Kongou flung open the doors to the main office of the Administrative Building, grinning brightly as she entered.
"Good morning, everyone!"
However, instead of returning her greeting, the two occupants of the room, Ooyodo and Rear Admiral Genji, simply glared at her. Ooyodo was on the phone with someone, so Kongou's loud intrusion understandably annoyed her, and as for Genji, he was always angry with Kongou for one reason or another.
"Can I help you?" Genji asked sourly as Kongou approached.
"I'm the Secretary Ship, desu. Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Genji snorted in amusement. "Yeah, right. You do remember what happened the last time I had you write a report, correct?"
"That's because you didn't show me how to do it beforehand!" Kongou pouted. "See, this is why I don't even bother showing up anymore. You're rude!"
"Go tell it to someone who gives a fuck. Now, if you don't have anything important to say, please exit and stop making a ruckus."
Kongou ground her teeth. Genji always knew just how to ruin her day.
"I'll have you know that I actually do have something important to say. In fact, it's very important."
"Then spit it out."
"You'll have to apologize to me first," Kongou answered smugly, crossing her arms.
"Is that so? I wonder if you'll still be saying that after I court-martial and scrap you for withholding essential information from a superior."
Kongou frowned in frustration. "Shitty Admiral… Fine. If you must know, then there were some sailors from Sasebo who came in this morning talking about two big operations in the Pacific. They said that there were rumors of a big Abyssal fleet gathering off the coast of America, and that there's also Abyssal activity by the Midway Atoll."
"Huh? You came here to report rumors?" Genji asked as he scowled.
"Actually, those rumors may be more than that, sir," Ooyodo said as she got off the phone. "That was from the Sasebo Base, saying more or less what Kongou just reported."
"See?" the battleship grinned victoriously as she puffed out her chest.
"I guess that explains why we received that message about the American aircraft last night," Genji realized as he rested back in his seat. "So, did Admiral Drake leave, then?"
"According to the signal data from the airfield, an American plane did land here last night, so I would assume so," Ooyodo confirmed. "Though the Fleet Admiral did not say anything about it…"
"Oh, so that's where Haruna was last night!" Kongou exclaimed.
Genji gave her a look of disbelief. "Your sister was gone for the entire night and you didn't even notice?"
"Hmm… She said something about an overnight training exercise, but I guess she went to America," Kongou said. "Lucky! I can't believe she got to go and I didn't, desu!"
Genji turned to Ooyodo. "Naval Command actually approved that?"
Ooyodo shrugged lightly. "I haven't heard anything, sir."
"Well, whatever," he sighed. "What about this thing at Midway?"
"We've picked up light Abyssal activity there, but nothing significant as of yet," the black-haired ship girl elaborated. "Either way, the Sasebo Base wants us to survey the area since we are closer and the US fleet is tied up with their own operation."
Genji nodded. "Kongou, prepare to sortie. We're leaving for Midway."
"Eh?! Right now?"
"Yes. Did you not hear her?"
"Er, perhaps we should wait for the Fleet Admiral's approval, sir," Ooyodo cautioned.
"If it's an order from Sasebo, I don't need his approval," Genji curtly replied. "Come, Kongou."
Rear Admiral Richard Drake sat in a small office at Point Mugu, California, idly looking around the room and waiting for someone to enter. After the long flight to the West Coast, the plane had landed here, a naval air station just north of Malibu. Drake didn't know how long the flight had been since he drifted in and out of consciousness at some points, but it was now very late at night here in California. Most of the ship girls also managed to get some sleep, but not before they nearly drove Drake insane due to their constant freaking out over the plane ride. Thankfully, they got used to it once they realized that the plane would not in fact crash, though there were some of them (namely Yamakaze) who once again refused to leave Drake alone, so it was a miracle that he even managed to get any sort of rest on the ride over.
When they landed, Drake had immediately been separated from the ship girls and ushered into the building where he currently sat. The base personnel said they would take the girls to some sort of waiting area, so Drake hoped that they were behaving themselves now that they were in America for the first time.
The door then opened, revealing a man with close-cropped copper hair and a white uniform similar to Drake's own. However, what was different were the three stars on his shoulders, causing Drake to stand up and salute as he entered.
