Dressed in his white admiral's uniform, Drake sat alone at one of the tables in the venue for the military parade, idly watching as some contractors and enlisted personnel went about setting up the rest of the place. The main podium was literally in the middle of the street, as were the tables, though a lush-looking red carpet had been rolled out underneath the tables.
The VIPs for this event would be seated at these tables, though most had yet to arrive, which was why Drake was able to sit peacefully by himself. There were a few officers from INFCOM Headquarters coming by, though in Fleet Admiral Wei's classic style of glossing over the details, he had neglected to tell Drake who exactly was coming. He did know that at least Fleet Admiral Kaigan and Admiral Hayama from the Sasebo Base would be in attendance, as well as Fleet Admiral Wei himself, of course. Various officials from Russia, China, Germany, the UK, and other members of the International Fleet Alliance would be there as well.
But the most important guest at the event was undoubtedly the Empress of Japan, who would be making her first appearance at an international military event. On one hand, this was good for the spirit of cooperation between the countries since the Empress herself was here to bless the proceedings, but on the other hand, the Empress' presence seemed to make the anti-foreigner protests increase in intensity because they felt like the other nations were forcing the Empress to bow to them, even though it seemed clear enough (to Drake at least) that the Empress was coming out of her own free will.
Her presence is just going to make it all that much more nerve-wracking when I have to go up there and give my speech, Drake sighed to himself.
He planned on keeping his speech short and succinct, but he still didn't enjoy having to do this in the first place. He had been told to give his speech in English even though the primary audience would be Japanese, and while he was much better at English than Japanese, he was kind of hoping that the speech would be in Japanese so he could use the excuse of being a foreigner as a crutch if he made any mistakes.
There would also be a fair number of regular people gathered to watch the event, though they wouldn't be seated up close at these tables. Instead, they were allowed to stand a bit of distance away and watch behind some rope that cordoned off the area. There would also be MPs and civilian police keeping watch, though a lot of them were off in other parts of the city trying to make sure that none of the protestors came anywhere close to the parade.
As for the parade itself… It wasn't much of a parade, to be honest. Since the main draws to the event were the ship girls, the ship girls would just walk together through a small part of the city on a predetermined path towards the stage, smiling and waving to the crowd. Nobody wanted to see regular boring officers like Drake, so thankfully he and the rest of the officers wouldn't need to go on a public tour like that.
Drake leaned back in his chair and stretched as he yawned, wondering when the ceremonies would officially start. Also, where is Bismarck? I haven't seen her all day. She even left Prinz Eugen alone by herself.
Luckily the German heavy cruiser was a lot friendlier than Bismarck, and so Prinz Eugen had no trouble getting along with the Japanese ship girls. Even now, Drake could see her talking to Suzuya and Kumano about something, all three of them wearing bright smiles on their faces.
Most of the other ship girls were nearby hanging around the venue, though they seemed to stick to their own small groups so it felt wrong for Drake to intrude. He hadn't seen many members of his own fleet, and he assumed they must have wandered off in spite of the fact that they were told to stick close to the parade venue.
I hope they don't cause any trouble, Drake sighed again, looking up at the night sky. If I hadn't been caught up doing even more paperwork in preparation for this event, I might have gone with them…
He told himself that it was mainly so he could keep an eye on them, but a significant part of him knew that this wasn't the full story. Ever since he had come back to Japan, he could no longer ignore the fact that he liked being around the ship girls, not just as their commanding officer, but as their comrade and their friend. Maybe it was inappropriate to feel this way, but he couldn't deny that he cared for them beyond what his professional duties entailed.
I wonder, do they feel the same way about me?
He smiled to himself. He had a feeling the answer was 'yes' for a good number of them.
Is it better or worse this way? There's obviously a reason why commanding officers are supposed to maintain a professional distance between their soldiers.
He couldn't help but think back to Tangier. If he had been as attached to his men back then as he was now to the ship girls, would he have been able to make the decisions he did to save himself at that battle? Perhaps if it had been the ship girls instead of a bunch of sailors he didn't know, he wouldn't be alive right now.
He then remembered his meeting with the Abyssal Princesses on Hachijo-jima, and how ship girls are fueled by positive emotions. Or maybe if it had been ship girls, we would have all survived Tangier…
Either way, it was no use thinking about such things. What was done was done.
