A/N: Sorry for the slight delay, I've been a bit distracted by the World Cup, among other things. Hopefully the next few chapters come out more quickly. In other news, Shiratsuyu Kai Ni looks amazing... Those Shiratsuyu-class K2s really are the best.

Drake stepped into the large strategy room that doubled as a conference center in the Administrative Building. Already inside were many other admirals and some ship girls, most of them just milling about, waiting for the exercise to start. Accompanying Drake were Kaga and Shoukaku, the two ship girls who served as the flagships for his fleets. At a glance, Drake noticed a lot of familiar faces: Bismarck was there, along with her two vice admirals and another huge, burly, blond man Drake didn't recognize; Fleet Admiral Cassius and Umi were present, talking with each other while leaning over the large table in the center of the room; Genji and Miiro and their secretary ships were there; the little Admiral Hayama and the two Yamato-class battleships stood by stoically; and finally, Admiral Veronese and her Italian ship girl, Littorio, were also present. There were a few others, though Drake didn't know a lot of them by their faces alone.

In the center of the room was a big, long table, now covered by a large map of the South China Sea, particularly the area around Okinawa. There were also a bunch of pieces in the shape of different ship types on the board, probably for display purposes when discussing formations and strategies. Drake waited in the back of the room with his arms crossed, standing there with a bored expression as the minutes passed and the chatter finally died down. Eventually, Fleet Admiral Umi began speaking.

"Hello, everyone, and thank you for coming," she started in English. "As you all know, today we will be doing a war games exercise in order to simulate battle conditions for the upcoming operation. We will be using our actual fleet's size and and composition as well as the Abyssals' in this exercise, so our goal is to match the conditions as closely as possible to those that we will experience on the actual day of the battle. Now, if everyone is ready, I believe we should start. Any questions before we begin?"

The room was silent, so Umi nodded and continued. "Admiral Cassius, Admiral Helmholtz, and myself will be the commanders of Force Blue, which will represent our fleet. Admiral Hayama, I am putting you in command of Force Black, which are the Abyssals."

The young Japanese admiral looked surprised at being called upon. "... Me?"

"Yes? Is there a problem?"

Hayama sighed and rolled his eyes. "If I really have to be the enemy force commander, then so be it, I suppose. Let's just get this over with."

Much like the first time he saw Admiral Hayama, Drake was amazed that they made someone so young an admiral. He thought the USLN's promotion practices were shockingly fast, but Admiral Hayama and the IJN took that to a whole new level. Either way, Hayama had to be pretty gifted to get the position of admiral at such a young age, and just by the fluency with which he spoke English, it was clear that he was no stooge.

"Is it me by myself?" Hayama asked, raising an eyebrow as the huge man with the golden sideburns (who Drake now knew as Admiral Helmholtz) moved to join Umi and Cassius.

"Oh, right," Umi laughed, "you can choose three others to assist you, just don't pick them all from the same navy. I guess you've read the reports on everyone here already?"

Hayama shrugged. "More or less. Fine, then… I suppose I'll go with Rear Admiral Genji, Vice Admiral Bremerhaven, and Rear Admiral Drake."

Initially Drake felt proud at being chosen, but he then realized he would technically be under command of what appeared to be a young teen, so he wasn't sure how he felt about that bit. Regardless, he walked over to where Hayama stood across from the other three admirals. He was joined by Genji and Bremerhaven, the tall German with the platinum-blond hair.

"Ah, look at the scowls on that navy!" Umi laughed again as she regarded Hayama's team. "Say, Admiral Cassius, have you ever seen such a sour bunch?"

Cassius did not seem as amused. "Right… Well, I suppose it's good to be serious in wartime. Let's start the exercise."

Like everyone else attending the war games session, Drake had been given the data on the approximate size and capabilities of each fleet, though he did not think up any sort of strategy before he came here. He assumed that the opponent admirals had thought of at least a general strategy to face the Abyssals with, but since even Admiral Hayama had not been told about his role prior to the start of the session, he doubted anyone on his team had a plan.

"So… What is our strategy?" Genji asked, echoing Drake's thoughts.