The man returned the salute, then sat down across from Drake.
"Rear Admiral Drake, I presume?" he asked. "I am Vice Admiral Abbott. Did you just arrive now?"
"Yes, sir."
"Okay then. Sorry to do this to you, but we need you to move out as soon as possible, so we need your fleet of… Ship girls, was it? Yes, we need them ready to sortie by tomorrow morning. Is that possible?"
"Yes, sir," Drake replied. "What about tonight? Are we staying at the base? Where's the rest of the American fleet?"
"Right… Carrier Task Force Bravo is stationed off the coast of Santa Monica right now. We're just monitoring the Abyssal activity at the moment, which is growing as we speak. We think that they may be ready to attack by tomorrow, if they do at all," Abbott explained. "As for where you'll be staying, Fleet Admiral Wei wanted your fleet down there immediately, so you'll be staying at some sort of hotel in Santa Monica in case of a night attack. Your equipment will be shipped out to the fleet tonight, so you don't have to keep carrying it around.
"Uh, what about the ship girls? Won't they draw attention to themselves?" Drake pointed out. Some of those girls had some pretty strange outfits and hair colors, and one of them was dressed like a literal Nazi.
Abbott scratched his chin. "About that… Yeah, not sure. Just so you know, nobody has told me anything aside from the barebones, so that's your problem, sorry. However, if you're worried about causing distress among the public, don't bother. It's pretty hard to hide an entire carrier task force, so everyone in this area already has the suspicion that something is up after fishermen and the like started being prevented from sailing past a certain point. And half the general public already believes the rumor about the Kancolle Program, so it's not as if that's a big secret either."
"Okay…" Seems like command was too caught up in worrying about the Abyssals and the Japanese government to fully think this through. "Anything else I should know about, sir?"
Abbott slid a folder across the desk towards him. "In there is as much information we could compile in the few hours we had. Your hotel rooms and stuff like that should be in there."
Drake flipped it open. Wow, this hotel's actually pretty nice. Also, it looks like the main thrust of the operation will be the Carrier Task Force and… The Iowa and Saratoga?!
"The American ship girls are part of this operation as well?" Drake asked.
"Yes. It's not as if we could afford to leave them out," Abbott said. "I don't really know much beyond that, so you're better off asking Fleet Admiral Wei. He's the one in command of this sortie."
Drake then turned to the page which listed the commanders. Fleet Admiral Wei, Admiral Belle, Vice Admiral Jockey, Rear Admiral Sterrett… There I am. It says I will be in command of the 'Kancolle Units,' so does that mean Iowa and Saratoga as well…?
The door to the office opened once again, and Brackett entered.
"Sorry to interrupt, but the cars are here for the Rear Admiral."
Abbott nodded to Drake. "Good luck, then. Give the Fleet Admiral my regards."
Drake saluted and followed the airman out of the small office building to what appeared to be an aircraft hangar. Outside of the hangar was a trio of black vans, as well as the thirteen ship girls in Drake's fleet.
"Admiral! What took ya so long?" Suzuya demanded as she noticed him approach.
Drake paused to look over the fleet. Yeah, they can't be out in public like this…
"You girls didn't happen to bring a change of clothes, did you?" he asked.
"Huh? Why?" Zuikaku asked.
"You can't walk around dressed like that. You'll draw too much attention to yourselves."
"Why? What's wrong with our outfits?" Amatsukaze asked with a frown.
"Uh, your shirt is see-through if you look closely," Drake bluntly pointed out, causing the destroyer to blush and glare at him. "Not much we can do about it, I guess."
"Yep, you girls will have great time being leered at during your first trip to America," Brackett unhelpfully added with a grin. "Anyway, you should probably get going. Those Navy guys sounded really impatient."
Since they couldn't all fit in one van, Drake had Kaga and most of the battleships and carriers ride in one car while he and the destroyers, the light cruisers, and Suzuya rode in the other. He figured that the capital ships were mature enough to be in a car by themselves, but he didn't really trust people like Sendai or Amatsukaze not to cause an uproar unless they were supervised. The final van carried some of the equipment, but since not all of it could fit without severely weighing the vehicle down, the van would have to make multiple trips back and forth, something that the sailor driving it wasn't very pleased about.