Well, I'm getting kind of bored sitting here, Drake decided, standing up from the empty table to get his mind off his previous thoughts.
He was about to head back to where the majority of the navy personnel were waiting around in the hopes that he could find someone from his fleet, but then he saw a familiar figure in the distance. Squinting in confusion, he walked up to her. The brown-haired woman wearing a red Royal Navy uniform turned when she heard him approaching, then smiled.
"Good evening, Richard! Fancy seeing you here," Lira, Drake's cousin from Britain, greeted jokingly.
"You didn't tell me you would be here," Drake said.
"That's right. I wanted it to be a surprise," she grinned. "But to be honest, I didn't even know I would be coming here myself until yesterday. I was sent along with Warspite."
"I see… So, is your dad around?" Drake questioned, almost afraid to ask.
"God, no. This is meant to be an event to show off international cooperation, and he would be exactly the wrong type of person to send to something like that," Lira shook her head.
She then paused and turned away to cough, a wheezing fit that lasted a good thirty seconds.
"Uh… You all right?" Drake asked.
Lira tried to compose herself. "Y-Yes, I'm fine."
Drake frowned. "I thought your illness was getting better. You look kind of pale."
She glared at him. "It is getting better. And I thought I told you not to worry about that."
"Okay, but -"
"No buts!"
"But -"
"Richard, I am doing fine," Lira assured him. "Would I really come all the way to Japan if I wasn't?"
"I thought maybe you've come to say your last goodbyes to me before you finally pass on," Drake grinned slightly.
"Yes, yes, very funny," Lira sighed. "One minute you're concerned for my health, and the next you're joking about it."
"Hey, you're the one who told me not to worry," Drake pointed out.
"Right, I suppose so. Anyway, I heard you are giving a speech tonight?"
Drake looked away. "Uh, yeah, something like that. Don't expect anything too amazing."
Lira laughed. "Don't worry, I know you don't like this sort of stuff. I'll keep my expectations low… Anyway, have you seen Warspite or Nelson anywhere? I'm supposed to bring them back here."
"No, I guess they went off somewhere," Drake assumed.
"Yes, thank you, Sherlock Holmes," Lira rolled her eyes. "Well, I have to keep looking. I'll see you when the ceremonies start."
Lira left to find the British battleships, and Drake watched her go with mild concern. She's been sick for a long time, but her illness seemed to be getting better until now. I hope it's not a serious complication…
She was apparently still fit enough to be walking around and functioning on her own, so it couldn't be too bad. He had to be satisfied with that for now, and he turned his mind to other things as he wandered the venue.
He stopped when he arrived at a series of outdoor stalls, the kind that are usually set up during Japanese festivals. To his surprise, the stalls were all manned by the ship girls, though there were no customers right now. He went over to one of them which was selling takoyaki.
"Good evening, sir. Would you like some takoyaki?" Yahagi greeted him with her professional smile from behind the stand.
"No thanks. Don't want to risk getting my uniform dirty," he replied, glancing behind Yahagi to see three other ship girls also working the stand. Since they were dressed similarly to Yahagi, he assumed they were her sisters.
"It's really good! You should try some," one of the girls offered. She lacked a ponytail and had blue eyes, but otherwise looked similar to Yahagi.
"Ah, right, I should introduce my sisters. This is my elder sister, Agano, and those two are Sawaka and Noshiro," Yahagi pointed out her sisters.
"Nice to meet you! You're Yahagi's admiral, right? The American?" Sawaka asked.
"That would be me," Drake confirmed.
"Oh! Your Japanese is good," Agano nodded approvingly.
"Thanks, it was a hard language to learn."
If he recalled correctly, this was his first time talking to the Agano-class outside of Yahagi even though he had been on the base for so long. He tended to interact mainly with his own fleet members, so it was rare that he got a chance to talk to the other ship girls.
"It's nice to meet you, sir. I am glad to see you are well; I heard you were killed at the Battle of Okinawa," Noshiro greeted him.
"Wait, what?" Drake was confused.