Admiral Hayama held his chin in his hand, contemplating the situation. "Well… In terms of numbers, they have the upper hand, though if we only count ship girls and Abyssals and not humans or human ships, then we have numerical superiority. I'd say overall, we have a slight advantage here… For now, I'll be in charge of the battleships and general strategy. Genji, you have the submarines and destroyers, Drake, you get the carriers, and Bremerhaven, you command the cruisers."

Drake eyed the map. For the most part, the battlefield would just be open ocean, though the fight would be taking place very close to Okinawa in order to get land-based support. The Abyssals had also positioned themselves fairly close to Iejima, so that's where Drake's team would start their battle for this exercise. It had been decided that the INFCOM fleet would come up from the southern part of Okinawa, so the Abyssals would be positioned north of the human and ship girl fleet that would be sailing to meet them.

"Okay, we're moving up," Umi announced. "I suppose we'll just send scout planes ahead for now."

When she finished speaking, she picked up one of the markers and drew a line up from the bottom of Okinawa towards the Abyssal position in order to indicate the movement of the fleet.

Admiral Hayama turned in towards his three commanders, lowering his voice so that the other side couldn't hear. It was likely that neither side would be able to intercept enemy transmissions, so this was also meant to simulate real conditions.

"Obviously our main priority is to sink the ship girl fleet," Hayama laid out. "The human ships are completely useless without ship girl escorts, and even then the ship girls still do the most damage to us. If anyone else has any opinions, go ahead and say them. I suppose there's a reason why there's four of us here."

"We could sortie our bombers to Okinawa and destroy all land-based installations," Genji suggested.

"Do we know where those are?" Drake asked.

Hayama looked thoughtful. "I believe so… The Abyssals have done a number of scouting runs over Japanese bases in these past weeks, so I assume that was their goal. Even so, I don't want to waste our bombers by sending them over to bomb land bases. Maybe we could afford to do that if we were just sending them to Iejima, but since Iejima has been almost completely evacuated of all civilian and military personnel, there's no point."

"So are you all just going to leave your fleet sitting there?" Umi called out to the four young admirals with a grin.

"We're working on it," Hayama grumbled to her before turning back to the other three. "Let's move our aircraft first. Admiral Drake, do you have any ideas?"

"If we have air supremacy, then we win," he started slowly as he thought about it. "The question is how to position ourselves so that we can fight in favorable air conditions…"

Drake reviewed the map again. The ship girl and human fleet was composed of three different sections: the west flank held the carriers, the center the heavier ships, and the eastern side was mostly composed of light cruisers and submarines. The idea for the right, eastern flank was to have a sort of detached force that could be deployed anywhere on the battlefield at any time, which is why it was full of faster ships. The human carrier and battleship groups would be behind the ship girl fleet, commanding from the rear. The Abyssal fleet had a more traditional formation with the destroyers and light cruisers in front, the heavy ships in the middle, and the carriers in the back, but that was only a tentative formation and was liable to change on the day of the actual battle.

"Actually, let's not move our aircraft first," Hayama decided, then looked at Umi. "We're sending our battleships forward."

Hayama drew a line indicating this, much to the shock of everyone, including his own teammates.

"Wait, what?" Genji asked with a low, urgent voice. "That's suicidal, I hope you know that."

Hayama smirked. "Oh, is it? Well, I have a plan."

The little admiral then proceeded to explain his idea to his three commanders, all of whom still wore perplexed expressions even after he was finished.

"Is that allowed?" Bremerhaven asked with a frown.

Hayama shrugged. "I don't see why not. Our opponents might try to argue that, but realistically, there's no reason why this couldn't happen on the actual day of the battle."

"This plan could backfire if they send their own battleships at our fleet," Drake pointed out.

"I suppose. Even then, it wouldn't really completely backfire," Hayma replied. "But I don't think they'll do that. They sent their scout planes ahead, so when they see an enemy battleship fleet out in the open, they're not going to risk the lives of their own battleships. Instead, they might as well just send their planes to bomb us since we have no fighter cover."

"I think we should send our planes on a flanking route," Drake then suggested. "Just so that it doesn't look like we're leaving our planes behind to do nothing. It doesn't make sense for us to send out a battleship fleet without air cover unless our planes are occupied doing something else."