As the cars began moving towards the location of the hotel, Drake sighed softly as he looked out the window. He could already imagine the awkward scene that would unfold when the strangely-dressed group would arrive at the hotel.
"America doesn't really look that different from Japan," Yahagi noted as she looked out the window, staring at the sea along the Pacific Coast Highway.
"Well, the ocean looks pretty much the same wherever you are," Drake said. "But yeah, I guess most big cities aren't too different from each other nowadays. Have any of you been outside of the naval base at all?"
They all shook their heads.
"We've seen pictures of it, though," Amatsukaze quickly added. "It's not like we're completely ignorant of the world."
"I've always wanted to visit America!" Suzuya then exclaimed. "Hey, Admiral, do you think we'll have a chance to go around the city? Santa Monica, I think it was called?"
"Sorry, but no. Like I said, you'll attract too much attention to yourselves. We'll be better off just staying in the hotel rooms."
"You're no fun, Admiral," Sendai pouted. "The city at night would be so fun, though…"
"I must admit, I am curious about American cities as well," Yahagi said.
"Hey, can'tcha just buy us some new clothes?" Suzuya asked Drake. "I'll pay you back, I promise!"
"I can't go clothes shopping for you," Drake replied. "Though now that I think about it, you at least look like you could pass for a regular person. A slightly strange person, but still."
"All right!" the heavy cruiser cheered. "So does that mean you'll take me out into the city!?"
"Er… I still can't. It would be unfair to everyone else, and don't you want to get some sleep before the sortie tomorrow?"
"But we already slept on the plane ride here!"
"What about me? Do I look normal?" Kashima asked.
Drake sighed again. "Nobody's leaving the hotel, all right? Sorry, but that's just how it has to be."
"I knew it, the Admiral hates fun after all," Suzuya said with a frown as she slunk down in her seat. "He just barely let us have that party a while ago too…"
The rear admiral just shook his head and continued looking out the window. As the time passed and the outer reaches of Santa Monica began to crawl into view, Drake felt a small bit of nostalgia. It had been years since he had been in this area, but things hadn't changed at all. He tried to look out at the water to see if he could spot the silhouettes of the carriers, but he realized that they would probably be too far away to see from the shore.
Soon enough, the vans arrived at the hotel. The building was located very close to the beachfront, probably so that the fleet wouldn't have to travel far to get out onto the ocean. As Drake stepped out of the van, he admired the retinue of luxury vehicles that were lined up in front of the vans, waiting to be parked by the valets.
Damn, this place really is high-end.
The rest of the fleet also got out of the cars, and most of them stared in wonder at the people, the hotel, the cars, the surrounding area, and just everything in general. This was their first time outside of the naval base, so it was unsurprising that they were so captivated by the sights, sounds, and smells of a real city.
A hotel employee was already outside waiting for the vans, and he immediately rushed over and began talking with the sailors who had been driving the vans, presumably finishing the final arrangements for the rooms. Drake looked around nervously, hoping that his group wasn't getting too many curious stares. Thankfully, it seemed like most people were busy with their own lives, and very few of them even spared the ship girls a glance.
"All right, sir," one of the sailors said to Drake as he handed the rear admiral a pair of cards and a scrap of paper. "These are the keys to your room and your room numbers, and call this number in case you have any questions. Someone should be coming to pick you up at six tomorrow morning to take you out to the task force."
"Thanks," Drake replied, though he wasn't looking forward to waking up early tomorrow.
The sailors then entered the vans again and drove off, leaving Drake and his ship girls outside of the hotel. Not wanting to stand out and draw any more attention to the group, Drake hurriedly went into the hotel with the thirteen girls trailing behind.
The lobby of the hotel was fairly large, and on the opposite end of the lobby was a window which looked out onto the beach. A few guests dressed in expensive-looking outfits passed by, and they whispered among themselves as they walked past the ship girls. The people lounging around in the lobby and the hotel staff also seemed to be quite curious about the ship girls, so Drake quickened his pace towards the elevators, just wanting to get himself out of view before someone caused a scene.
As Drake mashed the button for the elevator, the ship girls were still taking in the sight of the hotel with wide eyes.
"Wow, this place is really nice," Akagi said, staring up and looking at the top floors which could be seen from the lobby.