"I told you that rumor wasn't true," Yahagi frowned. She turned to Drake. "Apparently some of the girls thought you had died during the battle since you left the base shortly after. It was obvious to most people that wasn't true, but rumors have an unfortunate resilience to them regardless."
"Um, y-yes, I'm sorry if I offended you, sir!" Noshiro hurriedly apologized. "I knew it wasn't true, I was just -"
"That's all right," Drake cut her off before she could get any more flustered. "Anyway, I didn't realize there would be food stalls here. Did you volunteer for this?"
Yahagi sighed. "I did not, but Agano did, and so here we are."
"What's the problem? It's fun, right?" Agano grinned cheerfully.
"We don't get a chance to this with all four of us too often, right?" Noshiro prodded Yahagi.
"I suppose you're right," Yahagi was forced to admit. "Well, there you have it, sir. I know it's unbecoming of a soldier meant for warfare, but…"
"I wouldn't say that. It's nice to have some time off from battle, isn't it?" Drake said.
Yahagi smiled. "That's true."
Drake said his goodbyes to the four Agano sisters, then continued through the venue, walking through the numerous other stalls run by the ship girls. He saw some more of his own fleet members there, and he stopped by at a few of the stalls when they called out to him. He even bought a 'homemade ramune' bottle from the stall Sendai ran with her sisters, but it didn't feel like ramune at all considering it wasn't even carbonated. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the break, and it helped alleviate some of his nerves about his upcoming speech.
As he was preparing to head back to the main stage area, he spotted a girl sitting alone on one of the benches. He vaguely recognized her silver hair and white outfit, then remembered her as Suzutsuki, the Akizuki-class anti-air destroyer who had been an acting member of his fleet for the Battle of Okinawa. He noticed she was holding a bottle of Sendai's ramune too.
"How was the drink?" Drake asked as he tossed his own now-empty bottle into the trash can beside the bench.
Suzutsuki stood up, startled. "Rear Admiral Drake! Good evening, sir."
"Ah, yeah, good evening. No need to be so formal," Drake replied. "Suzutsuki, right? It's been a while."
"It has. I believe we last met before the battle…" Suzutsuki trailed off, looking uneasy.
"Yeah. Sorry for not giving a debriefing or anything, I was reassigned to America for some time right after the battle," Drake said. "But you're from the Sasebo Base, right? We probably wouldn't have been together for long anyway."
Suzutsuki looked down at her feet. "Yes, you are right, but… I still regret that even in the short time I was a part of your fleet, I wasn't able to help you. My role was anti-air, and yet the Airfield Princess, she…"
"That's not your fault. At least, it's not your fault alone," Drake assured her. "I am also to blame… There were a lot of things I could have done better, and maybe I could have used you better too. If we ever get a chance to fight together again, let's do our best to make sure things go differently, okay?"
Suzutsuki brightened up a little. "Understood. I will give my utmost, sir."
Her sincere attitude was so cute that Drake felt like patting her on the head, but he managed to restrain himself and bid her goodbye for now. He really did hope that he would get to have her in his fleet again, both because he liked her and because an AA destroyer would be a welcome addition, especially since he planned to go up against the Airfield Princess again.
And this time, I'll crush her, he vowed, clenching his fists.
It was strange; he felt nervous about something so simple as giving a short speech, but when he thought about fighting the Airfield Princess again, there was no fear and no hesitation anymore.
He thought about Kaga and Bismarck, the two people who made that possible for him. They had selflessly worked so that he could become stronger, and Kaga had even given her life.
Many people have given their lives for me, actually, he corrected, recalling the events of Tangier that continued to plague him even to this day.
However, though he had always felt the need to destroy the Abyssals in order to give those lives that were lost meaning, now he was experiencing a different kind of determination. At first, he had fought out of anger and vengeance, but now, he fought to honor those that he had lost, and to protect those who still remained. That was what Kaga and Bismarck had helped him realize.
Bismarck sat by herself on a bench just outside the red Kabukicho gate, her eyes closed. She felt exhausted, though surprisingly it wasn't from the night's activities. Instead, what was stressing her out the most was trying to figure out what she was going to say to her admiral tonight… After that trip to the bar, she steeled herself to talk to him for sure, but even so, when she thought about what she was going to say, the words became jumbled up in her head.
Argh… Why is it so hard!