Hayama nodded. "All right, I agree. Go ahead and do it."

Drake took hold of the marker and turned to opposing force. "Uh, we'll also send our planes here…"

He drew a flanking route around the two fleets, making it look as if he was sending their planes around to attack the ship girls' eastern flank.

"Okay, but your planes are going to take a while to get there because they're taking a flanking route," Umi said. "We'll just send our bombers and a small fighter escort ahead to destroy your battleships before you even reach our fleet, then."

Umi drew another line forward to indicate plane movement, but Hayama only smirked at this.

"Say goodbye to all your bombers, then. We've decided to place our Air Defense Princess and our Entombed Anti-Air Guardian Princess in the center of our battleship fleet."

"That's impossible," Helmholtz spoke, his accented voice booming throughout the room. "You can't just hide ships within a fleet like that."

Hayama's smirk only grew. "Oh? But satellites can't detect specific Abyssals within a fleet and can only see the general composition. You really think we'll be able to see one or two Abyssals out of an entire pack of enemy ships?"

The three admirals on the ship girl side were silent, though they wore uncomfortable looks.

"I hate to say it, but he's right," Umi grimaced. "So, how many planes did we lose?"

"Judging by the effectiveness of these two Princesses at Bethlehem and extrapolating from other Princess performances, you just lost probably eighty or ninety percent of your planes," Hayama said. "Possibly more, who knows. The element of surprise was on our side."

"That sounds a bit high," Cassius said. "Either way, we did suffer a huge loss in airpower…"

"I'm calling off my airstrike now and sending it towards your center force," Drake added.

"Then we'll sortie our remaining fighters to intercept, as well as call back our surviving planes," Umi countered.

"Your survivors won't make it back in time," Hayama told her. "Also, your fighters are seriously outnumbered by ours considering you lost some in your initial strike. You're not going to win this air battle."

"Fine, then. We'll place our Akizuki-class with our battleships," Umi said.

Hayama frowned. "You can't do -"

"It works both ways, doesn't it?" Umi cut him off. "If we can't see specific ships in your fleet, then you can't see specific ones in ours."

"But you're reacting to our moves and only placed your ships there after we already acted. We had our ships in place at the very start of the battle," Hayama pointed out. "There's a huge difference."

"Okay, but what's to say we didn't have the Akizukis there to begin with?"

"Because you -" Hayama just decided to stop there since he doubted he would convince them. "Fine, I don't care. It's not going to save you, though, because we're sending in the battleship force you failed to destroy, and since they were already moving forward at the start of the battle, they're going to reach your fleet very quickly."

"I'll send our submarines forward to challenge enemy subs that try to attack our heavy force," Genji told Hayama.

Hayama nodded. "Yes, our submarine force is much bigger than theirs anyway. There's also the fact that we have a second submarine princess based on sonar readings at Bethlehem, so we're definitely not losing that fight."

Man, these Princesses are really coming in handy, Drake thought as he watched the exchange. Though that was well and good for them in this exercise, in the actual battle, this was not something to celebrate.

"Our light cruiser force is specifically equipped to counter submarines," Cassius inputted. "We'll just send them to counter."

"Then we'll redeploy our battleships towards the light cruiser force," Hayama said. "Our air attack will take care of your heavy fleet, but we'll also leave the heavy cruisers behind."

"We should send the light cruisers down to flank the enemy light cruisers as well," Bremerhaven added.

"Yes," Hayama agreed. "So… Let's look at the map right now. Your carriers are sitting by doing nothing because they have no planes, your battleships are under air attack and heavy cruiser attack, your light cruisers are being pincered by our battleships and light cruisers, and your submarines are being hunted and sunk underwater by our own. Does that sound about right?"

The three senior admirals looked uncomfortable.

"Don't forget that our Akizuki-class can take down a lot of your planes," Cassius said.

"Not enough to make any sort of difference, sir," Drake rebutted, trying not to offend his superior. "The Abyssals have three carrier Princess, along with the Airfield Princess. We have a huge air advantage over you to begin with, and this was only increased when our anti-air Princesses took out almost all of your planes."