"It's so big," Fubuki agreed.
"I hope the rooms are just as nice, considering we won't be allowed outta them," Suzuya pouted, still not over Drake's refusal to take them out into the city.
The elevator doors then opened, and to Drake's chagrin, three men dressed in suits emerged. Their jaws dropped as they saw the thirteen girls, and Drake resisted the urge to sigh in frustration.
"Evening, ladies," one of them said with a grin as the group passed by.
Another one clapped Drake on the shoulder, giving him a wink. "Good work, sailor!"
Drake just walked into the elevator as fast as he could, and the rest of the fleet followed after staring curiously at the trio. The elevator became increasingly uncomfortable as all fourteen of them tried to fit, and Drake cringed as he felt someone knee him in right in the groin.
Could this night get any worse? He thought with tears of pain in his eyes.
"Admiral, what floor - hey, watch where you're standing!"
"Shut up! Your foot was on mine first!"
"Hey, who's pulling on my uniform?"
"Wahh!"
Drake groaned internally as he forced his way through the crowd and the cacophony and pushed the '4' button, finally getting the elevator to move. I hope this thing doesn't break…
The elevator managed to make it up safely, and the large group spilled out of the doors as they opened onto the fourth floor. Drake fished around in his pocket for the keys and scrap of paper.
"Okay… It looks like we're in rooms 414 and 415," he announced, reading off the paper.
He led the fleet down the hall and towards the rooms, thankfully not running into anymore guests along the way. However, when they got to the rooms, Drake paused.
Wait… How are we all supposed to fit into two rooms? It appeared that in their haste, the Navy really did forget to work out a lot of the minor details.
"Uh, so, we only have two rooms," Drake started, turning towards the fleet. "I'll take 415, I guess, so you're all just going to have to fit into 414 somehow."
"Wait!" Amatsukaze cried. "Why the hell do you get a room all to yourself!?"
Drake rubbed his eyes tiredly. He was still fairly groggy from the flight over, and the added stress of trying to corral the fleet through the hotel and the sortie tomorrow were not helping his mood.
"All right, fine. If anyone wants to share my room with me, then be my guest. I was trying to be considerate of the fact that you're all girls, but I really don't give a shit anymore."
"You're that desperate to sleep with the Admiral, Amatsukaze?" Sendai teased with a smirk.
The speedy destroyer whirled around. "Wha - you know that's not the reason! How are thirteen of us supposed to fit in one room?"
"M-maybe the hotel rooms in America are big enough for all of us?" Haruna said hopefully.
"Yeaaaah, no," Drake answered as he slid in his key and opened the door to his room.
The fleet gathered around the doorway, eager to see how the inside of the room looked. Though the room was probably a bit bigger than the ship girls' dorm rooms, it was still not nearly large enough to house all thirteen of them. The room contained two beds, both of which could fit three people at the most, and an extra sofa bed which could basically only hold one person.
"Okay, so is anyone else going to be staying in this room or not?" Drake asked, eager to get some more rest.
The ship girls were all silent, and they shared awkward glances among each other.
"Amatsukaze, you were the one who asked, so you stay with him," Zuikaku said, nudging the destroyer.
"O-on second thought, maybe we should let the Admiral have the room to himself," Amatsukaze revised, blushing slightly.
"No way! You really think we can fit all of us in a room like this?" Sendai shouted.
"Jesus, keep your volume down," Drake frowned. "And can you hurry this up? We can't be standing out in the hallway like this."
"Fine, I'll go!" Amatsukaze conceded. "So who else is coming?"
The remaining ship girls were quiet again, causing Amatsukaze to groan.
"Come on, you can't expect me to share a room with the Admiral by myself! Er, no offense, sir."
None of the ship girls seemed willing to volunteer, so finally Haruna stepped forward.
"I-I'll go…"
"Why do you girls sound like you're being marched off to the gas chambers?" Drake asked, glancing briefly at Bismarck after realizing his comparison was a bit tasteless. But still, he didn't know sharing a room with him would be this big of a deal.
"Is that everybody, then?" Kaga asked after Haruna volunteered and no one else spoke up. "There is still room for two more to share beds with Amatsukaze and Haruna."
"Why don't you go, then?" Zuikaku asked.