She had surely come to terms with her own feelings now, and yet she still found it difficult. What if he didn't feel the same way? What would she do then?
Admiral Drake… Do you…?
She opened her blue eyes and looked up at the night sky. With the amount of light pollution in this area, she couldn't exactly see the stars like she could on that quiet night she shared with him in Lubeck, but her feelings from that day were as strong as ever.
The only thing lacking is my determination! Pathetic. I am the Third Reich's greatest battleship! I will not let this stop me!
Bismarck stood up, a fire burning in her eyes. Yes, tonight for sure…!
"Yo! What're you looking so angry about?"
Bismarck snapped out of her thoughts and whirled around to see Iowa standing there with a cheeky grin.
"Contemplating the 'dangers of international Judaism' or whatever again?" Iowa asked in a teasing tone.
Bismarck blushed. "O-Of course not! What are you doing here anyway? I thought everyone returned to the main venue."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too, but I noticed you didn't, and so I came looking for you," Iowa said. "Didn't expect to find you sitting on a bench by yourself with such an intense gaze. Care to share, my German friend?"
"Actually, I do not care to share, thank you very much," Bismarck shot back. "And I was just about to leave anyway, so you came here for no reason."
"Oh, really? Okay. Captain Drake is sitting at one of the tables near the stage, by the way."
"Ah, danke. Wait… What?!" Bismarck spat. "How did you know I was looking for him? Where did you find that out!"
"Eh, what do you mean? You're his secretary ship, right? It's only natural that you'd be looking for him… But that wild reaction tells me that there's something more sinister going on," Iowa smirked at her.
Bismarck cursed her own overreaction. "T-There's nothing 'sinister' going on! And I'm not being wild!"
"Your shouting certainly isn't convincing me on that front," Iowa laughed. "And there's no point in hiding it now. I kind of suspected something was up between the two of you, but you've pretty much confirmed it now."
Bismarck pouted in frustration, unable to come up with a rebuttal. "Urgh… Fine, you win. What of it? Are you going to tell everyone?"
Iowa shrugged. "Why should I? Shouldn't you tell the Captain himself first?"
"You're not upset?" Bismarck asked.
"Again, why should I be?" Iowa questioned, confused.
"Er… You know… Isn't it frowned upon to have relationships with your superiors? And furthermore, I'm from Nazi Germany. Wouldn't it make the American Navy angry?" Bismarck wondered, hesitant.
"Mm, yeah, maybe you have a point with that first question, but as long as you keep it low key, it shouldn't be a problem," Iowa said. "As for the second part, just cool it with the antisemitism and we should be fine. All right?"
"All right, thank you," Bismarck said. "But wait… That is all assuming that the Admiral shares my feelings…"
"Only one way to find that out," Iowa grinned.
Bismarck sighed. "You are right. I will go, then."
"Well, you might have to save that for later because I came to tell you that they're calling us for the parade," Iowa told her.
"Oh, I see…"
Iowa slapped her on the back. "Don't worry, Kraut! I'm sure everything will be fine!"
Bismarck smiled. "I hope so. Thank you, Iowa."
The two battleships headed back to the main venue where they found a huge group of ship girls standing around and being directed by some officers from the IJN. Bismarck couldn't find Admiral Drake there, but that was all right since she probably wouldn't get a chance to talk to him right now anyway.
They were then organized into a lineup by class, and so the destroyers took the front of the formation with the capital ships put towards the back. Bismarck stood with the other foreign battleships, and since there were no other ship girls in her class, she was in her own row but was behind Warspite and in front of Richelieu.
The line then began moving, and Bismarck followed Warspite as the ship girls made their way through the city. The sound of a cheering crowd could be heard as they left the main venue and walked onto the road. The streets were illuminated with festive lights, and crowds of excited onlookers stood behind the ropes that cordoned off the street, eager to see the ship girls up close.
Bismarck marveled at the scene. People cheered her as she walked by, whistling and clapping and yelling excitedly. The crowd may have just been excited to see a bunch of cute girls, but even so, she enjoyed being acknowledged and praised like this. She didn't get many chances to go out into public, and she certainly never experienced anything like this. It reminded her of her christening back in the early stages of World War II, when everyone was still optimistic and hopeful.