"What about our land-based air and carrier groups?" Helmholtz brought up.

"They're not going to make much of a difference at this point, are they?" Umi said, looking up at Hayama.

Admiral Hayama wore a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, no. They might take out some of our planes, but they're all going to die in the end and we'll still have overwhelming air superiority."

Umi shrugged sheepishly. "Eh, it's just an exercise. We might as well send them in."

"All right, so what are our losses from that bombing run?" Cassius asked.

"At least two-thirds of your battleships and heavy cruisers are gone, and that is probably a low estimate," Hayama answered. "You're free to disagree, of course, but…"

Umi, Cassius, and Helmholtz shared a look before Umi shook her head.

"That's probably a realistic guess. I presume we won't get to decide which battleships we keep?"

"You wouldn't in a real battle, so no," Hayama said. "That's left up to us because we're doing the targeting."

Drake nodded in agreement. "Best to prioritize sinking the Yamato-class so that no one gets in the Battleship Princess' way when she cuts through the rest of the fleet. Oh, and might as well kill Iowa while we're at it."

Those two sentences left a bad taste in Drake's mouth, and he didn't miss the look of betrayal Iowa sent him from her position in the back of the room, but hey, he was the Abyssal Admiral right now.

"All right," Hayama assented. "So aside from those three, you can have your pick of keeping a few battleships of your choosing, Fleet Admiral. Not that it will help you."

"What about your remaining airpower?" Umi asked Hayama. "Surely your planes took at least some damage from that."

"Right… Well, perhaps we can settle on fifty percent of our planes going down?" Hayama suggested. "Personally I think even that is a bit high, but it is certain that your side has now lost every single plane, be it ship girl or human, so it doesn't matter anyway. We'll have to return to our home carriers to rearm, but we have achieved complete air supremacy for the remainder of this battle."

"Then what are we supposed to do now?" Fleet Admiral Cassius spoke with confusion in his tone. "Our carriers have no planes and our battleships are gone. Doesn't look very favorable for us."

"Mount a final charge with our remaining battleships," Helmholtz said. "Their battleships are currently engaged with our light cruiser force, so we can flank them."

"Then we'll just order our submarines and destroyers to hunt down and torpedo your battleships before they get there," Genji said.

"The light cruiser ship girls should also be close to defeat at this point," Bremerhaven added in his quiet but strong voice. "They have been under assault from our battleships and light cruisers throughout the airstrike, so I don't think they can survive much longer."

"And our airstrike will be heading back out for a final bombing as soon as possible," Drake piled on.

Hayama sighed as he crossed his arms. "This battle looks like it's over. All that is left to do is wipe out your remaining ship girls and then kill the humans. Our side won't sustain many more losses from this point on."

Silence fell over the room for what felt like an eternity. Drake almost felt bad for being on the side of the winners considering that they represented the Abyssals, and he could tell the rest of the room was not happy about the results either. He had no doubt that the admirals across the table from him were busy thinking about what they could say to make it look like the Abyssals didn't just grind the ship girl fleet into dust.

"Something seems off here…" Umi said while rubbing her face. "So we didn't even sink any Princesses?"

Hayama shrugged again. "Who knows. Perhaps you did. Even so, it doesn't matter because the majority of our Princesses are still alive, and even if you did manage to sink a couple, it was already after they had done their job, no? Sinking a Princess here and there isn't going to prevent defeat, unless it's done at a crucial moment. For example if you had sunk our air defense Princesses at the beginning…"

"It all leads back to that, doesn't it?" Cassius observed with a frown. "We lost almost all our airpower the moment we fell for your trap."

"Looking back, it was obvious," Helmholtz agreed. "Why would they send out a battleship detachment with no air cover unless they were trying to trap us? We fell for it because we thought they could not touch our planes, and because they sent their own planes on a flanking route as a distraction."

"Hm…" Umi smiled. "So, I suppose this means that in the real battle, we'd better not send our planes somewhere we haven't scouted…"

"It won't be possible to scout every part of the enemy fleet, though," Hayama said. "If we wait to see exactly how the enemy fleet is composed, then we'll be reduced to fighting a purely defensive battle, and we'll just be reacting to what the enemy does. In a carrier battle, the one who strikes first always wins."