"Please. As if I could leave people like you to your own devices in a room by yourselves."
"Yeah, must be a hard decision, choosing between nagging me all night or cuddling with your beloved Admiral."
"All right," Drake cut in, having had enough of this. "Good night. Make sure you're all ready to leave at six tomorrow morning. If not, I'll have to drag you out of bed. Text me or something if you have any questions."
With that, Drake tossed the second key card to Kaga and entered his room with Haruna and Amatsukaze. He let out a small sigh of relief as the door closed behind him.
"So, who wants which bed?"
"I'll take the futon since I'm the smallest," Amatsukaze offered. "You two can have the beds."
Drake nodded and tossed his cap onto the bed nearest to the door. He then took a quick trip to the head, but when he came out, he realized that he brought no clothes with him and would therefore have to sleep in his uniform.
This thing doesn't seem like it would be very comfortable to sleep in, he thought as he tugged at his collar. He could take his coat off at the very least, but since he had to share a room with two women, taking off his white dress pants would probably be frowned upon.
Drake shrugged off his coat and threw it onto the bed, then began undoing his belt. His pants weren't loose enough to completely fall off without it, and sleeping with it on would be even more uncomfortable. Unfortunately, as he was doing this, Amatsukaze turned around.
"A-admiral! What are you doing?!"
"Calm down, I'm just taking my belt off," he explained as he slid it out of its buckles and threw it down beside the bed. "Are you two going to sleep in your uniforms? That looks like it would be uncomfortable."
Amatsukaze looked down at her red stockings, which were held up by a pair of metal circles. "Well… It's not like we can really take our clothes off here."
"Fine, your choice," Drake simply replied. "If you're worried about me being here, then don't bother. I've already seen Haruna naked before."
"What?!"
"Admiral!" Haruna yelled in embarrassment. "T-that was…! It's not what you think, Amatsukaze!"
"N-no, it's none of my business," the destroyer said as she blushed and looked away.
"No! Admiral, tell her!"
Drake smirked, enjoying their exaggerated reactions. "Yeah, yeah, it was just an accident."
"Even so," Haruna started after she calmed down, "I didn't know we would be staying here overnight…"
"Seems like nobody really knew what was going on," Drake said. "This whole thing was just half-assed. Hopefully the sortie tomorrow is better-planned."
"Oh, yeah, speaking of the sortie, you never told us our strategy," Amatsukaze pointed out.
"I can't come up with a strategy if I have no details about the situation. Literally all I know is that there's a big Abyssal fleet gathering off the coast of the city."
"Is there anything in that folder that could help?" Haruna asked, pointing to the folder Drake had been given back at Point Mugu.
"Huh? Oh, right." Drake reached for the folder, then flipped it open and saw that it contained some basic information about the expected size of the fleet. "... No, this doesn't really help either. Looks like we'll have to be briefed when we get to the Task Force."
"I see…" Haruna replied apprehensively as she took off her headband.
"So we're going in blind, basically?" Amatsukaze spat in disgust. "Great. Is this really how things are done in America?"
"Hey, I don't like this anymore than you do," Drake argued, "anyway, we'll just have to deal with it. Fleet Admiral Wei is one of the best tacticians in the world, and our fleet hasn't lost a battle yet, so there's nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, don't jinx it," the destroyer replied bitterly, clearly not convinced.
Haruna smiled. "I'm sure everything will be all right…"
Meanwhile, in the room next door, the rest of the fleet had other things on their mind.
"Look! So many people!" Suzuya cried out excitedly as she pressed her face to the window, watching the constant stream of people walking through the streets of Santa Monica.
"Are all cities like this?" Fubuki wondered as she joined the heavy cruiser at the window.
"Who knows… We never get a chance to go anywhere, so it's not like we'd know," Suzuya frowned.
"I wonder what kind of food they have there," Akagi mused as she too glanced out towards the night streets. "I haven't had anything to eat since early last night…"
"Remember, we aren't here to fool around," Kaga cautioned. "We have a sortie tomorrow. Please take this seriously."
"All the more reason why we should be allowed to go out tonight!" Sendai cried out. "What if this is our last night alive?"
"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Zuikaku chided.