"Oh, my, I didn't know I had quite so many fans in Japan," Richelieu said.
Bismarck turned to glare at her. "They're not your fans, they are cheering for all of us."
"Quoi? Why would they cheer for a sour, disagreeable German like you?" Richelieu stuck up her nose at Bismarck.
"Now, now, let's not start a fight in front of everyone," Warspite cautioned to her fellow battleships behind her.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't deign to lower myself to her level," Richelieu stated smugly.
"Really? Then I suppose I imagined you calling me 'sour' and 'disagreeable,'" Bismarck frowned. "Well, I guess it's typical of the French to surrender so easily."
"Bismarck… Please don't fan the flames," Warspite sighed, exasperated.
The crowd around them was oblivious to their bickering, so Bismarck and Richelieu decided to just drop it and continued to bask in their cheers. Warspite was right; it wouldn't do to ruin such a rare occasion like this with pointless arguing.
This must be the first time most of these people have ever seen a ship girl in person, Bismarck thought as she walked.
Ship girls had been shown on TV and in newspapers before, but very rarely. For them to come out in public like this was pretty much unprecedented.
The ship girls finished the full circuit, serenaded all the way by the cheers from the local Japanese crowd. The public got their fill of the normally-mysterious women, and the ship girls themselves got the chance to experience the admiration of the humans they were fighting to protect. Though the interaction was not really a personal one, the ship girls were still glad to get some acknowledgement from people other than military personnel.
When they returned to the main venue, the ship girls found that it was now full of military officers, various diplomats and government personnel, and reporters. Bismarck finally spotted her admiral, who was up on the stage but not near the main podium. He was standing beside many officers that Bismarck recognized, including the Kriegsmarine ones who had accompanied her and Rear Admiral Genji from their Tokyo Bay Base. Standing at the main podium and waiting for the proceedings to start was Fleet Admiral Kaigan, now the head of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The ship girls were organized into rows and columns and made to stand in front of the stage. Bismarck found herself at the head of her column this time, meaning she was actually pretty close to the stage. She saw Musashi and Iowa up on the stage, the former wearing an irritated frown while the latter grinned and winked at Bismarck.
Why only those two? No representatives from the other countries? Bismarck thought bitterly.
Soon enough, everyone was in position and everything went quiet, allowing Fleet Admiral Kaigan to begin speaking.
"Good evening, everyone. It is an honor to have you all here tonight," he began, speaking in accented English. "Today we celebrate the achievements of the International Fleet, and we come together in order to foster bonds of cooperation for the future as well. Furthermore, we are also here to honor those from all nations who have given their lives in this conflict. Tonight, we give our thanks to all those living and deceased who have helped us fight to keep humanity safe from the Abyssal threat."
He paused to allow a brief round of applause, before continuing again. Bismarck tuned his speech out, though. To her, it didn't feel any different from the standard speeches that politicians and officers have been giving forever.
When she started paying attention again, she saw that Fleet Admiral Miiro was now speaking.
"... And Japan and all of the Japanese people give their deepest thanks to the other members of the International Fleet," Miiro finished up. "We are pleased to fight beside you and lend our strength to defeat the Abyssals. Now, it is my great honor to introduce her imperial majesty, the Empress Nami."
Fleet Admiral Miiro stepped away from the podium and bowed as a woman dressed in green robes and wearing the small imperial crown stepped up to the stage to thunderous applause. She was young and beautiful, her lush black hair tied in a bun and her red lips presenting a gentle smile. However, her dark eyes did not share the same soft mirth as the rest of her expression and were instead mysterious and unreadable.
"Thank you very much, Fleet Admiral," the Empress started when she got to the podium. Her voice was quiet but strong, and she spoke in flawless English. "It is an honor for me to speak at such a wonderful event, and I too would like to extend Japan's thanks to the International Fleet and the rest of the world. Although our country has been through much hardship recently, we know that we are not alone and that we can rely upon the strength of our allies. Japan has suffered more casualties than any other nation thus far, but the Japanese people are strong, and we will survive and flourish in spite of that. Most of all, we will continue to fight back."