Silence fell over the room again.

"Then… Maybe we should just strike first after all," Umi decided. "If possible, we should send our airstrike to attack their carriers before their planes are fully in the air. That way we avoid something like this happening, at the very least."

"I suppose that is best," Hayama accorded. "If we can find their carrier fleet, then we should strike at it before they find ours. After that, our battleships and other forces will be able to operate more freely. Even if we don't destroy the enemy's air force, as long as we have a lot of our own planes in the air, the enemy cannot harass our surface forces."

The war game exercise ended with that, which at least gave everyone in the room a feeling as if they had made some progress. Even so, the defeat of the ship girl force by the Abyssals had been a blow to morale, and was probably not what the admirals had in mind when they started the exercise. Despite that, a good defeat provided as good a teaching tool as any, so they were now aware about mistakes they absolutely had to avoid.

As Drake walked out of the conference room with his two flagships, he however felt a sense of unease. Just by being in command of the Abyssal carriers, he had realized how overwhelming their air advantage really was. He would need some sort of trick up his sleeve in the upcoming battle if he was going to defeat an Abyssal air force which contained multiple carrier-type Princesses, considering how much trouble that one Airfield Princess gave him.

Unfortunately, Drake was so caught up in his thoughts that he slammed straight into something hard as he walked, causing him to recoil and jump back in surprise and slight pain. The hard object he had run into turned out to the back of Germany's Admiral Helmholtz, who turned around with a frown.

"You… You are the admiral who commands Bismarck at this base, are you not?" the German asked in his heavy voice.

"Uh, y-yes," Drake replied, still a bit stunned from running into him.

Helmholtz didn't say anything more, and simply wore a stern frown as he pushed past Drake and headed in the opposite direction.

"Ugh… Thanks for warning me, you two," Drake sarcastically spat at the carriers.

"Apologies," Kaga offered tonelessly.

Shoukaku smiled sheepishly. "It seems all of us were caught up still thinking about the exercise…"

"Right… So what did you think of it?"

"Um, well, I would congratulate you on your victory, sir, but since you were commanding the Abyssals, it doesn't seem appropriate," Shoukaku said with another half-hearted smile. "The enemy air power does seem very fearsome, though…"

"I agree," Kaga said. "Before this exercise, I wasn't fully aware of just how devastating it could be to lose our own air strike capability."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Drake nodded. "I guess that just puts more pressure on us…"

"Hey!"

The trio turned around to see the ever-boisterous Iowa stomping towards them. The American battleship pointed a finger at Drake.

"Captain! Why'd you sink me specifically in the exercise! I thought we had something special!"

"Hey, it's nothing personal," Drake smirked. "Take it as a compliment. You and the Yamato-class were the ones who I thought could actually stand a chance at defeating the Battleship Princess, which is why I sunk you three first."

Iowa blinked in surprise, evidently not having thought of that. "Oh… True! Thanks, then!"

"You're thanking him for sinking you…?" Kaga asked with a raised eyebrow.

"W-well, I didn't mean it that way!" Iowa denied. "You know what I meant, right, Captain?"

"Sure," Drake said, grinning slightly at Iowa's antics.

Iowa wasn't convinced, and she pouted. "Then why are you laughing at me… Hey, as an apology for sinking me, let's go to Mamiya's! I hear it's a world-famous restaurant!"

"World famous? Not sure about that, but if you want to go, then okay, I guess."

"Nice! This is why you're my favorite admiral!" Iowa cheered as she slapped Drake on the back.

"Yeah, I'd be amazed if any other superior officer tolerated this," Drake said, wincing a bit from Iowa's battleship strength.

"I know, right? Fleet Admiral Cassius even told me to act more 'professional.' Can you believe that?" Iowa grinned.

I sure as hell can, the rear admiral thought.

"But anyway, I guess it's 'cause you're around our age," Iowa continued. "I never had a commander as young as you before."

"I'm not around your age, though. You're older than my grandma, actually," Drake pointed out.

"Very funny, sir. You know what I mean," she replied while giving him a flat look. "For some reason we ship girls were reborn in bodies of young women, so that's how it is. Can't say I mind it, though!"

