll fill you in later, or you can ask her yourself. Go eat first." Daimlon said.
Sendai just nodded at him, and hurried out the door, obviously concerned about her sister ship.
A few moments of silence fell between Daimlon and Asashio, the stack of polaroids still scattered on his desk.
"You do know Sendai is going to hate your guts more than Jintsuu... Right?" Daimlon asked Asashio, looking into her eyes.
Asashio gave him a faint smile as she exhaled sharply through her nose in a mild chuckle, and looked out the window behind Daimlon. "Yeah." She said in a bittersweet tone.