"Huh? Are you telling me you're fine with being cooped up in this small room when we could be out having the night battle of our lives?"
"Well…"
Kaga sighed. "No one is leaving this room, and that is final. You heard the Admiral's orders."
"Hmph. I don't see why you all are so insistent on going out there," Bismarck said as she sat down on one of the beds. "All you'll see is excess and stupidity. This is America, after all."
"I'm telling the Admiral you said that!" Suzuya exclaimed.
"Go ahead and tell him. Unlike you, I am not afraid of him."
"All right, we should all rest for tonight," Kaga interrupted. "We must be up and ready to leave before six."
"Um… And how are all of us supposed to sleep in here again?" Kashima asked, looking around unsurely at the room, which was far too small to house eleven women.
Kaga shut her eyes in annoyance. "You all had the chance to sleep in the other room, but you chose to stay in here. You will just have to deal with it."
"I call this bed!" Suzuya cried as she flopped onto the bed nearest to the window.
"No way! You can't have that all to yourself!" Sendai protested.
"Yeah I can. You can sleep on the floor."
"Greedy bitch!"
"Would you all please be quiet?" Kaga asked forcefully, finally getting fed up with the constant bickering. "We will have to sleep three to a bed, with the two destroyers sharing that futon. The remaining three will just have to sleep on the floor."
"Yeah? And how are we going to decide who's going to sleep on the floor?" Zuikaku wanted to know.
"Sleeping on the floor isn't so bad," Kaga countered, trying to stop another argument from breaking out between who would get the beds and who would have to use the floor.
"So I guess you're volunteering, then."
Kaga sighed again. She could definitely understand the Admiral's annoyance now. "Fine. We still need two more, however."
Shoukaku stepped up. "If Kaga is sleeping on the floor, then as the Flagship of the Sixth Fleet, I will as well."
Zuikaku frowned. "Huh? Shoukaku, you don't have to…"
The white-haired carrier gave her sister a smile. "It's just one night, Zuikaku. It isn't a big deal."
"Anyone else?" the Secretary Ship asked.
After a brief moment of silence, Bismarck stood up.
"I don't mind sleeping on the floor, I suppose," she volunteered. The Admiral's words about how she needed to get along with the rest of the fleet nagged her in the back of her mind no matter how hard she tried to ignore them.
Kaga nodded approvingly. "Then it is settled. Everyone, try and get some rest now. We will be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow."
Murasame flung open the doors to the main office of the Administrative Building, causing Ooyodo to nearly jump out of her seat.
"Not again…" the communications ship girl muttered as the twintailed destroyer charged in much like Kongou had done earlier.
However, unlike with Kongou, a pack of three destroyers were accompanying Murasame, and the four of them glanced around the room before Murasame stomped up to Ooyodo.
"Excuse me, but would you happen to know where Admiral Drake is?"
Ooyodo blinked. "Um… He left for America last night."
"What?!" Murasame cried out in shock.
"I told you he was gone," Shiranui said from behind her.
"No way!" Murasame whined as she pulled on her twintails. "He just left us here?"
"Well… It's not like we're officially part of his fleet yet," Shigure countered.
"'Officially'? What is that supposed to mean?"
"I knew it would be useless to come here," Shiranui interrupted. "Thank you for wasting my time."
Murasame whirled on the pink-haired destroyer. "Oh, come on! You're telling me you're not even slightly annoyed that the Admiral took his fleet on a sortie to America and left us behind?"
Shiranui didn't answer, and Shigure again tried to calm Murasame down.
"We've never even trained with his fleet before, so he couldn't take us out on a sortie already," she pointed out.
"Still, I wish he would have told us he was leaving…" Asashio added, also a bit disappointed at having been left behind.
Murasame, determined not to give up just yet, turned back to Ooyodo. "Ooyodo, you're the head of communications. Don't you have some way to contact the Admiral?"
"Huh? Admiral Drake? I can't do that!"
"Why not?"
Ooyodo frowned angrily. "Did you not hear me before? He's on a sortie in America!"
"You're telling me we really can't contact him because we're too far away? What kind of trashy communications equipment do we have!"
"Actually, we should be able to reach him as long as he's using a military-grade SIM in his phone," Ooyodo defended. "However, that's not the point. I can't just call him for no reason other than a bunch of you destroyers wanted to. What if he's asleep, or in the middle of something important?"