Can't say I do either, Drake thought with a small smile.

"Shigure?"

The destroyer snapped her blue eyes open as her name was called. She was sitting on the edge of one of the piers, her legs dangling above the water as she let the sea breeze sweep across her face. Turning to see who called out to her, Shigure spotted her sister, Murasame, now also a member of her fleet.

"What are you doing sitting out here?" Murasame asked, walking over to her older sister.

"Nothing in particular," Shigure answered.

Murasame sat down next to her. "Nothing, huh? I called your name like three times before you responded."

"Ah… That's…" Shigure sighed. "All right. I was thinking about something."

Murasame frowned at her. "That's not very descriptive, but I think I can pretty much guess it."

Shigure remained silent, only looking down at the water as she absently played with the end of her braid.

"... You know she'll probably be there, right?" Murasame said, her gaze pointed towards the sky. "Well, I guess you knew that, which is why you're sitting out here."

"Yes… It's just that… What are we supposed to do?" Shigure asked in a small voice. "I mean… After participating in the Admiral's training with the rest of the fleet, I think we're definitely stronger than we were back then, but strong enough to beat her? Do you remember how easily she destroyed us? I… I just don't know…"

Murasame pulled up her knee and rested her chin on it. "Yeah, we're not strong enough. That's for sure. But at least this time we have a lot more allies with us, right?"

Shigure remained unconvinced. "But even back then nobody made it out alive and we barely managed to even damage the enemy fleet. Their strength is just so much more than ours."

"Maybe, but we're still being sent to fight. That must mean that the admirals have a plan to win. It's not like they don't understand the gap in power between a Princess and a ship girl."

"Do they really have a winning plan, or are they just sending us out because they have to?" Shigure turned to look at her sister. "I was around until the end of the War, and back then, our admirals were still desperately sending us on sorties even though we had no chance of winning. In the end, that cost countless lives, but they felt they had to do it because it was better than doing nothing. What if that's what's happening here?"

"Geez, that's a dark viewpoint," Murasame said with a bitter grin. "It honestly doesn't seem that way to me. Tell me, do the admirals and ship girls right now seem as desperate as they did back then? I sunk before you did, but even when I was still floating, I could almost feel the air of defeat. I can't say I feel that way right now; everyone still thinks we can win this."

Shigure had to admit that her sister had a point. "Yeah, you're right… Though maybe it's only that we've already lost but just don't know it yet."

Murasame laughed. "I can always count on you for your optimism, Shigure."

"Sorry," Shigure apologized with an embarrassed blush. "But I guess I shouldn't be talking this way until we know for sure… Yeah, this is a new life and a new chance at victory. It doesn't have to be like last time."

Though even as Shigure said this, her mind flashed back to her fight with the Destroyer Princess. Back then, it had been exactly as it was before. Once again, she had been unable to help her comrades and was forced to watch as they were slaughtered. Could she truly claim that things had changed?

Murasame noticed Shigure's silence and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. Things will be different this time."

"Yeah…"

Will they really?

Amatsukaze felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned and was greeted with the grinning face of her old friend, Shimakaze.

"Oh, there you are. Been too busy to see me until now?" Amatsukaze said with a smirk.

"Sorry, there's just so much to do on this base!" Shimakaze exclaimed.

"Really? I always thought this base was pretty boring," Amatsukaze replied. Then again, Shimakaze is the type of person who would get excited over little things like visiting a new naval base.

"Are you kidding me!" Shimakaze shouted. "Have you ever even been to Mamiya's?! Our base doesn't have anything even close to that!"

"Yeah, it is pretty good. Guess I just got used to it after a while," Amatsukaze said, backing up a bit from Shimakaze who was now in her face. "So, uh, how have you been? It's been years since we last saw each other."

"I know, right? But I've been good! I've been training and I'm even faster now! C'mon, let's race!" Shimakaze demanded, shaking Amatsukaze by her shoulders.

"Some other time, maybe. I just had lunch," Amatsukaze shot down, prying Shimakaze's hands off her shoulders.