As the crowd once more erupted into applause, Bismarck took in the sight of the Empress. This was the first time she had seen her in person, and she didn't know much about her anyway. The Japanese parliament still existed and made many of the decisions, but the Empress was very prominent in nearly every state function. Furthermore, after the Great Churning, the imperial head could veto any decision the parliament made, and though Empress Nami had not yet exercised that right, it was rumored that she controlled all of parliament anyway and therefore had no need to.
I suppose she's like our Kaiser, Bismarck thought. Or maybe she's more like the Fuhrer?
"Regardless, tonight's celebration is for the military and those who have given their lives in battle, and so I believe I should not take up anymore of the stage," the Empress decided. "Once again, I would like to extend my thanks to all those who have gathered the strength to repel these foreign invaders, especially all of the Japanese who have fought and died for humanity's sake. Thank you very much."
The crowd clapped and cameras flashed as the Empress left the stage. Bismarck noticed that Admiral Drake was now moving towards the podium, so it must have been his turn to give a speech.
He has to go immediately after the Empress? That is a tough act to follow, Bismarck sympathized.
On the surface, Drake looked perfectly calm, wearing that stony, slightly-angry expression he always seemed to have on. However, Bismarck knew him well enough by now to understand that he didn't particularly like these types of events.
Drake walked over to the podium and adjusted the microphone slightly. But before he could speak, a flurry of activity could be heard and seen from within the crowd of reporters, and suddenly, one of them leapt onto the stage.
"Blood-sucking foreigner leeches are unwelcome here! This is for Japan!" the reporter shouted in Japanese before pulling a long, ceremonial-style knife out from within his suit jacket.
In a flash, the 'reporter' stabbed the knife at the stunned admiral. Drake tried to sidestep out of the way, but the attacker still managed to stick the knife into his lower abdomen. Drake pushed the attacker away and onto the floor, where multiple security personnel and policemen immediately jumped on him.
It all happened in the span of a couple seconds, and immediately afterwards, the venue burst open with shouting and people jostling either to get closer to the stage or to run away from it. Military personnel and security sprinted towards the injured rear admiral, and the attacker began to be dragged away from the stage in handcuffs.
Bismarck snapped out of her shock and ran over to the stage. Officers and suited security were blocking anyone from approaching, but Bismarck roughly shoved one of them aside and pushed her way to her admiral.
Drake was still standing on his own two feet, though he held a hand to his side where the knife was still lodged and he had a deep grimace on his face. His left side was doused red, and the blood stain was continuing to spread.
"Admiral! Are you all right? What happened? Are you all right!?" Bismarck shouted, still too shocked to realize she was repeating herself.
"Ah, Bismarck?" Drake glanced at her. "Yeah, I'm fine… It's just a small wound…"
"You won't be fine if that bleeding doesn't stop," Rear Admiral Genji frowned. He turned to the security personnel. "Hey, where's the ambulance we had on standby? Hurry it up!"
Iowa also appeared on the scene. "Shit… Captain, are you okay?"
"Yeah, don't worry about me. It's nothing," Drake said, though his voice was slightly strained as he worriedly looked down at his bleeding abdomen.
Bismarck's shock finally turned into frustration. She glared at Iowa. "Iowa, why didn't you do anything? You were up here on the stage, weren't you?!"
"I didn't know…" Iowa looked away guiltily.
"What?" Bismarck snarled at her.
"It's all right, Bismarck," Drake assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. However, he quickly removed it after realizing it was the hand he had been holding to his wound. "Er, sorry…"
Bismarck stared at Drake's blood on her skin. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. "Admiral…"
"I'll be fine, don't worry," Drake assured her again, though his own voice was becoming less and less confident as he felt the bleeding continue.
"The ambulance is here!" Fleet Admiral Wei called out, gesturing towards the emergency vehicle that had driven up right beside the stage.
"Finally," Genji said as he took hold of Drake and guided him towards the ambulance.
Bismarck didn't get to say goodbye before Drake was whisked away into the ambulance. People continued to shuffle about and shout around the venue, but she just stood there, staring as the ambulance drove off.
"He'll be fine, I'm sure of it. He was standing on his own and talking, after all," Iowa said, albeit a bit apprehensively.
"Yeah…" Bismarck replied hollowly.
Her teary blue eyes followed the ambulance until it was out of sight.