"Then he won't pick up! Can't you try, at least?" Murasame pleaded.
Ooyodo sighed. God, of all days, why does it have to be this one where everyone in the office goes out and leaves me alone?
The communications ship girl dialed the numbers to Admiral Drake's cellphone, albeit slightly reluctantly. She held the wired phone up to her ear and listened to a few seconds of ringing before someone picked up.
"... Hello?"
"U-um, Admiral Drake…?"
"Yes. Who is this? Is this someone from the base?"
"Yes, it's me, Ooyodo. Er, um, sorry to disturb you, but some members of your fleet wanted to speak with you, and I tried to tell them -"
"Wait, what? All the members of my fleet are here in America."
"Oh, uh," Ooyodo stammered as Murasame motioned for the light cruiser to hand the phone over. Unsure of what to do, Ooyodo gave in and just handed the phone to the brown-haired destroyer.
"Hello, Admiral? It's me, Murasame."
"Uh… Oh, right. Why are you calling me? Did you need something?"
"Well, we wanted to know why you just left us behind not even a day after adding us to your fleet," Murasame answered, slightly annoyed that Drake had momentarily forgotten who she was.
"You called just for that…? Look, you can't expect me to take you destroyers on a real sortie when you've had no formal training. You've literally just joined my fleet."
"That's not true! We've been training ever since we got to this base!" Murasame countered.
"Yeah, but it's not even close to the type of training my fleet does. No offense, but I guarantee that none of you are on the same level as the ships in my fleet."
Murasame grit her teeth in frustration. "B-but…!"
Asashio then came over and took the phone from Murasame. "Commander! There must be something we can do to help! We're tired of just sitting around and doing nothing, sir!"
"Er, is this Asashio? Well, if you're really that desperate to sortie, go see if any of the other admirals need anything. I heard something about movement near Midway, so see if you can accompany whichever fleet goes on that sortie as a sort of reserve force."
"There's a sortie near Midway?" Asashio asked, turning to the other destroyers to confirm.
"Ah, that's Yuudachi's and Kawakaze's fleet," Shigure recalled. "I saw Admiral Genji's fleet out by the docks this morning. That must be where they're going."
Murasame, who had been listening to Asashio's conversation intently, snatched the phone back. "So you're saying we can go on the sortie with Admiral Genji?"
"Oh, is that who it is? Then yeah, sure, as long as he agrees. Just don't get in his way."
"All right!" Murasame cheered. "We'll show you just how strong we are, Admiral! You'll regret not taking us with you after you see our performance!"
"Yeah, whatever. Is Shiranui there?"
"Um, yeah," Murasame turned to the pink-haired destroyer and held out the phone for her.
Shiranui raised an eyebrow but took the phone nonetheless. "Hello?"
"Hello, Shiranui? Did you find the two light cruisers yet?"
"I thought you were going to do that, sir."
"Did I say that? Well, never mind. I'm leaving that selection up to you."
"... Are you sure about that, sir? On what criteria should I choose them? I'm not familiar with how the reserve light cruisers perform during training."
"I don't know, just pick the two cutest ones."
"What…"
"I'm kidding. Mostly. Just pick whoever you want, I guess… Sorry, but I don't really have anymore time to talk, so that's all for now. Good luck on that sortie."
The rear admiral hung up, and Shiranui handed the phone back to Ooyodo.
"We need to get to the docks before Yuudachi and them leave!" Murasame announced, already heading out of the office.
"I have something to do," Shiranui interjected. "You all go, and I will join you soon."
The Kagerou-class destroyer left the room, leaving the three destroyers and Ooyodo in the office.
"What's she doing?" Murasame wondered.
"The Admiral probably gave her some kind of order, probably to find two more light cruisers based on what she was saying," Shigure provided. "This fleet only has four ships, after all."
"Eeeeh? Why her?" Murasame pouted, but quickly perked back up. "Never mind that. We've got to go."
Murasame grabbed her sister's hand, dragging Shigure out of the office. Asashio sighed softly as she ran out of the room, following the other destroyers.
Ooyodo let out a breath as the destroyers left. Finally, peace…