"Excuses," Shimakaze said disapprovingly as she pouted. "But hey, I heard you sunk an Abyssal Princess! You must be faster now too, right?"

"Heh, I guess," Amatsukaze answered with a bit of a cocky grin. "I'm not the same ship you beat all those previous times. Don't think I'll lose to you again!"

"All right! That's what I like to hear!" Shimakaze beamed. "How about we race each other in the next sortie? Whoever sinks a Princess faster wins!"

"Um, I doubt either one of us is going to be able to sink a Princess on our own. Have you ever even fought one?"

Shimakaze blinked. "No… But they can't be that strong, right?"

Amatsukaze recalled how much trouble the Submarine Princess had given them even in shallow waters. "I think you'd be surprised."

"Oh… Well, that sucks," Shimakaze said, momentarily deflated. She quickly perked back up. "They can't match our speed, though!"

Amatsukaze shrugged. "I heard the Destroyer Princess is pretty fast. Best not to get overconfident."

Shimakaze pouted again. "Look at you, trying to act all mature. I still remember how you complained and whined whenever I beat you in a race!"

"I did not!"

"Yes you did!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"The hell are you two arguing about?"

The two destroyers stopped their back and forth to see Musashi staring at them with a deep frown. This was one of the few times that Amatsukaze had seen the super battleship up close, and she had to admit that Musashi had quite the intimidating aura.

"We're not arguing," Shimakaze denied. "And mind your own business, please."

"Huh? Where do you get off talking to your superiors like that, you brat?" Musashi shot back.

Much to Amatsukaze's displeasure, Shimakaze then hid behind her and stuck out her tongue at Musashi. Amatsukaze froze in fright, but Musashi only rolled her eyes.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised at how many arguments you get into considering how annoying you are," Musashi said to Shimakaze. The battleship then turned to Amatsukaze. "You're Amatsukaze, right?"

"Um, y-yes!" Amatsukaze hurriedly answered.

Musashi smirked. "Oh? You don't seem like a Princess killer to me. I suppose looks can be deceiving, though."

Amatsukaze wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she stayed silent.

"By the way, you're under that American's command, right?" Musashi then asked. "You're all right with that? Being ordered around by an American?"

"Um… Yes?" Amatsukaze replied. "They're not our enemies anymore, so…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Musashi waved her off. "That's not the point, though. It's a matter of pride… But never mind. Forget I said anything."

The battleship walked off after that, leaving Amatsukaze and Shimakaze alone again.

"Yeah, you better run," Shimakaze said to Musashi's back, but she made sure not to say it loud enough so that the Yamato-class could actually hear it.

A matter of pride…? Amatsukaze repeated Musashi's words in her head. Am I really stomping on my pride by letting an American give me orders?

"Oh, shit! I just remembered that I forgot to check out the store on the base!" Shimakaze recalled with a start as she began running off. "See ya around, Amatsukaze! And be ready to race next time!"

Amatsukaze gave her friend a half-hearted wave, but she was still thinking about what Musashi said. That can't be true. If the USA isn't our enemy anymore, then what's wrong with working with them?

But something in the back of her mind told her that Musashi had a point. The Americans did sink her and most of her comrades, and even though times have changed since World War II, Amatsukaze herself was still the same warship who fought in that conflict. The country that once issued orders to kill so many of her countrymen was now commanding her… Now that she thought about it, it did feel wrong.

Amatsukaze stared at Shimakaze's back as the blonde destroyer sprinted off. She then recalled the conversation she had with her admiral about Shimakaze back when the fleet was preparing to defend Los Angeles.

That day… The Admiral encouraged me when I felt like I couldn't match up to her. If he didn't talk to me back then, would I have been able to do what I did against the Submarine Princess?

Amatsukaze remembered how she used Shimakaze as inspiration to defeat the Submarine Princess. However, she was only able to use Shimakaze as inspiration in the first place because she believed that she could match Shimakaze in speed… And that belief was helped along by the Admiral back then.

Smiling, the silver-haired destroyer turned to face the sea.

Yeah… I'm proud of the ship girl I am today. Everything that's happened that made me who I am… Fighting against the Americans, and now fighting with the Americans… I'm proud of it all.